THE FAILURE of golf to be included in the Olympics in London in 2012 has been met with disappointment by the Royal and Ancient at St Andrews.

The International Olympic Committee voted not to add golf to the 26 sports at the Olympiad.

R&A chief executive Peter Dawson said, “There can be no doubt that Olympic golf would have given a tremendous boost to the development of the game in emerging golfing nations around the world.

“But we have to accept that we must now find other ways to fund the game in these countries and that golf will remain outside the Olympic movement for the foreseeable future.”

The International Golf Federation had applied to the IOC to include golf in 2012 and St Andrews Links Trust had also expressed an early interest by asking the British Olympic Committee to be considered as the venue to host the championship.

It was one of five applicant sports, together with karate, roller sports, rugby and squash that all failed to gain Olympic recognition.

As part of a review of the Olympic programme, members of the IOC voted for each of the 28 sports on the current programme of the summer games.

Baseball and softball did not gain the necessary majority of more than 50% and have been dropped from the line-up for 2012.

Previously, no sport had been removed from the programme since polo was eliminated prior to the 1936 games in Berlin.

The elimination of two sports left room for the members of the IOC to add two of the five sports under consideration. But in a further vote none of the five received the two-thirds majority required for inclusion.

The future of golf in the Olympics now remains uncertain and the IGF has received a letter from the president of the IOC, Jacques Rogge.

He said, “The IOC expresses its sympathy to your federation for the dedication and commitment you have shown to be included in the Olympic programme. The IOC will work with you in the future to ensure that the Olympic programme remains the most attractive event by offering the opportunity for new sports to be added.”

All five of the sports under consideration, as well as baseball and softball, will be put to a vote again after the Beijing Olympics in 2008, for possible inclusion in 2016.

The proposed format for an Olympic golf event is two competitions—for men and women —each consisting of 72 holes of individual strokeplay, with 50 players in each field. The top two players from any country who are in the top 300 of the official world rankings would be eligible. Wild card spots would be allotted to ensure representative continental fields.

According to the R&A, golf is an extremely popular event for TV viewing and offers several benefits to an Olympic organising committee.

No costly stadiums need to be erected as the game takes place in outdoor settings and these venues already exist worldwide. Golf could become part of the Olympics by adding only 100 athletes, with no qualifying heats necessary. Scores are positive and verifiable, with no recourse to subjective judgments.

The International Golf Federation, founded in 1958 as the World Amateur Golf Council, encourages the global development of the game and fosters friendship and sportsmanship among the peoples of the world.

It has been recognised as the international federation for golf by the IOC since 1991.

The IGF has 102 member nations and the administration is led jointly by representatives of the R&A and the USGA.

Joint chairmen are David Harrison, of the R&A, and Fred Ridley, of the USGA, while the joint secretaries are the R&A’s Peter Dawson and David Fay, executive director of the USGA.

Golf was last played in 1900 and 1904 Olympic Games.