Say what you will about Augusta National Golf Club--and there is plenty that women can say about the all-male membership--but they sure do know how to run a tournament here. There is a certain can-do attitude that pervades the Masters.
If there's a slippery spot outside the ropes where "patrons" walk, you can bet there will be some traction-friendly traction mixture there in minutes. The club is sparing no expense in building a new, lavish practice facility that will be ready the year after next. They made a great new spectator spot alongside the 16th green by clearing brush and building an elaborate wooden stairway.
They don't sit on all the profits they make from tickets and merchandise (and man, do they sell merchandise, the line to just get in and shop can be 100 yards long). They're not afraid to pump it back into the tournament. Golf media members are appreciative this year for the new information stations at each seat, and for the extraordinary new restaurant-caliber eating area.
Doug Ferguson, the outstanding Associated Press golf beat writer who is president of the Golf Writers Association of America, made a formal verbal thank you during chairman Billy Payne's news conference Wednesday. Ferguson ended his remarks by jokingly suggesting that next year maybe Augusta National "write our stories for us."
Payne, with perfect timing, answered, "We can do that, too."
Comments (1)
Let them say what they will, and I will. To me a bit of what makes the Masters at Augusta such a special tournament is its all male membership; which to me, speaks of a much more innocent and tolerant time, in the face of all of the P.C. mania of late.