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Rory McIlroy believes it is difficult to know whether an Olympic gold medal in golf will ever rival the prestige of achieving winning one of the sport’s four majors.<\/b><\/p>\n
The 35-year-old will represent Team Ireland at his second Olympic Games alongside Shane Lowry at Paris 2024.<\/p>\n
The men’s four-day 72-hole competition starts on Thursday at Le Golf National and the world number three told BBC Sport NI that “as time goes on, as the Olympics become a greater part of our sport, it will mean more to the sport”.<\/p>\n
But he added: “It’s hard to say [whether the Olympics will become like a major], as even this week, the way the qualification system works, not all the best players in the world are here.<\/p>\n
“You’d like to think that if you’re going to win something really prestigious in the sport then you want all the best players playing and that isn’t quite happening here.<\/p>\n
“It’s still very meaningful and if I were to win a medal, especially a gold medal, it would mean a lot to me.”<\/p>\n
McIlroy narrowly missed out on a medal in the Tokyo Games, held in 2021, as he finished fourth in the individual event.<\/p>\n
“I was really close to winning a medal last time – I said I’d never tried as hard to finish third in my life – so once you’re in there and especially if you are in contention for a medal, you feel the buzz of it and it’s really cool,” added the four-time major winner from Northern Ireland.<\/p>\n
McIlroy has arrived in France on the back of a disappointing performance in the Open Championship as high winds put paid to his chances as he missed the cut at Royal Troon.<\/p>\n
He hopes to make amends by putting in a good display at Le Golf National, which hosted the Ryder Cup in 2018. <\/p>\n
“\u201cFor me it\u2019s well documented I haven\u2019t won one of the big four in 10 years so it [a gold medal in Paris] would be one of, if not the biggest, achievements of my career in the last 10 years,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
“I’ve obviously had a bit more time off than I wanted with not playing the weekend at The Open but I’m excited to be here and at a golf course where I’ve got a lot of fond memories from the Ryder Cup a few years ago.<\/p>\n
“And it’s good to get back to playing in conditions that are a little bit more familiar. Obviously Troon was really, really difficult but to be out here in the sunshine without a lot of wind feels really nice.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n