Change No. 12? 'Not on my watch!'
Chairman Ridley delivers state of the Masters; prop bets gone wild
Grondskeepers tidy up on No. 12 (Simon Bruty/Augusta National)
Augusta National clears the decks for only the club chairman to speak on Wednesday — a curious tradition unlike any other. Some years there’s big news delivered on the eve of the Masters, but Fred Ridley seemed very content with the state of things at the Masters. That doesn’t mean he didn’t have interesting things to say. The Daily Drive offers a couple of highlights.
Is the par-3 12th hole too short?
The par-3 12th at Augusta National — Golden Bell — is the only hole on the property that has not had its yardage officially changed since the Masters began in 1934. As long as Fred Ridley is chairman of the club, that not likely to change.
“I would say with a hundred percent certainty that it would not be lengthened during my tenure,” said Ridley on Wednesday in his annual state of the Masters address. “That’s almost like asking, you know, can we touch up the Mona Lisa a little bit. I mean, I think that the 12th hole at Augusta is the most iconic par-3 in the world. It has been and I won't say it always will be, but I think it always will be.”
Vijay Singh, the 2000 Masters champion, started some under-the-tree chatter about lengthening the 155-yard 12th, saying it has become a little less interesting with players typically hitting wedges and 9-irons into instead of 8- and 7-irons that were needed back in the day. The last time No. 12 really featured in the Sunday Masters melodrama was in 2019, when all the leaders except Tiger Woods made a splash of it in Rae’s Creek under pressure.
Tiger did make a 10 on it the very next year, but we digress.
“We used to hit 7-irons and 6-irons and then it started going to 7-irons and 8-irons and it’s gone from 8-irons to 9-irons and the guys are hitting wedges now,” said Singh, who is playing in his 31st Masters. “They should lengthen it by at least 10 yards. I think it should go to at least 170. I think it would be a much more challenging hole if people were hitting a 6-iron or a 7-iron instead of a 9-iron or wedge.”
When Singh’s suggestion was relayed to two-time Masters champion Ben Crenshaw – a revered course designer as well as noted architecture purist – his response was surprising.
“Ten yards? Actually, it’s not a bad idea,” said Crenshaw.
José María Olazábal, another two-time green jacket winner, vehemently objected to the suggestion.
“Well, I’ll tell you what, no!” he said. “Just leave it like it is. I think it’s a fantastic hole, great hole. It’s a short hole, but it’s a devilish hole. It’s very hard to hit the green. The green is at an angle. It’s not very deep. It’s only like 10 yards in the middle, about what, 14 on the left and 12 on the right.”
Geoff Ogilvy, the 2006 U.S. Open champion and a well-known architecture junkie, was hanging around the clubhouse on Monday and got asked for his thoughts.
“I wouldn’t have liked when I was still playing,” Ogilvy said, quickly asking what Crenshaw thought of the idea before sharing his own opinions. He thinks there could be “secret yardage” added without ever moving the official yardage plate from its 155-yard spot.
“Maybe,” he said hesitantly. “I mean you could add 10 yards to the back of it ’cuz it’s only like 9-iron there. It has to be windy for it to have one of those chaos days, like 2019 that was one of those crazy weather days. It’s weather-dependent.
“They do it so well here that they could add 10 to the back of that — there’s plenty of room. Make it look like they hadn’t. Just add it without really saying it and keep the plate the same but maybe add another club. That would be interesting. But it’s a little bit sadistic. You wouldn’t do it just to create chaos. That’s a USGA mentality. … They know what they’re doing here and they always do it right.”
The secret yardage is likely the only way anything will happen to such a sacred piece of real estate in the heart of Amen Corner that has been such a memorable part of Masters lore.
“I don’t know what it is, but there’s something about the topography, the trees, the wind, the beauty that just … it just captures your imagination,” said Ridley. “When you combine that with the history that’s been made there, I mean, the most recent being the tragedies and triumphs when Tiger Woods won in 2019. You know, Freddie Couples’ ball hanging up on the edge of Rae’s Creek, which is part of the song ‘Augusta.’
“And so I just think it is such an iconic hole that’s had so many important moments in the Masters that I’m not sure that another 10 yards would really make a difference. Players are hitting short irons, but doesn’t seem to matter. The hole is very difficult.”
Ridley’s message? Fix this mess
The ANGC chairman – arguably the most influential and powerful man in golf – used his annual pulpit to subtly deliver a message to the leaders of professional golf to get their collective acts together and resolve the rift in the game.
“I believe everyone agrees there’s excitement in the air this week. The best players in the world are together once again,” Ridley said of the season’s first major. “The competition will be fierce. Families are reunited, and friendships will be renewed. The best golf has to offer is on center stage. That is good for everyone ...
“As solutions are pursued to bridge the current divide in men’s professional golf, I hope there will be a focus on these and the other stakeholders who are the fabric of tournament golf, all of whom represent the values and virtues of the game. It is this culture that makes golf the greatest game.”
The fact that television ratings in golf are down significantly this season marks a concern that divisiveness and the emphasis on money has turned fans away from the professional game even as recreation numbers continue to soar.
“I will acknowledge that, if you look at the data this year, golf viewers are down linear television while other sports, some other sports are up,” Ridley said. “So you can draw your own conclusions. Certainly, the fact that the best players in the world are not convening very often is not helpful. Whether or not there’s a direct causal effect, I don’t know. But I think that it would be a lot better if they were together more often.”
Masters chairman Fred Ridley on Wednesday. (Joe Toth/Getting images)
That said, the Masters has no plans to carve out special exemption access for LIV Golf players, no matter how loudly Talor Gooch and his breakaway peers whine about it. There are 13 LIV players in the Masters field, 10 of them eligible via winning the Masters or other recent majors. Ridley seems comfortable weaponizing and deploying the long-standing “special international invitation” to fill in any essential gaps in the field, singling out the efforts LIV’s Joaquin Niemann went to by traveling the globe in pursuit of world ranking points. Niemann got invited along with Thorbjørn Olesen of Denmark and Ryo Hisatsune of Japan.
“We’re an invitational, and we can adjust as necessary,” Ridley said. “Now, historically, and as stated in our qualification criteria, we consider international players for special invitations. But we do look at those every year and I will say that if we felt that there were a player or players, whether they played on the LIV Tour or any other tour, who were deserving of an invitation to the Masters, that we would exercise that discretion with regard to special invitations.”
Ridley did refer to LIV as a “closed shop” that makes it difficult to judge on its own merits, implying that it will take initiative outside the LIV bubble like Niemann displayed to warrant consideration.
Wanna bet on that?
Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson still move the needle. Even when it comes to gambling. According to SportsBetting.ag, more than six times the wagers have been placed on a Tiger-Phil head-to-head than any other of the 50 such match-ups in the Masters field.
And Woods is on the bad end of the wagers.
As of Wednesday, Woods was a +108 underdog against Mickelson (-129 favorite), and the tempered expectations don’t end there. Pitted against a handful of other golfers, the five-time Masters champion is an underdog in terms of who will have the best finish, including against prior tournament winners Bubba Watson and Zach Johnson.
Woods is also not a favorite to make the cut, with the odds of him doing so at +110, meaning less than 50 percent believe he will extend his record-tying run of 23 Masters cuts to 24, one ahead of Gary Player and Fred Couples. Mickelson, who tied for second last year, is also favored to miss the cut.
There are numerous other prop bets, with odds that change:
Will Tiger Woods make the cut?
Yes +105
No -135
Tiger Woods Round 1 score
Over/Under 73.5
Tiger Woods score on Hole 1
Par -175
Bogey or worse +185
Birdie or better +800
What will happen first?
Tiger Woods makes a birdie +130
Tiger Woods makes a bogey -160
Will Tiger Woods play any round bogey free?
Yes +1000
Will Tiger Woods record a hole-in-one?
Yes +10000
Tiger Woods at Augusta (Chloe Knott/Augusta National)
Will Tiger Woods withdraw?
Yes +550
No -800
Tiger Woods finishing position
Over/Under 42.5
Tiger Woods Positions
Top 5 Finish: 28/1
Top 10 Finish: 10/1
Top 20 Finish: 4/1
Round 1 Leader: 90/1
Will winner of the Par 3 Contest (Rickie Fowler) win the Masters?
Yes +2500
No -10000
Will the flagstick be left in for winner's final putt?
Yes +550
No -800
Length of winner's final shot
Over/Under 3 feet
Will a left-handed player win the Masters?
Yes +2000
Will there be a playoff?
Yes +350
No -450
Nationality of winner
USA -150
Non-USA +120
Will a LIV golfer win The Masters?
Yes +300
No -400
Masters Champion
McIlroy/Scheffler/Rahm/Spieth/Schauffele/Koepka/Matsuyama/Niemann -110
Field (Any other player) -110
Will Jordan Spieth hit the water on Hole 12?
Yes +300
No -375
Will the 54-hole leader go on to win the Masters?
Yes -130
No +100
Will a debutant win the Masters?
Yes +2500
No -5000
Will there be a first-time winner?
Yes -200
No +160
Will any player break course record and shoot 62 or lower?
Yes +1400
No -3300