On the Scene: Golf and Rugby Vote Preview

Tiger Woods makes the case for golf in a video to the IOC. (ATR/Panasonic:Lumix)(ATR) Tiger Woods tees it up for golf and Jonah Lomu helps carry the ball for rugby as the two sports make their cases for returning to the Olympic Games in 2016

Woods appears in a taped message from the Presidents Cup in San Francisco, along with Ernie Els.

The golf team in Copenhagen will be two-time British Open winner Padraig Harrington; teen sensation Michelle Wie; Suzann Pettersen, Europe's leading professional female player; Matteo Manasso, 16, the youngest ever to win the British Amateur title; Ty Votaw, executive director of the International Golf Federation; and Peter Dawson, chief executive of the Royal & Ancient Club and acting president of the IGF.

Ty Votaw of the International Golf Federation is in Copenhagen supporting his sport. (ATR/Panasonic:Lumix)"The top men's professionals in the world today are amazingly enthusiastic and supportive," Dawson said. "Without exception in my experience, they're very excited about the prospect of competing for a gold medal and feel it will enhance golf's competitive landscape."

Besides Lomu, the New Zealand superstar, the rugby scrum includes Agustin Pichot, former captain of Argentina; Cheryl Soon, captain of the Australian team that won the Women's Rugby World Cup Sevens in 2009, Humphrey Kayange, captain of Kenya, Anastassiya Khamova, one of Kazakhstan's top female players; Bernard Lapasset, president of the International Rugby Board and Mike Miller, secretary general of the IRB.

Because of rugby's universality, International Rugby Board president Bernard Lapasset said inclusion in the Olympics "is not just a benefit for us, it's so for the benefit of the Olympic program in the world."

Each sport will have 20 minutes for a formal presentation and 10 minutes for questions. Golf will go first, then the two sports will be voted upon separately. Golf's fate will not be announced until after the vote for rugby so the second vote won't be influenced by the first.

In August, golf and Rugby Sevens were chosen by the IOC Executive Board to be put up for a vote by the full membership. The other candidates were baseball, karate, roller sports, softball and squash.

Rugby superstar Jonah Lumu of New Zealand is one of several players who is supportingRugby Sevens in Copenhagen . (ATR/Panasonic:Lumix)Some IOC members have expressed irritation with the process. They feel they should have been allowed to vote on all seven sports. IOC member Richard Pound of Canada wrote a letter to IOC president Jacques Rogge, which was made available to other members in their materials.

"I said we've been trying to get from the program commission and the Executive Board since Mexico in 2002 your strategic thoughts on what the Olympic program should look like," Pound told Around the Rings. "We've asked for guidance on a number of occasions and we never got it.

"And what you've come along and said, 'We've picked A and B. you can only consider A and B. You're not allowed to even consider or discuss the other five.' That's not guidance. You're making a choice and we didn't delegate a choice to you."

Pound said he hoped Rogge would rethink the process, but didn't expect a wholesale change before the votes.

IOC member Anita DeFrantz of the U.S. also has concerns about the membership's role. "We asked for more information on the sports," she said, "not to have someone select them for us."

When the Executive Board voted in August, rugby made the final two on the second ballot, but golf didn't advance until the fourth.

The sports need only a majority of the 100-plus members to be included in the 2016 program and will be voted on separately, and in a way that the vote for golf does not affect the vote for rugby.

"Like we've said all along, in our sport at least you can't win unless you make the cut," Votaw said.

Dawson stressed that golf is not competing with rugby to get into the Games.

The sport gave a commitment to the IOC that it would not stage any major championships on the Olympic dates in 2016.

Golf also believes it will create new fans around the world if it is in the Olympics, as well as increase government support and funding.

"I think it would be the highest achievement for any golfer or any athlete, to be part of the Olympics," Wie said.

The Rugby Sevens will be canceled if the sport is added tothe Olympics. (ATR/Panasonic:Lumix)Golf was last an Olympic sport in 1904 while rugby, in its 15-man version instead of the proposed Rugby Sevens, was last played at the 1924 Olympics.

In rugby, there will be 12 men's teams and 12 women's teams, with 12 athletes on each team, although the format of the tournament will be decided if rugby is added to the program. Golf will have 60 men and 60 women playing a 72-hole tournament.

Rugby Sevens has agreed to cancel its popular World Cup if it joins the Olympic program.

Lomu said that if Rugby Sevens gets into the Gam,es, some players from the 15s may be "putting their hands up" to play.

"There's the rugby purists who talk about the 15-man game," he said. "When you talk about taking rugby to a different level, this is where Sevens is a great catalyst."

Miller says he doesn't care what version of rugby people play. "Once they see rugby or get the ball in their hands, they're hooked and want to be around the game their whole life."

Squash and karate were the two sports that went before the IOC four years ago in Singapore, but neither won enough votes.

Written by Karen Rosen.