Rio 2016 Golf Champions to Receive Majors Exemptions

(ATR)Golf’s Olympic return in Rio has received a big boost from the bodies that oversee the sport’s major tournaments.

Both men’s and women’s Olympic champions will receive exemptions to play in all majors in the season following the Games. Golf is back in the Games for the first time in more than a century.

Augusta National chairman Billy Payne, who headed the 1996 Atlanta Games, told a news conference on Monday that the men's gold medal winner in Rio would receive an invitation to the 2017 Masters.

The men’s Olympic champion will also be invited to play in the 2017 U.S. Open, British Open and PGA Championship.

"We believe our game's visibility will be dramatically elevated by the global platform that only the Olympics offer," Payne said."New audiences from all over the world, some for the very first time ever, will be exposed to our great sport and come to know and appreciate the amazing athletes and heroes in golf.

"From this greater visibility, we believe will evolve greater participation in our game, and it will be a certain beneficiary."

Payne, along with R&A chief executive Martin Slumbers, PGA of America CEO Pete Bevacqua and USGA chief executive Mike Davis, announced the initiative, demonstrating their uniform support for golf at the Olympics.

The women’s Olympic gold medalist will receive the same benefits, being granted invitations to the 2016 Evian Championship and 2017 Ricoh Women’s British Open, U.S. Open, Ana Inspiration and KPMG Women’s PGA Championship.

Monday's announcement was made at Augusta National Country Club in Georgia. The 80th edition of the Masters tournament - the first of golf’s four majors -begins on Thursday.

International Golf Federation (IGF) executive director Antony Scanlon offered his views on the momentous decision while in Augusta."The IGF has been working closely with the organizers of the men's and women's majors and are very pleased that this has culminated with today's unprecedented announcement," Scanlon told Around the Rings.

"This announcement further underlines professional golf’s support of its admission to the Olympic program and how this has united the sport," he said.

While many of the world’s top golfers are already exempt for the major tournaments based upon various criteria, the decision should provide added incentive in Rio for numerous outside contenders among the men’s and women’s 60-player fields.

"From our perspective, whether it's someone that is in the top rankings of the world or someone who is that Cinderella story, in both ways it's a positive," Bevacqua said of the exemptions."It's a positive for golf, it's a great story for golf and it's certainly a positive for the PGA Championship, regardless of who comes out of that field, both on the men's side and women's side."

Majors vs. Olympic Gold

Defending Masters champion Jordan Spieth is seeking to become the first golfer to win the tournament’s famed "green jacket" in consecutive years since Tiger Woods did so in 2001 and 2002.The 22-year-old is considered one of the early favorites for Rio gold along with fellow "Big Three" golfers Jason Day of Australia and Rory McIlroy, who will represent Northern Ireland at the Olympics, August 11-14.

Spieth was asked in January at a tournament in Abu Dhabi whether he would rather win Olympic gold in Rio or another major tournament. The U.S. golfer said "both."

"To be honest, I don't know," Spieth said. "It's unsure and it will be I think unsure for 10 to 20 years how significant a gold medal will be in golf."The way I look at it right now, I look at them equal. It's very early to tell how they will end up comparing to major championships in the future.

"If I had not won a major, I would probably still say a major (over a medal). At this point I would argue that a gold medal would be very, very special," he added.

Some have questioned how much the PGA Tour pros – who routinely pocket multi-million dollar prizes and consider winning the four majors as the pinnacle of the sport – will embrace the Olympics. Australian Adam Scott, who has candidly admitted that a gold medal in Rio is not his top priority. He ranked winning in Rio well below the four majors in importance.

Payne, however, said he fully expects that national pride will take over as the world’s elite golfers represent their countries in Rio. "My experience has been when looking at the joy and the happiness of kids competing all across the board in various Olympic endeavors, that there is nothing, nothing, more powerful than representing your country," Payne said."So I suspect that you will see that take over and totally capture the enthusiasm of the players for golf.

Reported by Brian Pinelli

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