Images published this week show the devastation caused by the hurricane to Augusta National, the site of the Masters.
According to the Telegraph: the storm that struck Augusta National left the course’s renownedly immaculate fairways and greens in ruins and claimed over 230 lives. It also left many homeless.
Over two weeks later, images posted on X demonstrated the magnitude of the challenge facing Masters organisers in preparing for the tournament in April.
After Augusta National initially announced it was “assessing the damage”, chairman Fred Ridley vowed earlier this month that next year’s Masters would go ahead as planned.
The Masters Will Go Ahead
“The Masters will be held, [and] it will be on the dates it’s scheduled to be held,” he said during a press conference at the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship in Japan.
Confirming the fairways of the Georgia course had sustained “a lot of damage”, he added: “We have been without power and water and other essentials for a number of days. So it really does impress upon you what can happen when there’s a natural disaster such as that.
“As far as the golf course, it really was affected just as the rest of the community was … there was a lot of damage and we have a lot of people working hard to get us back up and running.”
The Masters is scheduled to take place across the week of April 7-13 to kick off the year’s major championships.
