Golf bids to boost profile ahead of 2016

THE Olympics in Brazil are six years away and golf has only one shot to make a good impression before another vote to determine whether the sport becomes a regular feature beyond the 2020 Games.

However, more pressing than finding, or building, the right golf course in Rio de Janeiro is the need to make sure the game is embraced during the 2016 event. Golf in South America has been growing slowly but steadily over the last 10 years, producing such stars as two-time major champion Angel Cabrera of Argentina and Camilo Villegas of Colombia. This makes the Tour de las Americas, among golf's smallest circuits, more important than ever.

"This process needs to be speeded up a little bit because of the Olympics and because of the globalisation in golf. And we can say with the crisis of the economy, it makes new markets more attractive," Henrique Lavie, commissioner of the Tour de las Americas, said. "The US PGA Tour has been very successful in what they have done in Latin America," he said, mentioning tournaments in Puerto Rico, Mexico, the Dominican Republic and a recent Nationwide Tour stop in Colombia. "This is a great opportunity to look closely at that market. And they are talking to the Tour de las Americas on how to do it."