Augusta National Chairman Fred Ridley said Thursday he was confident the Masters would be held as scheduled in April as the club directs its attention and resources to helping the area recover from devastating damage from Hurricane Helene.
Augusta National and the Community Foundation for the Central Savannah River Area announced a joint $5 million donation to a fund providing essential services throughout the greater Augusta area.
Ridley was a few days late arriving in Japan for the Asia-Pacific Amateur. He said the home of the Masters sustained “a lot of damage,” just like the rest of the Georgia city on the border with South Carolina.
“We’ve had literally dozens of people working at the club and what I’ve really been the most proud of is while everyone certainly is focused on getting us back up and running, our employees have been so focused on the community at large,” Ridley said at a news conference to kick off the Asia-Pacific Amateur.
“As far as the golf course, it really was affected just as the rest of the community was,” he said. “There was a lot of damage. We have a lot of people working hard to get us back up and running. We don’t really know exactly what that’s going to mean but I can tell if you it’s humanly possible, we’ll be back in business sooner rather than later.”
