Despite unfounded reports of widespread Hurricane destruction to the famed Augusta National course and premises the club’s Chairman Ridley believes golf’s first major of the season will go ahead as planned from 10th to 13th April 2025.
It has been just over a week since the southeast of the US was hit by Hurricane Helene sadly resulting the deaths of 95 people, knocking out power to millions and trapping families in floodwaters. In hard-hit North Carolina, days of unrelenting flooding have turned roads into waterways, left many without basic necessities and strained state resources.
Indeed, American golfer Billy Horschell spoke of the devestation to hit North Carolina and where the Ponte Vedre resident owns property upon arriving back into Scotland last Sunday for this week’s Dunhill Links Championship.
However, we have learnt in recent days that the State of Georgia was also hit hard badly, including the famed Augusta National course and host each year since 1934 to the Masters.
Indeed, the website of the local Augusta Chronicle carries nothing but stories of death and destruction all about the city.
After the hurricane passed, Augusta Chairman Fred Ridley made a statement Thursday morning claiming that Augusta National had suffered “a lot of damage.” However, the extent of the damage was mostly unknown to anyone outside of the Augusta community, relying solely on posts from social media to give a brief glance at how Helene affected the course.”
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
Then at a news conference ahead of this week’s Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship in Japan, Ridley addressed
Then at a news conference ahead of this week’s Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship in Japan, Ridley.
However, drone footage emerged offering a detailed look at the course, specifically Magnolia Lane, and the damage it succumbed to during the hurricane.
It prompted Ridley to go onto the club’s X account to answers the 2025 Masters.
“I’m confident that the Masters will be held, it will be held on the dates that it´s scheduled to be held, and I think we have a few announcements to make with respect to that project, so stay tuned,” Ridley sai at a news conference ahead of this week’s Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship in Japan.
Ridley added: “We’ve had literally dozens of people working at the club and what I’ve really been the most proud of is while everyone certainly is focused on getting us back up and running, our employees have been so focused on the community at large.
“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 it´s humanly possible, we´ll be back in business sooner rather than later.”
