{"id":1597,"date":"2014-04-09T20:21:50","date_gmt":"2014-04-09T20:21:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/theaposition.com\/teemoore\/?p=1597"},"modified":"2014-04-10T13:19:05","modified_gmt":"2014-04-10T13:19:05","slug":"the-annual-state-of-the-masters-press-conference","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/teemoore\/golf\/personalities\/1597\/the-annual-state-of-the-masters-press-conference","title":{"rendered":"The Annual State of the Masters Press Conference"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>At 11 am Wednesday morning,\u00a0 Augusta National Chairman Billy Payne held the annual State of the Masters press conference. He was joined by Craig Heatley, Masters Media Committee Chairman, and Fred Ridley, Masters Competition Chairman. Along with re-affirming the mission of the Masters as the \u201cattempt to showcase this wonderful game by providing the world\u2019s best players a remarkably beautiful venue which fairly tests their skills,\u201d Payne and company provided the following newsworthy items and notes.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Payne stated the Masters would not include a walking rules official for every group, as done at other Majors. In spite of the controversy caused by Tiger Woods being penalized two shots for a rules infraction <i>after <\/i>he signed his scorecard, Payne said, \u201cI think that we made the right decision.\u00a0 I believe that the golf world has affirmed that.\u00a0 I know that some of you disagree with the decision.\u201d\u00a0 In the decision not to have a walking official, Payne added:\u00a0 \u201cWe have approximately 60 officials on the course, significantly more than any other tournament\u2026 So we think the way do it is pretty good, which is not to say that we would never consider a change.\u00a0 But we kind of like the way we do it now.\u201d The upside here? Maybe more players will rely upon themselves, their caddies and their fellow competitors to know the rules. And it might speed up the round. Ok, probably not.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Besides the rules flap last year, the matter of the Masters not allowing for more daylight hours in event of a longer playoff scenario was raised by me in a one-on-one query with Ridley. Although changes in Sunday starting times can be altered due to weather factors, the last pairing on Sunday will continue to go off at 3 pm. Ridley told me last year that if necessary, the Masters had plans for a Monday finish in case of a playoff being called due to darkness. That situation was a real possibility last year with Adam Scott and Angel Cabrera finishing in the twilight on the 10th green. \u201cWe probably could have played one more hole last year.\u201d said Ridley today. \u201cIt would have been close but we think we could have made it.\u201d So here\u2019s wishing and hoping (again) a Masters playoff doesn\u2019t go beyond two holes. I can\u2019t believe Bobby Jones and Clifford Roberts, if posed with a similar same day playoff scenario, wouldn\u2019t build in at least another thirty or sixty minutes before the last tee-time. Oops, did I say <i>60 Minutes?\u00a0<\/i> That\u2019s the culprit behind this resistance to earlier starting times on Sunday: television.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>When asked what was the initial genesis of the wildly successful Drive, Chip &amp; Putt National Finals, Payne again took a humble and understated approach.\u00a0 Payne said, in part: \u201cAs we began to discuss a multitude of ideas, this one rose to the surface and was immediately embraced by everybody, and I don&#8217;t remember who the exact author of the sentence was, but it was clear from the beginning that this was a good idea and let&#8217;s see if we can take it further.\u201d But then Heatley spilled the beans but saying, \u201cHe&#8217;s (Payne) being modest.\u201d If not for Payne\u2019s enthusiasm and leadership for the idea, this wonderful initiative wouldn\u2019t have happened at the Masters.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\u201cSkirting\u201d controversy\u2014Payne wasn\u2019t going to be dragged into the debate about the issue of the R &amp; A admitting a female member. When asked about the pending R &amp; A vote on the matter, Payne deftly said, \u201cWell, I&#8217;m proud to be a member of the R&amp;A and I bet you can guess how I&#8217;m going to vote (laughter). Other than that, I would respect their process, their requirement to conduct a vote, and so the process will culminate in a decision, and as I&#8217;ve said, I know where one vote is going to be cast (smiling).\u201d Augusta National member Condoleezza Rice, a former Secretary of State, would be proud of Payne\u2019s diplomatic skills.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Ever constant improvement: Payne announced a major improvement to the patron entrance and hospitality area at Gate 9, close to the fifth hole. Now this area is officially called the \u201cSouth Village\u201d with its traditional array of services like concessions, restrooms and merchandising. However the area, according to Payne, is now \u201cembracing the architectural style of the Augusta look, which we believe our Patrons expect and appreciate.\u201d What other tournament or enterprise continues to invest such huge sums for the benefit of their customers, er patrons, for just one week of the year?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Oddest query\u2014Posed to him via a translator for a golf writer from China, Payne was asked about the \u201cvery good tradition\u201d of the nine special and reserved parking spaces assigned to golf journalists who have received the Masters Major Achievement Award. Adding: \u201cI think this could be a good story for the Chinese community.\u201d My immediate thought when hearing this\u00a0 from out-of-left-field question: Man, parking must be a bitch in Shanghai. Sorry.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>At 11 am Wednesday morning,\u00a0 Augusta National Chairman Billy Payne held the annual State of the Masters press conference. He&#8230;  <a class=\"excerpt-read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/teemoore\/golf\/personalities\/1597\/the-annual-state-of-the-masters-press-conference\" title=\"ReadThe Annual State of the Masters Press Conference\">Read more &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":47,"featured_media":1606,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,7],"tags":[2832,1036821,53,159,5838,6474,975993,1156,975995,975996],"class_list":["post-1597","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-golf","category-personalities","tag-terry-moore","tag-masters","tag-tiger-woods","tag-augusta-national","tag-billy-payne","tag-adam-scott","tag-drive-chip-amp-putt","tag-angel-cabrera","tag-60-minutes","tag-masters-playoff"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/teemoore\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/40\/2014\/04\/Payne.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/teemoore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1597","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/teemoore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/teemoore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/teemoore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/47"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/teemoore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1597"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/teemoore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1597\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1600,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/teemoore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1597\/revisions\/1600"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/teemoore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1606"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/teemoore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1597"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/teemoore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1597"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/teemoore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1597"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}