Sapa-AFP

Reigning US Masters champion Trevor Immelman insists that there is no place for golf at the Olympic Games.

He also believes that mega-money sports such as basketball and tennis should be shown the Olympics exit door because they are alien to the basic principles of the Games. “I don’t think golf should be an Olympic sport,” said Immelman, who is on a mission to win his second major of the year at the 90th PGA Championship. He added: “I don’t think basketball should be an Olympic sport. I don’t think tennis should be an Olympic sport. “To me the Olympics were founded on amateur sport. Guys go in there and train for four years, putting their whole lives on the line to win a gold medal.” PGA Tour executive Ty Votaw was appointed last month to lead an effort to have golf included in the 2016 Olympics. The outspoken Immelman thinks money-driven sports should be kept out of the Olympics, which start tomorrow. “If I was running the Olympics I would go back to the way it was originally,” he said. “Gymnastics, weightlifting, swimming, track and field and marathons. That’s to me what the Olympics are.”

Immelman’s high ideals aren’t shared by everyone on the PGA Tour. The US’s Phil Mickelson said: “I think that having golf as an Olympic sport is exponentially more important to the game than the majors.”

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