Augusta overhaul a sign of the times
There have been many great weekends of golf at Augusta National, but this is the first year we witnessed one before the Masters even began.
After the historic occasion for women’s golf on Saturday with its first amateur Augusta event, it was the turn of some of America’s best juniors on Sunday, under the gaze of no fewer than eight former Masters champions and the current one, Patrick reed.
Thus, the reimagining of Augusta National for the modern era continues. The club where nothing changed for decades, where attitudes among the membership remained depressingly entrenched in the dark ages, is undergoing a remarkable transformation.
As golf looks to redefine itself as the ultimate family sport, who would have guessed Augusta would play its part?
Back in 2012 when former Secretary of State Condoleezza rice and financier Darla Moore became the first female members, many considered it tokenism. Now it looks as if it was the trigger for an overhaul. The nation’s most revered club has been revamped on a scale you wouldn’t believe.
A club that, outside the ropes, looked somewhat worn and dated is now a gleaming utopia of immaculate buildings that sparkle in the sunlight. Who knows the total bill but we’re likely talking hundreds rather than tens of millions of dollars.
There’s no sign it’s stopping any time soon. rumours speak of a longterm plan to buy hundreds more acres in the vicinity and build houses and hotels where the invitees to the Masters would stay, and so many would never leave the confines of Augusta National from one Sunday to the next.
This rapid expansion has been mirrored in the growth of the Masters itself. Is it now the biggest tournament in golf, as rory McIlroy claimed last year?
At the time, it appeared controversial, particularly from someone born on the other side of the Atlantic. how much longer before it becomes prophetic?