Tiger Woods is not only focused on winning for a first time in some two years but also has set his sights on representing the United States at next year’s Olympic Games in Brazil.

Golf will be returning to the Summer Olympics for a first time since 1904 and with Woods vying one of two players walking into the Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games arena behind the Stars and Stripes.

The 14-time Major winning Woods, and the world’s highest-earning sportsperson, spoke again of his desire to be present in Brazil ahead of this week’s Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass.

Tiger Woods very much focused on competing in the 2016 Olympics. (Photo – Fran Caffrey/www.golffile.ie)

“Competing in the Olympics is very important to me,” he said.

“It’s something that’s different for us.  It’s kind of like if you asked what the tennis players, remember the interviews for them when they got introduced to the Olympics, I think it was ’96, that was so new to them.

“It was a new concept, the Olympics, because obviously it was always their four Slams, and for us it’s the four Majors.  But the Olympics is a big thing, especially it doesn’t come around but every four years.

“But then we have so many big events, four every single year, and that’s our history.  That’s what we’re judged upon, and for certain sports like tennis, other sports, that is the biggest thing that they have in their sport, and for guys like in tennis, it means a lot to them now.

Tiger Woods says his fellow competitors have something to do that has not been done since 1904 .. win an Olympic Games gold medal. (Photo – Fran Caffrey/www.golffile.ie)

“However the first year you got mixed messages from the guys because they were saying, okay, I need the rest, blah blah blah.

“We have the U.S. Open coming up in a couple of weeks, what are we going to do with that?  Guys were, should I play, not play.  It was a mixed bag.

“I’ve heard some things over the years with golf when it got introduced, guys were kind of on the fence about it, but certainly I think it’s swaying in the direction of the guys all wanting to play in the Olympics.

“Guys want to solidify themselves, play for not only their country and that but also have a chance to do something that hasn’t been done in a very long time: Win an Olympic medal in golf”.