He said: "I think having golf an Olympic sport is exponentially more important to the game of golf than the Majors.

 

"It would bring in 168 different countries and their Olympic foundation and all those revenues and that would be going towards the growth of the game of golf.

 

"The Majors are incredibly big as we know, but we still capture the same audience that are already interested in the game.

 

"The Olympics brings us to new markets on a worldwide scale, and I can't imagine how big the game can become in countries like China and India that has so many more people than the United States does."

 

Golf is one of seven sports hoping to be included on the Olympic programme for the 2016 Games when the International Olympic Committee makes a decision at its Session in Copenhagen in October 2009.

 

But South Africa's Masters champion Trevor Immelman disagreed with Mickelson.

 

He said: "I don't think that golf should be an Olympic sport, at all.

 

"I don't think basketball should be an Olympic sport.

 

"I don't think tennis should be an Olympic sport.

 

"If I was running the Olympics, I would go back to the way it was originally -- gymnastics, weight lifting, swimming, track and field, marathons.

 

"That's to me what the Olympics is.

 

"To me the Olympics was founded on amateur sports.

 

"Guys go in there training for four years and putting their whole lives on the line to win a gold medal."