Tiger Woods wants Team USA Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games spot

"The game has become so global... the Olympic Games is a great extension of that and I'd like to be a part of it," says Woods

Friday 18 October 2019 10:47, UK

Tiger Woods is targeting a place at the Tokyo Olympics as he seeks to add another glittering chapter to his storied career.

Golf returned to the Games in 2016 after a 112-year absence but Woods, who dominated the sport in the first decade of the 21st century, missed its return through injury.

"Making the Olympic team is a big goal," Woods said.

"I don't see myself having too many opportunities other than next year, Four years from now, at the next Olympic Games, I'll be 48-years-old. To be one of the top Americans at that age is going to be tough.

"I went to my first Olympic Games when it was in Los Angeles (1984). So now to have the opportunity to be a part of the Olympics - because golf in my lifetime wasn't a part of the Olympics - is an important aspect for us and the growth of the game.

"The game has become so global, and so reaching, that I think the Olympic Games is a great extension of that and I'd like to be a part of it."

Woods will get a taste of golf-crazy Japan when he competes in 'The Challenge: Japan Skins' next week Woods takes part in the high-stakes challenge at the Accordia Golf Narashino Country Club in Chiba alongside Rory McIlroy, Jason Day and Hideki Matsuyama.

Woods, who won the Masters earlier this year to end an 11-year wait for his 15th Major, says he is thrilled to be back at the top of the sport after injuries caused four back surgeries between 2014 and 2017.

"To be able to have played the last couple of years after where I was (with injury)... and to have two wins in my last two years, I definitely would not have foreseen that at the time, pre-surgery."