(ATR)South African golf star Ernie Els wants to compete at the 2016 Summer Olympics, when golf makes its first return to the Olympic Program since 1904.
Els voiced his Olympic aspirations to reporters at the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai."I would love to be on the team representing South Africa at the Olympics.
"If I qualify, and I hope I do because when next year comes around that will become a burning goal of mine, I may even allow myself the thought of carrying the South African flag into the stadium," Els said, according to Reuters.
Els is currently ranked 57th in the world, Reuters reports, following his performances at the European Tour and U.S. PGA Tour.
Sixty men and sixty women will compete in the 72-hole strokeplay tournaments in Rio.The field will also include at least one male and one female player from Brazil, as well as at least one golfer from Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe and Oceania.
"I never thought when I started playing this game that I would be standing here talking of playing in the Olympics, but I'm really getting excited at being on the same international stage as those stars of track and field," Els told reporters.
"It would be wonderful just to spend time with them in the environment of an Olympic Games."
Els, who will turn 46 in 2016, won the British Open in 2002 and 2012 and the U.S. Open in 1994 and 1997.
Written byNicole Bennett
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