Paul McGinley has spoken of his excitement to be leading Ireland’s golf team at the Rio 2016 Olympics.
Following his impressive performance as captain of the victorious European Ryder Cup team, McGinley will lead Ireland when golf returns to the Olympics in two years time.
The Dubliner said: “It's exciting, it's a bit of the unknown to be honest and I'm going to have to really get my head around it in the next two years. It's nearly 100 years since golf was in the Olympics, so it's a big challenge, it's a big challenge.
“I'm going to have to, I'll probably be out there once, maybe twice this year and the same next year before the Olympics - gathering information, looking at the golf course, getting some statistics on the golf course.
“Hopefully there might be a test tournament at the end of the year on the golf course, which is still under construction at the moment and if possible I'ld like to play in that myself and get a real understanding of the golf course and the challenges that it poses and you know, the temperatures that we will face and the grasses that the golf course is and the par fives and the par threes and what, what kind of clubs the players will expect, the players will be expect hitting those.
“And kind of help the guys with that, preparing for it and the challenge, the test, the 'examination paper' that the Olympics will be.
“And then the other part of it then is being part of the Irish team and the logistics and the travel and anything else that I ned to get my head over to give the guys the best opportunity possible of going out and performing well and hopefully winning a medal.”
Olympic golf will be a 72-hole stroke play competition, with a field of 60.
Qualification is based on the official world rankings, with the top 15 ranked players eligible, with a limit of four players per country.
Outside of the top 15, players will be eligible based on the world rankings, with a maximum of two eligible players from each country that does not already have two or more players among the top-15.
World number one Rory McIlroy has declared his intention to play for Ireland in Rio.
