Masters organizers have ruled out changing Augusta’s iconic 12th hole in the near future as golf tries to cope with players hitting the ball further.
The 155-yard par three, where players hit tee shots over a water hazard on a narrow green, was the scene of some of the tournament’s most memorable moments.
“I would say with 100 percent certainty that this deadline will not be extended during my term,” Augusta President Fred Ridley said.
“It’s almost like asking if we could touch up the Mona Lisa a little.”
Limiting the distance modern players hit the ball is an ongoing debate among golf policymakers, who want to help protect courses that aren’t long enough to handle today’s 340-yard drives.
Augusta has been elongated from 6,900 meters to 7,550 meters over the past two decades.
The latest change sees the par-five second hole – a sloping left dogleg that many players reach the green in two shots – extended by 10 yards for this year’s Masters, which begins on Thursday.
Former Masters champion Vijay Singh suggested that the 12th hole – the shortest at Augusta and known as the Golden Bell – should also be extended.
“I think it would be a much more difficult hole if people hit a 6-iron or a 7-iron instead of a 9-iron or a wedge,” said Singh, who won the tournament in 2000.
However, Ridley rejected the suggestion that an extra 10 meters would make it more difficult.
In 2016, defending champion Jordan Spieth saw his attempt to retain the green jacket thwarted by a quadruple bogey seven after putting two tee shots in the water.
In 2020, five-time champion Tiger Woods found the water three times before hitting a 10, his highest score ever on a single hole at a major tournament.
“I think the 12th hole at Augusta is the most iconic par three in the world,” Ridley said at his annual pre-tournament press conference on Wednesday.
“I’m not sure the extra 10 yards will make a difference. Players are hitting short irons but it doesn’t seem to matter, the hole is very difficult.”
The R&A and the United States Golf Association plan to roll back ball technology that they say would help solve the distance problem.
Ridley said the Masters “supports the decisions” made by the R&A and USGA.
“I’ve said in the past that I hope we don’t play the Masters at 8,000 yards, which is likely to happen in the not too distant future by today’s standards,” he added.
Meanwhile, Ridley said there are no plans to establish a formal pathway for LIV players to qualify for the Masters.
Defending champion Rahm has a lifetime exemption, but he called on other LIV golfers to be able to “earn their place” at majors, even if their chances are currently limited due to a lack of world ranking points .
Ridley said the official world golf rankings are “a legitimate determiner of the best players in the game” and that because the Masters is an invitational event, they can “adjust as necessary.”
However, he added: “It will be difficult to establish any type of points system that has any connection to the rest of the golf world because it is fundamentally, not totally, but essentially, a closed workshop.
“Our goal is to have, as much as possible, the best golf course, the best players in the world.
“That said, we never had all the best players in the world because of the structure of our tournament.
“It’s an invitation. It’s a small field. We’ve always honored our past champions, we also honor the amateurs, but we have flexibility.”
This flexibility allowed tournament organizers to invite Chilean Joaquin Niemann, ranked 91st in the world – only the world’s top 50 are guaranteed a place via the rankings.
Ridley called Niemann’s inclusion a “great example” of their approach.
“If we felt that there were one or more players, whether they played on the LIV Tour or any other tour, who deserved an invitation to the Masters, we would exercise that discretion with respect to special invitations,” he said. he declared.