While offering few details and wanting to keep the focus on the community rather than a private golf club, Augusta National chairman Fred Ridley on Thursday said that he expected the Masters Tournament to go on as scheduled in early April 2025.
The reason it is even a question is due to extensive damage in Georgia and Augusta specifically in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, which left downed trees and power lines and still sees part of the area without power and water.
The club also announced that it is donating $5 million toward the Hurricane Helene Community Crisis Fund.
Augusta National Golf Club, in partnership with the Community Foundation for the CSRA, is donating $5 million towards the Hurricane Helene Community Crisis Fund, which will support local relief efforts in response to the devastating impact of the storm throughout the greater… pic.twitter.com/jlIWaSoKef
— The Masters (@TheMasters) October 3, 2024
Ridley is at the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship, where he joined R&A CEO Martin Slumbers in a joint news conference as the first round of the event was being played in Taiheiyo Club in Gotemba, Japan. The winner gets a spot in both the Masters and British Open next year.
“Several of our key people are not here this year and they stayed behind in Augusta to really care for our employees and the community as they recover from what was really a very catastrophic weather event or hurricane that came through Augusta and many other areas in the southeast last week,” Ridley said. “Something that I’ve really never seen in my lifetime.
“And so we are busy at Augusta. I was there the last couple of days, I was a couple days late coming here, and we are in recovery mode. We are really focusing on our employees and our neighbors, business owners at Augusta to try to help everybody get back on their feet.
“We have been without power and water and other essentials for a number of days. So it really does impress upon you what can happen when there’s a natural disaster such as that.”
Asked specifically about the tournament, Ridley said: “I’m confident that the Masters will be held on the dates that its scheduled to be held.”
Drone footage has shown significant damage to the trees lining Magnolia Lane, the entrance to the club. Augusta Country Club, which is on the other side of Augusta National and is closed indefinitely, estimated that more than 600 trees were down on its course.
According to the National Weather Service, a wind gust of 82 mph was reported at Augusta Regional Airport on Friday morning when the eye of Hurricane Helene passed directly over the city.
More than 1.3 million Georgia residents lost power according to Gov. Brian Kemp, who toured the Augusta damage earlier this week. Vice President Kamala Harris was in Augusta on Wednesday. Kemp referred to the hurricane as “like a 250-mile-wide tornado that hit. To see the level of destruction that a hurricane can do, in this community, being this far from Lowndes County or Echols County and the Florida line, is unprecedented.”
Augusta National has been closed since late May and was scheduled to reopen to members and guests on Oct. 13. It is likely that opening date will be missed, although Ridley did not say specifically.
“We’ve literally had dozens of people working at the club and what’ve really been most proud of is while everyone certainly is focused on getting us back up and running, our employees have been focused on the community at large,” Ridley said.
“As far as the golf course, it really was affected just as the rest of the community was. There was a lot of damage. We have a lot of people working hard to get us back up and running. We don’t really know exactly what that’s going to mean but I can tell if you if it’s humanly possible, we’ll be back in business sooner rather than later.”
This article was originally published on www.si.com as While Focused on Hurricane Helene Relief, Fred Ridley Says Masters Will Go on As Scheduled.
