Masters chairman Fred Ridley on Thursday gave an replace on the restoration efforts within the southeast, together with Augusta, Georgia, after the devastating hurricane that ravaged the realm final week.
Ridley, talking throughout the opening spherical of the Asia-Pacific Beginner Championship in Japan, stated that the destruction from Hurricane Helene is “one thing that I’ve actually by no means seen in my life,” after a number of states have been within the path of the category-4 storm that packed historic storm-surge ranges and 140-mph winds.
Ridley stated he was a late arrival to Japan due to the continued efforts to rebuild the realm. On Thursday, he introduced, in partnership with the Neighborhood Basis for the Central Savannah River Space, that the membership was donating $5 million to help the native reduction efforts.
“We’ve got been with out energy and water and different necessities for quite a lot of days,” Ridley stated. “So it actually does impress upon you what can occur when there’s a pure catastrophe similar to that.”
Ridley stated that Augusta Nationwide suffered “plenty of harm,” very like the remainder of the neighborhood.
“We’ve got lots of people working exhausting to get us again up and operating,” he stated. “We don’t actually know precisely what that’s going to imply, however I can inform you if it’s humanly potential, we’ll be again in enterprise sooner moderately than later.”
Ridley added that he’s “assured” that subsequent yr’s Masters shall be held as scheduled, April 10-13.
In tournament-related information, with the golf world nonetheless fractured, Ridley was requested about the opportunity of including gamers to the sector who would in any other case not be eligible. Joaquin Niemann, for example, was invited to this previous yr’s occasion, primarily based on his taking part in document, dedication to incomes world-ranking factors exterior of LIV occasions and standing as a former Latin America Beginner champion.
Ridley stated that the Masters will “look to seek out gamers” who could be additive to the sector for the yr’s first main.
“We might all wish to see the sport get again collectively,” Ridley stated. “The followers need to see the most effective gamers play collectively. So it’s a less-than-desirable scenario that we have now proper now. I’d say, sure, we’re going to look to seek out methods to get a few of these gamers in that may not in any other case be certified, kind of primarily based on their information.”
