AUGUSTA, GEORGIA | Augusta National chairman Fred Ridley had the unusual task of following himself Wednesday morning in his annual media address.
On Monday, Ridley presented a progress report on the work being done at Augusta Municipal Golf Course, known to locals as the Patch, which will include a new Tiger Woods-designed short course and the creation of a TGR Learning Lab for area students.
It is another example of Augusta National’s outreach, which included taking a lead role in helping the community recover from the devastating effects of Hurricane Helene last fall.
On Wednesday, Ridley – having already provided the big news of the week on Monday – spoke about the club’s various initiatives, revealed plans for enhanced player services and took questions on a number of subjects ranging from pace of play to potential changes in qualifying criteria.
Without committing to definitive changes, Ridley made it clear that Augusta National is on board with the game’s ruling bodies (the USGA and the R&A) when it comes to the announced golf ball rollback and pace-of-play enforcement.
“Implementation is the next challenge, as we all knew it would be,” Ridley said of the rollback, which is scheduled to go into effect for elite players in 2028 and for all golfers in 2030.
“It is critical for the good of the game that all stakeholders work together as this issue evolves. I’m encouraged by the constructive and positive discussions that are aimed at successfully implementing this important change.”
The PGA Tour and the PGA of America have pushed back against the new guidelines and indicated they would not support them. Though Ridley was not asked specifically about the potential impact, it’s possible that three of the four major championships – the Masters, the U.S. Open and the Open Championship – could be played with different golf balls than would be used on the PGA Tour.
Ridley praised the tour for its push to improve pace of play and suggested Augusta National will be paying close attention to how long players take this week.
While the USGA and R&A have created defined pathways for LIV Golf competitors to qualify for their championships, Ridley indicated the Masters does not plan to do it.
The chairman noticed a young participant in the Drive, Chip and Putt National Finals on Sunday going through an extensive AimPoint procedure as well as walking off the distance for a shot despite having already been provided the yardage.
“I think that example really illustrates the problem, and unfortunately, these young people are looking to their heroes who play the game each week for a living as to how they’re going to approach competitively playing the game,” Ridley said.
“I think it’s been very – a good thing that knowledgeable people such as [CBS announcer] Dottie Pepper have commented on this recently, and I hope that – she made the point … about respect for others, including most particularly the people who watch the game, the fans.
“So I think maybe this might be a call to action that perhaps we haven’t seen in the past. I’ve spoken about it a number of times. We will be dealing with that issue this week. I’m not going to tell you that I’m going to be happy with the results, but I think I am encouraged that the PGA Tour is doing some things, experimenting with some timing procedures that might be a little bit more aggressive than we’ve seen in the past.”
Ridley added that “it’s safe to assume” there will be time limitations applied in the Drive, Chip and Putt competition next year.
While the USGA and R&A have created defined pathways for LIV Golf competitors to qualify for their championships, Ridley indicated the Masters does not plan to do it. It issued a special invitation to LIV golfer Joaquin Niemann this year based on his global success, and the tournament is free to invite whomever it chooses.
With a field of 95 players this year, Ridley was asked if the Masters will consider eliminating the automatic invitation to winners of fall events on the PGA Tour, which typically have weaker fields. He said also the Masters will consider creating exemptions for winners of major international events such as the BMW PGA Championship on the DP World Tour.
“As it relates to the fall tournaments … it’s really a balance. We think it’s important to win a PGA Tour tournament, and we have for many years recognized that by granting an invitation to the winner of each tournament,” Ridley said.
“But like we do every year, and I’ve said this I think every year in this press conference, we will have a thorough examination of our qualifications at the end of the year – or after the tournament this year, and we may make some changes. Not necessarily that, but some years we do make changes, some years we don’t. I think your [question] about a couple of international tournaments is well-founded, and that will be part of our examination.”
“It was a monumental effort. I think at times we had well over 200, 250 people on the property. But what I think is more important and what really was something that had an impact on me was the way our employees went into the community and really started focusing their efforts in addition to the work they had to do here, but how they could help their fellow citizens of Augusta.” – Fred Ridley
Ridley heaped praise on the Augusta National staff for its work in the aftermath of the hurricane. The club’s facility across Washington Road from the golf course served as a base of operations for relief efforts.
At the same time, the golf course sustained extensive damage with hundreds of trees downed, requiring weeks of repair work.
“It was a monumental effort. I think at times we had well over 200, 250 people on the property. But what I think is more important and what really was something that had an impact on me was the way our employees went into the community and really started focusing their efforts in addition to the work they had to do here, but how they could help their fellow citizens of Augusta,” Ridley said.
“Many of those people were impacted themselves. They had trees fall on their houses, on their cars. Their properties were littered with debris and trees. But it was really amazing what they did to help others.
“Our people really reacted. They did a great job here, obviously, but we expected that. But what they did in the community was something that I’ll always remember.”