Rio 2016: Olympic golf winners to get majors exemptions

Venue: Augusta National Dates: 7 April to 10 April

Coverage: Live on BBC TV, Red Button, Connected TVs and online from Saturday. Listen live on Radio 5 live or 5 live sports extra and follow live text on the BBC Sport website from Thursday. Full details

Gold medal-winning golfers at the Olympic Games in Rio will win exemptions to next year's majors.

It means the men's winner this summer will win entry to next year's Masters, US Open, Open and US PGA Championship.
Exemptions for the 2016 Evian Championship and next year's ANA Inspiration, Women's PGA Championship, US Women's Open and Women's Open will be given to the winning woman.
Golf is returning to the Olympics in August for the first time in 112 years.

• Your complete guide to the 2016 Masters
• Masters on the BBC - coverage details

Masters chairman Billy Payne told a news conference at Augusta National: "We believe our game's visibility will be dramatically elevated by the global platform that only the Olympics offer.
"From this greater visibility, we believe will evolve greater participation in our game, and it will be a certain beneficiary."
While some of the world's top players would already hold exemptions to the majors, Pete Bevacqua, the chief executive officer of the PGA of America, said: "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."
Exemptions for major tournaments can be achieved in a variety of ways, such as being a previous winner, while world rankings can also play a part.

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Masters 2016: Vintage tournament in store at Augusta

Counting down the miles towards Augusta on the Interstate 20, Andy Sullivan summed up his feelings with one word: "Buzzing."

The Masters stirs emotions like no other tournament, especially for players like the genial Midlander, who was making a first trip with his sat nav set to Magnolia Lane.
Simply making the field is a badge of substantial honour. Of the four majors that dominate the golfing calendar, the Masters is the most exclusive.

Not just in terms of its verdant setting and the ultra-select club that runs the tournament, but in the number of players eligible to play.
Unlike the 156-man fields that assemble for the Open, US Open and PGA Championship, the qualification criteria for the Masters limits numbers usually to fewer than 100 players.
This year, in the absence of the injured Tiger Woods, Jim Furyk, Fred Couples and Jose Maria Olazabal - and with Korea's Sang-moon Bae doing his national service - there will be only 89 competitors.

Masters winners earn lifetime exemption, while the rest of the field effectively comprises PGA Tour champions, the leading 50 players in the world rankings, high finishers in majors and top amateur winners.
Not only are we dealing with fewer golfers, but many of those teeing off on Thursday can be eliminated from the reckoning before they have struck a ball in anger.
With apologies to Sullivan, history tells us we can strike off the 20 players making their Augusta debuts this year. Only Fuzzy Zoeller, in 1979, and the inaugural winner Horton Smith have donned a Green Jacket in their first appearance.
Augusta has to be learned to be tamed.
How will the teasing winds of Amen Corner answer a player's prayers in that crucial stretch that encompasses the 11th green, 12th hole and 13th tee?

When to aim at flags? Where are the release points that will funnel a ball to the hole-side? Attack or defend? Crucial questions that tend to only be answered with experience.
"Patience" was the word respected coach Pete Cowen used to sum up what is required. "At Augusta there's going to be some holes that just give you a slap round the ear," he told BBC Sport.
"The guy that wins is probably the one that's going to make the fewest mistakes on or around the greens."
Debutants also have to overcome the 'wow factor' that comes with soaking up the unique atmosphere of the place.
Last week Sullivan headed down the I20 for the journey he had been anticipating since his gilded Augusta invitation fell through his letterbox at Christmas.
"I've seen Augusta on the road signs a couple of times already - I'm literally counting down the miles," he told BBC Sport as he was being driven down this freeway to golfing destiny.
"As soon as I arrive I'll be putting on my spikes and heading straight out there. I just can't wait."
The 29-year-old, who has three European Tour victories, enjoys the big time and is not the sort of character to be daunted by this golfing cathedral.
He is easily talented enough to figure on leaderboards this week, as could fellow debutants Justin Thomas, Kevin Kisner, David Lingmerth, Emiliano Grillo and Rafael Cabrero Bello.
US-based Scot Russell Knox may still be waiting for his first top-20 finish this year - but Augusta may inspire the temperament that landed him the WGC title in Shanghai at the end of last year.
But in terms of predicting the winner, it feels safe to discount the debutants. After all, even a talent as prodigious as Jordan Spieth couldn't quite manage the feat two years ago.
And even though Leicester City top the Premier League, we can strike off the 2,500-1 shots such as former champion Sandy Lyle and his fellow 58-year-old Ian Woosnam, who will be marking the 25th anniversary of his 1991 victory.
But the Masters is well known for its multiple winners, indeed the most prolific - six-time champion Jack Nicklaus - this year celebrates the 30th anniversary of his iconic 1986 triumph.
Of the former winners in action there are probably only half-a-dozen contenders: Spieth, Bubba Watson, Adam Scott, Charl Schwartzel, Phil Mickelson and Zach Johnson.
Rory McIlroy has a game made for Augusta but has yet to prove he can eliminate ruinous runs like his outward 40 in the second round of last year's tournament.
The Northern Irishman's Masters results are improving. He was 15 under par for the concluding 45 holes to finish a career-best fourth in 2015.
Yet the traits of his year to date suggest he is still prone to mistakes that cancel out those birdies that never seem in short supply. The moment he eliminates such errors at Augusta will be the time he completes the career Grand Slam.
It might happen this week but that would mean bucking the trend of his winless year. Several opportunities for victories have been squandered.


World number one Jason Day has been more ruthless. In his last outing he beat McIlroy in the semi-finals of the WGC Matchplay en route to his second title in as many weeks.
The Australian had won at Bay Hill and, after wrapping up his knockout success in Texas, hunkered down to hone his final Masters preparations. He arrives at Augusta as the reigning PGA champion, bidding for consecutive major victories.
The qualities that enabled Day to make his breakthrough at the highest level at Whistling Straits last August are also among the most important requisites at Augusta.
A winner of six tournaments in the past year, Day has reaped the benefits of greater accuracy in his approach play. Instead of aiming at flags on ranges, he started practising hitting into greens to take account of how the ball reacts when it lands.
From 100 to 150 yards he had been no better than average but now ranks among the top 10 in strokes gained in this crucial category. Precise approach play allied to a secure putting touch are the key ingredients here.

Day is the justifiable favourite but his recent successes have inspired fellow Australian Scott, who won here in 2013 and twice in Florida in March. Scott is reunited with caddie Steve Williams, who is seeking the 15th major title of his carrying career.
Another who can't be ignored is Watson, the champion in 2012 and 2014. Sequentially this should be a Bubba hat-trick year, and Cowen makes the left-hander the man to beat.
"You couldn't find a course more suited to Bubba Watson," he said. "So he would be your favourite almost all of the time. He's won twice, likes the course, he seems to have more patience.
"You can see him a lot of other weeks; he doesn't have the patience, but he does around Augusta."
The world number four has played sparingly but was champion and runner-up in his past two strokeplay events. He cannot be ignored.
Neither can defending champion Spieth, who has not hit the heights of 2015 this year but is desperate not to relinquish his Green Jacket just yet. This is only his third Masters and he has yet to finish outside the top two.
So Spieth, Day, McIlroy, Watson and Scott - players of golfing excellence and character - lead a cast list for what promises to be a vintage Masters.
Sullivan isn't alone when he says he is buzzing.

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St Pauli: German club make honey to help declining bee population

German cult side St Pauli are known for being pioneering socialists on and off the pitch - and their latest good cause is the declining bee population.

The players from the Bundesliga 2 side run out to the song Hells Bells by rock band AC/DC, while the club is known for its skull-and-crossbones logo and left-wing stance against racism, sexism, fascism and homophobia.
Now, after having two beehives installed at their Millerntor stadium in Hamburg, St Pauli have become the first German club to produce their own honey.
The honey will be called Ewaldbienenhonig, named after manager Ewald Lienen and 'bienen', the German word for bees.
Residents within a 3km radius of the stadium have been asked to make "bee friendly" window boxes to help the insects flourish.
It is hoped the initiative will raise awareness of the declining bee population.
"Others have balconies to celebrate championships and we have them for the bees," said managing director Andreas Rettig.

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Antonio Conte: Call for suspended jail sentence in match-fixing case

An Italian prosecutor wants incoming Chelsea boss Antonio Conte to get a six-month suspended prison sentence and fine over his alleged role in a match-fixing case, according to his lawyer.

Conte, who denies any wrongdoing, is accused by prosecutors in the city of Cremona of "sporting fraud".
The case focuses on 2011, when he was in charge of Siena in Serie B.
The 46-year-old former Juventus boss will become Chelsea head coach after managing Italy at Euro 2016.
Conte has already served a ban imposed by the Italian soccer federation in connection with the 2011 case.
Prosecutor Roberto di Martino has cited a match against Albino Leffe, claiming Conte knew of match-fixing efforts. He requested the sentence and 8,000 euro fine in a closed-doors hearing in Cremona on Tuesday.
Conte's lawyer, Leonardo Cammarata, said the defence is due to make its final statement to the court on 11 April and a verdict is due in mid-May.
A Chelsea spokesman said the club would not comment on an ongoing investigation.

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Shahid Afridi: Pakistan star quits as Twenty20 captain following World T20

Shahid Afridi has stepped down as Pakistan's Twenty20 captain after their group stage exit at the World Twenty20.

The 2009 champions beat Bangladesh, but suffered defeats by New Zealand, Australia and hosts India.
Coach Waqar Younis blamed their form on the 36-year-old's "poor captaincy".
Afridi, the world's leading wicket-taker in T20 internationals with 97, planned to retire from international duty at the end of the tournament but has now said he wishes to play on.
"Today I wish to inform my fans in Pakistan and all over the world that I am relinquishing the captaincy of the T20 Pakistani team of my own volition," the all-rounder said in a statement.
"I intend to continue to play the game for my country and league cricket."
A hard-hitting right-handed batsman and leg-spinner, he retired from Test cricket in 2010 and from one-day internationals in 2015.
Afridi has scored more sixes than any other player in the history of one-day international cricket, with 351, and is Pakistan's fourth highest run-scorer in Twenty20s with 1,405.
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Formula 1: No deal reached over new qualifying format

Formula 1 bosses have failed to agree on a new format for qualifying after a meeting at the Bahrain Grand Prix.

Teams discussed the failure of the new elimination format with F1 commercial boss Bernie Ecclestone and Jean Todt, president of governing body, the FIA.
Mercedes F1 boss Toto Wolff said Todt and Ecclestone refused to revert to the 2015 system despite teams' wishes to do so.
A new aggregate system proposed by the FIA will be discussed again next week.
Lewis Hamilton qualified fastest for Sunday's race in Bahrain, but there were quiet periods near the end of the first and second sessions when there were no cars out on the track.
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said all parties had agreed that the new system introduced on the eve of the 2016 season - where the slowest car is eliminated every 90 seconds in three sessions - was not the way forward.
Horner said: "There is an unwillingness from the promoter and FIA to go back to 2015. The teams would go back. A compromise has been put on the table now for the teams to consider.
"Let's have a look at what's been out on the table today. The bottom line is if we don't agree to a compromise, then we're stuck with what we've got and everybody agrees that what we've got isn't right."
Horner and Wolff both said they did not know why Ecclestone and Todt were so opposed to reverting to the 2015 system, whereby all eligible cars ran to the end of a session before the slowest few in each are knocked out, gradually reducing the number of cars over the three sessions.
Todt said in a news conference on Saturday that race promoters had asked for a different system because they feared the 2015 approach was not exciting enough.
Ecclestone has made it clear he wants to find a way to shuffle the grids so that the fastest cars are not always at the front.
Horner said that the proposal was for a reversion to the 2015 format, but with each drivers' two fastest laps being counted towards their grid position rather than just their fastest.
Horner said the plan "needed a bit more investigation, perhaps with an aggregate time of two laps rather than a single lap. So it needs to be properly thought through and considered before voting on it."

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Commonwealth Games: Tanni Grey-Thompson wants Wales 2026 bid

Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson says Wales should bid to host the 2026 Commonwealth Games.

The legendary Paralympian believes Cardiff's hosting of the World Half Marathon should prompt an attempt to bring the games to her home country.
Cardiff staged what were then known as the Empire Games in 1958.
"We just have to be a bit brave and a bit bold and go for it because the Commonwealth Games is a brilliant event," said Baroness Grey-Thompson.
In July 2014, Wales' First Minister Carwyn Jones said there was no guarantee Wales would bid to host a future Games.
But Baroness Grey-Thompson said the half marathon won by Kenya's Geoffrey Kamworor could only help a bid.
Australia's Gold Coast will host the 2018 Commonwealth Games while Durban in South Africa is the 2022 destination.
Baroness Grey-Thompson says financial backing for a bid from Wales would need to be solid, adding: "A lot of the venues are already here in the south Wales area and we do know it brings in money, it brings in people, it brings in tourism."
Britain's Mo Farah won bronze behind Kenya's Geoffrey Kamworor in wind and rain in the Welsh capital on Saturday and the double Olympic and world champion backed the Cardiff course.
"It was fast. I'm sure Geoffrey will say the same thing," Farah said. "It's quite a fast course, even though it's got a little bit uphill
If conditions were clear, we would definitely have seen [a time] close to a world record."
Baroness Grey-Thompson said hosting the World Half Marathon Championships was "part of a stepping stone" to hosting other events.
"In future years, even without it being a World Championship, there's a whole pile of runners from the rest of the UK and around the world who will see how fast this course is and will want to come and run it," she said.
"So we won't always be able to measure the benefits, but actually for Welsh Athletics, British Athletics - those benefits will be there."
Wales' former Olympic 400m runner Jamie Baulch backed up her view, saying: "We hosted an amazing event, the times were fantastic, the performances were there and Mo Farah was competing.
"I think it's just looking on course to get us the Commonwealth Games in 10 years' time."

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