Augusta National chairman Fred Ridley provided a critical update on the fate of the 2025 Masters after Hurricane Helene.
Golf’s most famous course fell victim to the catastrophic effects of the hurricane that swept through the USA, which was laid bare by drone footage earlier this week.
The home of the Masters was hit by the ‘catastrophic and historic’ hurricane as it passed through Georgia at the end of last week, causing serious damage to the usually-pristine grounds of the notoriously-private club.
The disaster comes six months before the greatest players in the game will make the trip down Magnolia Lane for the first major of the year, The Masters.
Masters chairman Ridley provided a key update on the major tournament, insisting the battle for the Green Jacket will go ahead.
Augusta National chairman Fred Ridley provided a critical update on the fate of The Masters
The drone footage captures Magnolia Lane in the wake of Hurricane Helene
‘The Masters will be held, [and] it will be on the dates it’s scheduled to be held,’ he insisted during a press conference at the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship in Japan on Thursday.
The Masters is slated to be held on April 10-13 when World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler will defend his title.
Augusta National closed in May for its annual summer break and had been due to reopen in mid-October.
Ridley had announced earlier in the week that Augusta National was ‘assessing the effects’ and confirmed Thursday that the iconic undulating fairways of the infamous Georgia course had sustained ‘a lot of damage.’
‘We have been without power and water and other essentials for a number of days,’ Ridley said. ‘So it really does impress upon you what can happen when there’s a natural disaster such as that.
‘As far as the golf course, it really was affected just as the rest of the community was … there was a lot of damage and we have a lot of people working hard to get us back up and running.’
Ridley shifted his attention to the wider community after Augusta National announced Thursday that it had donated $5million to the Hurricane Helene Community Crisis Fund.
‘We’ve had literally dozens of people working at the club, and what I really have been most proud of is while everyone certainly is focused on getting us up, back and running, our employees have been so focused on the community at large,’ Ridley said.
The Masters is still set to go ahead on April 10-13 when Scottie Scheffler will defend his title
The grounds of Augusta are usually a picture of peace and tranquility (pictured in April 2023)
‘We’ve been able to take care of our employees, but we’ve also been focused on what the Red Cross and other organizations are doing in Augusta, and our employees really have been a big part of that, which I think really speaks for them and the culture at the club.’
Earlier this week, Drone footage from YouTube user @MrHushpuppy shared from above Augusta National, giving golf fans an insight into how badly hit the famous course was by the storm.
As the drone flies down the famous Magnolia Lane entry, trees can be seen strewn across the road, blocking entry to the course.
In the main arrival area in front of the clubhouse, more trees have fallen across the driveway, and in the background there is damage to the course itself.
The clubhouse appears to have survived any major damage, though, meaning it is unlikely to cost a lot of money to repair any storm damage.
After the devastating storm, the rebuild begins at Augusta National and elsewhere.