by Augusta National President Fred Ridley has promised that next year’s Masters will go ahead as planned despite “a lot of damage” caused by Hurricane Helene.
Helene made landfall in northern Florida late last week as a Category 4 hurricane and quickly moved north, with deaths also reported in Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee and in Virginia.
Georgia Governor Brian Kemp said the storm “literally spared no one.”
Most residents in and around Augusta, a city of about 200,000 near the South Carolina border, lacked power.
Speaking at a press conference ahead of the Asia Pacific Amateur Championship in Japan, Ridley reiterated that Augusta National was focused on helping the broader community recover from the devastation, but addressed the subject of the Masters.
“Back to one of the first questions… the Masters will take place, [and] it will be on the scheduled dates,” Ridley said in quotes reported by Golf Digest.
The 2025 Masters is scheduled to take place April 10-13, with Scottie Scheffler set to defend his title.
Augusta National closed in May for its annual summer vacation and was scheduled to reopen in mid-October.
“As far as the golf course goes, it was really impacted, as was the rest of the community,” Ridley added. “There has been a lot of damage and a lot of people are working hard to get us back on our feet.
“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 have really played a big role in that, which I think, says a lot. for them and the club culture.
