AUGUSTA, Ga. — Augusta Nationwide Golf Membership chairman Fred Ridley mentioned Wednesday that the Masters will proceed to ask worldwide golfers to the Masters with particular invites, however the event would not in any other case plan so as to add particular pathways for LIV Golf League gamers like two different main championships have accomplished this yr.
Ridley, chatting with reporters at a information convention, mentioned he’ll proceed to encourage the PGA Tour and LIV Golf League to return to some form of settlement to reunify the game in order that the world’s finest golfers would play collectively exterior of the 4 main championships.
The PGA Tour and Saudi Arabia’s Public Funding Fund (PIF), which has funded LIV Golf since its inception in 2022, have been attempting to achieve a deal for a lot of the previous two years.
Final week, sources confirmed to ESPN that the PGA Tour has rejected the PIF’s most up-to-date supply to take a position $1.5 billion into PGA Tour Enterprises, the tour’s for-profit entity, which got here with the caveat that the rival LIV Golf League would stay intact.
The PIF additionally needs its governor, Yasir Al-Rumayyan, to function co-chairman of PGA Tour Enterprises’ board.
“I am probably not ready to say what type that ought to take so far as how the 2 organizations ought to come collectively, what authorized construction which may be or what the monetary facets of which may be,” Ridley mentioned. “However I feel all of us agree that 4 instances a yr shouldn’t be sufficient to have the good gamers of the sport collectively.”
There are 12 LIV Golf gamers within the subject, together with previous champions Phil Mickelson, Jon Rahm, Sergio Garcia, Patrick Reed, Dustin Johnson, Charl Schwartzel and Bubba Watson.
LIV Golf’s Joaquín Niemann acquired a particular invitation into the sphere after performing nicely in DP World Tour occasions final yr and successful the Asian Tour’s PIF Saudi Worldwide on Dec. 7.
In February, the R&A and USGA added a qualification pathway for LIV Golf rivals to play within the Open Championship and U.S. Open, respectively. The main LIV Golf participant not already exempt from the highest 5 within the particular person season standings on June 30 will earn a spot within the 153rd Open Championship at Royal Portrush in Northern Eire on July 17-20.
The USGA introduced a brand new exemption class for the U.S. Open that can award one spot to the main LIV golfer from the highest three within the particular person standings on the midway level of the season.
“Because it pertains to the USGA and the R&A, they definitely act independently,” Ridley mentioned. “We respect their choices. We’re an invitational event. We now have traditionally thought of particular instances for invites for worldwide gamers, which is how Joaquin Niemann was invited, or why he was invited, the final couple years.
“We really feel we are able to cope with that difficulty, whether or not it is a LIV participant or a participant on another tour that may not in any other case be eligible for an invite, that we are able to deal with that with a particular invitation.”
Ridley additionally touched on a number of different points associated to golf throughout his information convention:
• Ridley defended Augusta Nationwide Golf Membership’s choice to ask 2009 Masters champion Ángel Cabrera again to the event this yr.
Cabrera, from Argentina, was sentenced in July 2021 to 2 years in jail for threats and harassment of Cecilia Torres Mana, his associate between 2016 and 2018. In November 2022, he was additionally on trial for threats and harassment towards Micaela Escudero, one other of his ex-girlfriends. After Cabrera pleaded responsible, the courtroom made the 2 sentences concurrent and sentenced him to a few years and 10 months in jail.
He was launched on parole in August 2023
“Nicely, we definitely abhor home violence of any kind,” Ridley mentioned. “Because it pertains to Ángel, Ángel has served the sentence that was prescribed by the Argentine courts, and he’s the previous champion, and so he was invited.”
• Augusta Nationwide Golf Membership had 200 to 250 staff working for weeks to scrub up particles and restore the course after Hurricane Helene, a Class 1 storm, triggered hundreds of thousands of {dollars} in injury within the space on Sept. 27, 2024. Augusta Nationwide Golf Membership reportedly misplaced greater than 1,000 timber and needed to rebuild the No. 16 inexperienced.
The membership was additionally instrumental in offering meals, water and different requirements to Augusta residents who had been affected.
“The spirit of our whole Augusta Nationwide household all through the challenges of the months that adopted Helene will likely be a signature of the 89th Masters Match,” Ridley mentioned. “For weeks, water, energy, meals, gas and different fundamental requirements had been both tough or inconceivable to entry. However, our staff had been out in the neighborhood distributing meals, cleansing up particles and donating meals and cash to assist others of their time of want.
“I thank every one in every of them, and to everybody in Augusta who made sacrifices to help others, even whenever you had been impacted your self, we’re deeply appreciative, and we’ll proceed to do our greatest to help you and our neighborhood.”
• Ridley mentioned the event is protecting a detailed eye on tempo of play, which reached a boiling level on the PGA Tour this yr. The PGA Tour mentioned it’ll take a look at permitting gamers and caddies to make use of rangefinders to be able to purchase shot distances faster, beginning at subsequent week’s RBC Heritage at Hilton Head Island, South Carolina.
The tour is contemplating publicizing pace-of-play knowledge for gamers utilizing “common stroke time” and disclosing fines and penalties for gamers who violate slow-play guidelines.
“Golf is a particular recreation as a result of it requires us to be thoughtful whereas additionally being aggressive,” Ridley mentioned. “Respecting different individuals’s time, together with, importantly, the followers who help the sport, is a elementary courtesy. Subsequently, I wish to encourage continued dialogue on this matter, particularly on the skilled ranges which function essentially the most seen illustration of our sport.”
Even some rivals at Sunday’s Drive, Chip & Putt youth competitors at Augusta Nationwide used the AimPoint green-reading method earlier than placing.
“I feel it is secure to imagine that subsequent yr on the Drive, Chip & Putt you will notice some form of time limitations positioned on the competitors,” Ridley mentioned.
