Masters hopes to grow the game and speed up play

2008-04-09

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By Andrew BothPA SportsTicker Golf Writer

AUGUSTA, Georgia (Ticker) - It may not quite amount to speedgolf, but Masters officials will try to ensure a slightly fasterpace of play at this year''s tournament starting on Thursday.

Players will compete in threesomes for the first two rounds,before playing in twosomes over the weekend after the cut hasbeen made.

"We have tightened up the pace of play this year," said FredRidley, chairman of the competition committee. "Our target time(for the first two rounds) is four hours and 45 minutes, whichis a seven-minute reduction from last year."

Old-timers may well laugh at the suggestion that four hours, 45minutes is anything other than absurdly slow, but in a gamewhich seems to get slower and slower by the year, at least theMasters is trying to reverse the trend.

"Whether we can achieve that is another story, but we think byencouraging the players and letting them know that this is theexpected time, we think that we might speed up the playmarginally," Ridley said.

He was speaking at Augusta National''s annual "state of the club"press conference, during which chairman Billy Payne said TheMasters had no plans to drastically change its qualificationcriteria in the foreseeable future.

This year, for the first time since 2000, all winners offull-strength PGA Tour events during the January-September partof the season have been invited, which is how Johnson Wagner gotin by winning the Houston Open on Sunday.

But Payne is reluctant to extend the invitation to winners ofthe post Tour Championship tournaments - which invariably havethin fields - or to any overseas events on other tours.

This year''s tournament has 94 players, and the club does notwant any more than that, because it makes it more difficult tocomplete a round if weather delays play.

In other news, Johnson also spoke of the club''s efforts to helpgolf grow globally. It may seem strange for a club in a smallishAmerican city to worry about the state of the game thousands ofmiles away, but Augusta National is no ordinary club.

"Our efforts here at The Masters will be long term," Payne said."There remains, we believe, an untapped opportunity in Asia andother parts of the world where amateur golf has its greatestgrowth potential.

"Together with our partner, the R&A, and other golforganizations, we want to pursue the development of amateur golffor the purpose of creating heroes and legends, establishingrole models who attract other kids to the game. We are seriousabout these efforts and emphasize that they are incremental toour current support of golf domestically."

Payne even encouraged fans to go the Masters web site to suggestways that golf could be improved and promoted.

As the head of the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games, he knows one sureway to promote golf would be its inclusion in the Olympics.

"I suspect it would be another way to jump start golf in a lotof countries," he said.

The Masters is always evolving. This year, for the first time,ESPN will televise the first two rounds, and on Wednesday thepar-3 competition was televised for the first time.

Also, children aged between eight and 16 will be admitted to thetournament free, when accompanied by a paying spectator.