Phil Mickelson has voiced his support for the reintroduction of golf at the Olympic Games.
The Callaway player said that making golf an Olympic sport again would open the game up to "new markets on a worldwide scale", helping it to grow in emerging economies such as India and China.
With this year''s Olympics set to start in Beijing on Friday, Mickelson also stated that bringing golf back to the event could ultimately be "exponentially more important" than the sport''s four Major tournaments.
"The Majors are incredibly big as we know, but we still capture the same audience that are already interested in the game," the world number two commented.
Golf last featured as an Olympic sport at St Louis in 1904, when Canada''s George Lyon won a gold medal in the individual event.
Several influential figures have recently called for the sport to make a comeback, although not all players back the plan.
Current Masters champion Trevor Immelman recently claimed that the Olympics was founded on "amateur sports" and should focus on events such as track and field, swimming and gymnastics.
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