AUGUSTA, Ga. — To no one’s surprise, the most iconic golf club on the planet isn’t interested in humanistic moral arguments. After all, Augusta National didn’t admit Blacks until 1990 and banned women until 2012, almost a decade after women’s rights hero Martha Burk unsheathed her bayonet.
The membership and its leadership have slowly evolved, but, true to its general form, Augusta National and Masters chairman Fred Ridley on Wednesday declined to address the moral compromise involved with inviting and legitimizing LIV Golf and its backer, the oppressive Saudi regime that has been connected with the 9/11 attacks in 2001. Instead, he sent the message to LIV players that his disapproval of their alignment with the existential threat to the PGA Tour was nothing personal.
“I know many of these players who are no longer on the PGA Tour. Some of them I would consider friends,” Ridley said. “So anything I might say is not a comment, a personal comment, against their character.”
