AUGUSTA, Ga. – Masters chairman Fred Ridley said that there is “no timetable” for any potential lengthening of Augusta National’s 13th hole that would restore some of the risk-reward elements to the famous par 5.
“That’s something that certainly we have considered and will continue to consider,” Ridley said during his annual news conference ahead of the Masters.
Ridley said that he remains reluctant to make any dramatic changes to the 13th hole given how much history, both tragedy and triumph, has unfolded there over the years. Still, he recognized that the iconic par 5 was not intended to have players hitting mid- or short irons into the green.
Full-field tee times from the 86th Masters Tournament
“At some point in time, it’s something that we likely will do,” he said of adding yardage. “We just don’t have anything to say about it right now.”
The USGA and R&A are in the midst of a years-long Distance Insights Report that could help curb distance at the elite level.
In his news conference, Ridley was asked what was more likely to happen first: the governing bodies crack down on distance, or the club adds a new tee to the 13th hole. He said that the club operates on its own timetable and will make any adjustments, if necessary, regardless of whatever recommendations are made in the distance report.
“We really can’t make any predictions as to what’s going to happen,” he said, “but I think if there are some marginal modifications to the equipment rules, from what I have observed over the past few years with the players and their athleticism, their strength, their size, their efficiency of their golf swings, I don’t think that we are going to see courses being shortened.
“So perhaps the two sort of factors might converge, but I don’t think that what the governing bodies do is going to have a direct impact on what we might do at 13 or any other hole on the golf course.”
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