Top golfers branded 'one-dimensional' heading into 90th Masters

Ridley made the remark after hearing that Jackson Herrington, a 19-year-old amateur who is among the 91 players in this week’s field, had taken two bunkers out of play at the Georgia venue in a practice round.

Speaking in his traditional media conference on the eve of the Masters, Ridley “re-emphasised” Augusta National’s support of the bid by The R&A and USGA, the game’s two governing bodies, to impose a golf ball rollback.

Acknowledging that testing could be delayed until 2030, Ridley said: “Until recent years golf has been a game of imagination, creativity, and variety. The game has become much more one-dimensional.

“As players drive the ball prodigious distances and routinely hit short irons into par-4s and even some par-5s, this issue goes beyond competitive impacts. Increased course lengths results in more time, more cost, and more environmental concerns.”

Ridley said he is confident that the impact of a rollback in the recreational game and for millions of weekend golfers around the world will be “immaterial”.

But, referring to the professional game, he added: “We hold firm in our belief that the greats of the game are defined not merely by how far they hit the ball, but their extraordinary skill in all aspects of the game.

“Their ability to shape shots, to take on risk, and to execute under pressure is at the heart of championship golf and is best displayed through a full spectrum of shot-making opportunities.

“Regulation of the golf ball is not an attempt to turn back time or stifle progress. It is an effort to preserve the essence of what makes golf the great game that it is.”

‘Failure is not an option’

Ridley, who played in the 1976 Masters as an amateur, was asked what role he felt Augusta National would play in getting other organisations - the PGA Tour, for example - to agree on a rollback.

“My feeling on this subject is failure is not an option,” he declared. “I think we need to continue to work together to come to some agreement. Tough issues like this require compromise, and I think there has been some compromise to date.

“There's certainly commercial interests that are at play here, and we all know what those are. But at the same time, it's not the good old days. That's not what we're trying to do.

“What we're trying to do is to protect the integrity of what makes golf so great. I think I tried to articulate it in my comments, and that's that it's more than about just hitting prodigious drives.

“I talked to Jackson Herrington, one of our young amateurs, and he told me that yesterday he hit it over the bunker on 1 and 5, which is about a 325-yard carry, and one was into the wind.

‘It’s time to really address this issue’

“I've said that we can make changes, but there's not much we can do to make changes on No 1 unless we tear down the Eisenhower Cabin, and we're not going to do that. We'll make changes when we can, but I think it's time to really address this issue. It's been talked about for a long time.”

It has been rumoured that the Masters gnome, which has proved a big hit in the merchandise shop at Augusta National in recent years, is being discontinued after this year’s event. “I've been asking that question for several years, and they won't tell me the answer. So I can't help you,” replied Ridley to that.