Augusta National Chairman Fred Ridley hosted the annual ‘State of the Masters’ address ahead of this year’s 87th hosting of the Masters.
There two key questions, if you like, that involved the future of qualified LIV golfers competing in the Masters, and also why LIV Commissioner, Greg Norman was not extended an invitation to join other Tour CEOs and Commissioners present this week at Augusta National
Augusta National Chairman Fred Ridley
Q. You mentioned back in December in clarifying the participation of LIV players that your criteria is constantly under review. I wanted to ask you, what would prompt changes, which apparently are coming, but I don’t know how to ask you about them because I’m not sure what they are.
CHAIRMAN FRED S. RIDLEY: Well, I mean, I think when you look at the changes that I mentioned that are going to be in place for 2024, they are fairly administrative, I think would be the best word.
The reason for that statement in December was really to sort of disabuse the notion that we might not be making any changes in the future. It wasn’t to specifically have you anticipate that we were going to make some major announcement, although that could be the case.
We do look at our qualifications every year, but there are changes. Things are evolving, and we need to make sure that we are flexible in that regard. So I’m sure there will be changes in the future, but none beyond what I announced this morning.
AND
Q. We have seen the leaders of the PGA TOUR and the DP World Tour here this week. Did the club extend an invitation to Greg Norman in his capacity as LIV’s commissioner, and what considerations went into whatever decisions you all reached?
CHAIRMAN FRED S. RIDLEY: We did not extend an invitation to Mr. Norman. The primary issue and the driver there is that I want the focus this week to be on the Masters competition, on the great players that are participating, the greatest players in the world, which, by our decision in December, we ensured that we were going to honor and be consistent with our invitation criteria.
I would also add that, in the last ten years, Greg Norman has only been here twice, and I believe one of those was as a commentator for Sirius Radio.
It really was to keep the focus on the competition.
AND
Q. The qualification changes we’ll see in a little while are regarding PGA TOUR, and many of the qualifications are sort of in partnership with the PGA TOUR. Has there been any consideration for other pathways for some other world tours, like Europe or Japan, to get in other than just the World Rankings?
CHAIRMAN FRED S. RIDLEY: Yeah, we actually have discussed that, and that may well be something we do in the future. We really want to make sure that the Masters Tournament field is representative of the best players in the world, so we are constantly looking at those possibilities.
Our conclusion for the time being is that the Official World Golf Rankings, it’s a really good way to invite players. It’s an objective criteria based on data-driven analytics, and it’s consistently applied. I think most would agree it’s a good system.
AND
Q. Back in December you used the words, “Regrettably, diminishing the virtues of the game and the meaningful legacies of those who built it,” and you said were disappointed, presumably because of the golfers who left their jobs and went into business with the Saudis responsible for 9/11, the murder and dismemberment of Jamal Khashoggi, terrible, abysmal human rights violations. So now they are here, obviously. You have 18 here. The picture last night was six of them. Are you at all concerned that you are actually helping the Saudis sportswash because of their joy in seeing a picture like that last night? Are you helping them actually sportswash their reputation?
CHAIRMAN FRED S. RIDLEY: Well, let me go back — let me go back to our statement — that was a long question, Christine, but I’ll try to start from the beginning.
Our statement in December, and particularly the comment that these actions had diminished the virtues of the game, I want to make a couple points. The first is I know many of these players who are no longer on the PGA TOUR. Some of them I would consider friends. So anything I might say is not a comment, a personal comment, against their character or anything else.
What I was trying to point out, and I alluded to it in my comments, the platform that these players have built their careers on were based on the blood, sweat and tears of their predecessors, people like Ben Hogan, Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, Tom Watson, Tiger Woods.
I had the privilege of being a member, a partner in a law firm that’s 180 years old, and we exist today because of many generations of lawyers who thought it was important to leave our organization better than they found it. So this is just my personal opinion. Doesn’t mean that everyone has to think this way.
So my comment in December was really more that I was expressing some disappointment that these players were taking the platform that had been given to them — that they rightly had earned success on, by the way — and moving to another opportunity, perhaps not thinking about who might come behind them.
As relates to your comment about sportswashing, I certainly have a general understanding of the term. I think, you know, it’s for others to decide exactly what that means. These were personal decisions of these players, which I, you know, at a high level, don’t necessarily agree with, but it really wasn’t intended to go beyond that.
