Chairman of Augusta National, Fred Ridley wants all tours to back the proposed golf ball roll back but even that won’t allay his fears that the golf course that hosts the Masters tournament could reach 8000 yards.
Augusta have tinkered with the golf course every year and the standout change ahead of this year’s tournament is that they have lengthened the par-5 2nd hole by ten yards, bringing the right fairway bunker into play for the longer hitters.
This will see the course exceed 7,600 yards in length and Ridley said it was needs must in order to keep the golf course competitive against the ever increasing distance the ball goes but expects even with the proposed roll back of the golf ball, the Masters will be played on an 8000 yard golf course in the future.
“Each year we look for ways to improve the golf course, to ensure it continues to challenge the best players in the world,” Ridley said in his statement. “One course change of note for this year’s tournament is on No. 2, where we moved the tee back 10 yards and to the left. Historically, most competitors have been able to reach this par-5 in two, but the adjusted tee location will provide an added challenge as players consider second shots at the sloped dogleg left.
“Adding distance to the Augusta National golf course has become standard operation over the past two decades. For almost 70 years, the Masters was played at just over 6,900 yards. Today the course measures 7,550 yards from the markers, and we may well play one of the tournament rounds this year at more than 7,600 yards. I’ve said in the past that I hope we will not play the Masters at 8,000 yards. But that is likely to happen in the not too distant future under current standards. Accordingly, we support the decisions that have been made by the R&A and the USGA as they have addressed the impact of distance at all levels of the game.”
With no clear end to the division in men’s professional golf in sight at present, Ridley issued an update on LIV golfers eligibility for future Masters editions.
There are thirteen LIV golfers in the field – seven are former champions – while Joaquin Niemann received an invite after his impressive form on both the Saudi backed tour and the DP World Tour as he almost broke back into the top-50 in the Official World Golf Ranking.
Concerns have been raised over the future eligibility of some LIV players for the Masters but Ridley sees no issue with the current form of the OWGR despite LIV players remaining ineligible to earn ranking points.
“There’s been a lot of discussion about that, and presently we do use the Official World Golf Rankings,” he said. “As you know, we’re on the board of the OWGR. We believe that it is a legitimate determiner of who the best players in the game are.
“There’s been communication that’s been public regarding LIV’s application, which subsequently was withdrawn after some remedial suggestions were made regarding pathways and access to players and concern about some of the aspects of team golf.
“But I think in our case, we’re an invitational, and we can adjust as necessary.”
Ridley added that Niemann was worthy of a special invitation to this year’s tournament and the red hot Chilean arrives as one of the favourites to claim a green jacket.
“We felt that Joaquin had not only a great record coming up to this year, but after his season, he went to Australia, played very well there, finished fourth in the Australian PGA, won the Australian Open, one of the great, great championships in the world. We thought he was deserving of a special invitation.
“Historically, and as stated in our qualification criteria, we consider international players for special invitations. But we do look at those every year and if we felt that there was a player or players, whether they played on the LIV tour or any other tour, who were deserving of an invitation to The Masters, we would exercise that discretion with regard to special invitations.”
Ridley quashed suggestions that a separate points system exclusively for LIV players to qualify for the Masters would be introduced.
“I think it would be difficult to establish any type of point system that has any connection to the rest of the world of golf because they’re basically, not totally, but for the most part, a closed shop.
“There is some relegation, but not very much. It all really depends on what new player they sign.
“But I don’t think that that prevents us from giving subjective consideration based on talent, based on performance to those players.
“Our goal is to have, to the greatest extent possible, the best field in golf, the best players in the world. Having said that, we never have had all the best players in the world because of the structure of our tournament. It’s an invitational. It’s limited field, it’s a small field. So we’re in a little bit a different situation.”
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