Olympic men's golf champion will get one-year invite to 2017 Masters

Gold can now be used to win green.

Augusta National Golf Club and Masters Tournament Chairman Billy Payne announced Monday that the winner of the Olympic gold medal in men’s golf will receive an invitation to play in the Masters, starting with this year’s Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro and the 2017 Masters Tournament.

The one-year invite to the gold medal winner extends to other majors as well. The R&A will give the men’s and women’s Olympic champion a one-year exemption to The Open Championship and the Women’s British Open; the PGA of America will offer the winners an exemption to the PGA Championship and the Women’s PGA Championship; the United States Golf Association will give full exemption to the U.S. Open Championship and the U.S. Women’s Open Championship; the women’s gold medalist will also get a spot in the 2016 Evian Championship and the 2017 ANA Inspiration.

“We believe our game’s visibility will be dramatically elevated by the global platform that only the Olympics offer,” said Payne, who was also the chief executive officer of the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games. “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.”

The exemptions are for only the 2017 majors.

Though the gold medal winner could be a player already qualified for each major, the possibility exists for an unexpected winner earning his way to Augusta.

“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,” said Pete Bevacqua, the chief executive officer of the PGA of America. “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, who qualifies for the championship.”