Payne had tried unsuccessfully to get golf added to the Games in Atlanta, which would have been played at Augusta, and believes that if it is introduced at the 2016 Olympics then it will help the sport develop around the world.

 

He said: "I’m excited about it. I’m an advocate of spreading the game around the world, and what better way than through the Olympic Games."

 

The International Olympic Committee's (IOC) ruling Executive Board voted last Thursday to recommend that the sport be added to the Games but it needs a majority of its full membership to endorse the decision at its Session in Copenhagen on October 9.

 

Payne said: "Cross your fingers.

 

"I wish we might have done it in the Atlanta Games but it became apparent we didn’t have the support.

 

"What more attractive place to show golf to the world than Augusta National.”

 

Golf made its first, and only appearance on the Olympic programme in 1904, when St. Louis hosted the Games.

 

There were only two events, an individual and a team championship.

 

A Canadian, George Lyon, was the individual champion, and the United States swept the team trophies, led by Chandler Egan, one of the country’s more renowned amateurs.

 

There has been worldwide criticism that the top professionals will never value an Olympic gold medal as highly as they would winning one of the sport's four majors, which includes the Masters.

 

But Payne claimed that including golf in the Olympics gives the sport a unique opportunity to grow round the world.

 

He said: "Think of the smaller nations of the world that golf might reach.

 

"I'm excited about what might mean to smaller nations where young people wouldn't otherwise ever have a chance at the game."