Masters organizers have ruled out any changes to Augusta's iconic 12th hole in the near future as the golf world seeks to deal with players hitting the ball further.
The 155-yard par 3, where players hit their tee shots over a water hazard and onto a narrow green, saw some of the tournament's most memorable moments.
“I can say 100 percent that there will be no extension during my term,” Augusta Chairman Fred Ridley said.
“It’s like asking if you can modify the Mona Lisa a little bit.”
Limiting the distance modern players can hit the ball is a continuing trend among golf rules makers who want to protect courses that are not long enough to accommodate today's 340-yard drives. It's a discussion.
Augusta has grown from 6,900 yards to 7,550 yards over the past 20 years.
The latest changes will extend the par-5 second hole – a downhill dogleg to the left where many players reach the green in two shots – by 10 yards at this year's Masters, which opens Thursday.
Former Masters champion Vijay Singh suggested Augusta's shortest hole, the 12th hole, known as the Golden Bell, should also be extended.
“If people were hitting 6-irons and 7-irons instead of 9-irons and wedges, it would be a much more difficult hole,” said Singh, who won the tournament in 2000.
But Ridley rejected the suggestion that 10 more yards would make it more difficult.
In 2016, defending champion Jordan Spieth hit two tee shots into the water and made a quadruple bogey in seven shots to stay in the Green Jacket, but was defeated.
In 2020, five-time champion Tiger Woods hit the water three times before achieving his highest single-hole score of 10 at a major tournament.
“I think the 12th hole at Augusta is the most iconic par 3 in the world,” Ridley said at a press conference Wednesday before the annual tournament.
“I don't know if 10 more yards will make a difference. Guys are hitting short irons, but it doesn't seem to matter. The holes are very difficult.”
The R&A and the United States Golf Association plan to introduce rollback ball technology that is believed to help solve the distance problem.
Ridley said the Masters “supports the decision” of the R&A and USGA.
“I've said in the past that I hope I don't play the Masters with 8,000 yards, but by current standards that's likely to happen in the not-too-distant future,” he added.
Meanwhile, Ridley said there are no plans to establish a formal path for LIV players to qualify for the Masters.
Rahm, the defending champion, has been granted a lifetime exemption, but while his chances are currently limited due to the lack of world ranking points on offer, he has given his fellow LIV golfers a shot at making it to the majors. He called for people to be able to earn money.
Ridley said the Official Golf World Rankings are “the legitimate arbiter of who is the best player in the game” and that the Masters is an invitational tournament so “adjustments can be made as needed.”
However, he added: “It would be difficult to establish any type of point system that has any connection to the rest of the golf world, because the point system is essentially “In that case, it's because the store is closed,” he added.
“Our goal is to have, as much as possible, the best field in golf, the best players in the world.
“Having said that, the way the tournament is structured, we have never had the best players in the world.
“It's an invitation only. It's a small field. We've always respected past champions, we've always respected amateurs, but there's flexibility.”
That flexibility allowed tournament organizers to extend the invitation to Joaquin Niemann of Chile, who is ranked 91st in the world. Only the top 50 people in the world are guaranteed a spot through the rankings.
Ridley called Neiman's participation a “great example” of their approach.
“If we believe that a player, whether playing on the LIV Tour or another tour, deserves an invitation to the Masters, we will exercise that discretion regarding special invitations,” he said. Ta.