American golfer Scottie Scheffler demonstrated his world number one ranking on Sunday with a remarkable round of 62 (9 under par) on the final day, clinching the gold medal in the men’s golf tournament at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, which began on Thursday at Le Golf National.

The 2022 and 2024 Masters champion was consistently in the mix during the first three days without showing any obvious signs of dominating. However, like all champions, he reserved his best for the crucial final day. Silver went to Team GB’s Tommy Fleetwood and bronze to Hideki Matsuyama representing Japan.

Olympic prestige, but no ‘direct’ prize money

It’s worth noting that there is no official prize purse at the men’s Olympic golf tournament, in which Scheffler’s compatriot Xander Schauffele had been looking in contention to defend the crown he claimed in Tokyo in 2021.

However, while the event’s organisers are not offering any cash incentives to participants, golfers can still earn prize money through their national Olympic committees. What’s more, other non-financial benefits are up for grabs.

USOPC prize payouts for medal winners

While the Olympic golf tournament doesn’t come with a direct prize payout, the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee is to give Team USA athletes across all sports $37,500 per gold medal. The USOPC is also offering competitors $22,500 for every silver, and $15,000 per bronze.

Other countries’ Olympic committees are also offering such incentives, with many ready to fork out significantly more than the USOPC. According to information collected by Forbes magazine, Hong Kong’s athletes are on the most money: $768,000 per gold medal. Fourteen other national committees are also prepared to pay six-figure sums to Olympic champions, including those from Italy, Malaysia and Spain, who have participants in the men’s golf event.

What else is at stake in Olympic golf tournament?

Money aside, success in the Olympic golf event is worth points in the Official World Golf Ranking, while the winner will receive a place at the 2025 editions of all four major tournaments: the Masters, the PGA Championship, the US Open and the Open Championship.

Such benefits are particularly useful to players who have left the PGA Tour for the breakaway, Saudi-backed LIV Golf tour. They cannot earn world-ranking points in LIV Golf events, leading their OWGR placing to suffer. The Olympics, therefore, offer a rare opportunity to improve their position.

What’s more, given that the world rankings are one of the main criteria used by the majors’ organisers when it comes to handing out spots at the events, LIV golfers’ drop down the OWGR means they now find it much harder to qualify. As a result, a guaranteed ticket to the big four tournaments is a significant prize.

There are seven LIV golfers involved in France: Abraham Ancer (Mexico), Adrian Meronk (Poland), Joaquín Niemann (Chile), Carlos Ortiz (Mexico), Mito Pereira (Chile), Puig and Rahm.