Tiger Woods would welcome the chance to play in next year’s Olympic Games in Tokyo if he qualifies for the US team.
The 15-time Major winner noted that, at age 43, he will not have many more opportunities to become an Olympian. Golf was reintroduced into the Olympic roster at the 2016 Rio Games after a 112-year lapse. Woods did not make the US team then as he was struggling with injuries.
“I’ve never played in the Olympics and I’m sure that I won’t have many more opportunities going forward at 43 years old now to play in many Olympics. That would be a first for me and something that I would certainly welcome if I was part of the team,” said Woods during yesterday’s pre-event press conference for this week’s PGA Championship at Bethpage Black.
The Tokyo 2020 golf event will see 60 players qualifying for the the men’s competition and 60 for the women’s, based on the Olympic Golf Rankings managed by the International Golf Federation (IGF). The rankings are based on the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) with the qualification period for men running from July 1, 2018 to June 22, 2020. The top 15 players in the OWGR at the end of that period qualify for Tokyo 2020, with a limit of four players per country. Beyond the top 15, players will be eligible based on the OWGR with a maximum of two players from each country that does not already have two or more players among the top 15.
“Getting there and making the team is going to be the tough part … how many events do I play, do I add a couple more to get in? These are all questions that will be answered going forward. I just know that if I play well in the big events like I did this year, things will take care of itself,” noted Woods, who would get into the Olympics based on the current ranking as the fourth American player (behind Brooks Koepka, Dustin Johnson and Justin Thomas).
The 2020 Tokyo Olympics men’s golf event will be held July 30-August 2 at Kasumigaseki Country Club in Saitama, about an hour’s drive from Tokyo. For more information, click here
