Ponte Vedre, FL …
Masters founders Bobby Jones and Clifton Roberts will probably turnover in their graves in learning next month’s Masters will probably go ahead without patrons.
The 84th staging of the Masters is set to follow the PGA Tour in no doubt announcing in coming days it will be a ‘Players Only’ first major of the New Year at Augusta National.
The elite ‘Members Only’ club will already be looking to scrap plans on the Saturday before (April 4th) for the inaugural Augusta National Women’s Amateur Championship while Sunday’s ‘Drive, Chip and Putt’ competition could also be off/
Then there’s the fun-packed Wednesday’s ‘Par-3 Contest’ and without patrons it surely also cannot go ahead.
US Open champ Gary Woodland says it will be ‘different’ without patrons at the Masters
One of those knowing a ‘patron’s free’ Masters will be ‘different’ is reigning US Open champ, Gary Woodland. The 35-year old American has not enjoyed the best of times at Augusta having missed the cut three years running from 2016 to 2018 and sharing 32nd place a year ago.
“It is going to be so different if there is no patrons,” said Woodland in posting a two-over par 74 on day one of the Players Championship.
“We were talking today, you make eagle on Augusta on the back nine and I mean you just are so used to hearing roars, and you work out where the roar is coming from and what’s going on around the gold course more than any of the Major venues.
“So, it would be so different without the patrons, as they would say. Not hearing those roars out there would be different. You obviously we’re out there playing, we’re playing for a lot of money, we’re playing for a lot of FedExCup points and a lot of things, but having no fans out there would definitely be different.
“Then in hearing the news the virus has become a pandemic, I mean I think it escalated quickly. At first people would just keep saying it was the flu, the flu’s just a thing, people get shots every year for the flu shot and you just don’t think it’s that big a deal.
“But you start seeing the elderly and the people that are really being affected by this, I mean it’s scary. If you look at it, the people that come out and watch there’s a lot of older people out here watching us play right now, especially when Tiger’s not here.
“When Tiger’s here it changes the demographic I would say for fans a lot. We have an older fan base and that’s scary for having them out here with this going on.”
