Changes for 2009

[Augusta Golf]

17 year old Japanese sensation Ryo Ishikawa has received a special international invitation to play in the 2009 Masters. He will be the youngest participant in 57 years.

[GPStyles]

It seems that every tournament is reacting to the set up at last years US Open which gave such excitement and drama.

The sooner the Masters brings in a tournament ball the better.

[Yoda]

17 year old Japanese sensation Ryo Ishikawa has received a special international invitation to play in the 2009 Masters. He will be the youngest participant in 57 years.

Colin Montgomery was widely criticized last year for his remarks concerning certain Asian players who received special invitations to The Masters while he did not. Obviously, Mr. Montgomery failed to qualify via the conventional qualifying criteria, and for whatever the reason, the tournament committee chose not to extend him a special invitation.

Nevertheless, it is a fact that The Masters is extremely popular in Asia, e.g., Korea and Japan, and that their television networks pay substantial sums to the Augusta National Golf Club for broadcast rights. The tournament remains the sole province of the Club, so the membership can do anything they want to with it . . . or nothing at all. In other words, if they choose to add a little local color for the benefit of the foreign TV folks and their viewers, it is their privilege to do so.

Whether or not that dynamic is in the mix is anybody’s guess. Colin Montgomery certainly thought so. Then again, it’s not his tournament.

[GPStyles]

Monty never expressed any hint of a problem with the system until his world ranking fell so far that he wasn't an automatic entry anymore!

[Augusta Golf]

Yes the Masters has become quite the international mix over the years and I think that this has contributed to its ever growing popularity throughout the world. Well that and the unbelievable scenery. The ANGC does what it wants and answers to no one!

[Burner]

The ANGC does what it wants and answers to no one!

Yet, it remains finely tuned to what the global Market requires, and the forces it exerts, and reacts to preserve its status within that Market place.

[Kumabjorn]

The Masters is only second to The Open Championship in understanding its global appeal. The USGA has never been able to fully extend its Open to a global audience. If AUgusta National opened up a few tickets to global purchase they would probably exceed R&A in reaching out to a truly global audience.

As a non-American I always find it kind of funny when the Major Leauge winner, Super Bowl winner or NBA winner is pronounced World Champion. What teams from other countries did they beat?

[Augusta Golf]

Augusta National partners in tournament that will add new talent in 2010.

http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories...l_511631.shtml