The push for golf to be included as an Olympic sport in 2008 gathered further force in Scotland over the past week, where about 40 of the sport's leading figures gathered for an international conference.

Like the Olympic Games itself, this assembly at St Andrews is held every four years. It is designed to address the most pressing issues in the sport and golf's inclusion on the Olympic Games programme has been one of the major topics up for discussion. Their meeting comes hard on the heels of reports that the World Amateur Golf Council, recognised by the International Olympic Committee in 1991 as golf's official federation, has submitted a bid for the sport to be a part of the 2008 Olympics. If approved, the event would be open to all the big-name professionals, such as Tiger Woods, in much the same way as tennis has been since 1988. Still, there are those who feel that a sport that prides itself on its spotless image should resist joining a movement that has been tainted by a succession of drug and bribery scandals.