Augusta National chairman says no plans for women's pro event - ESPN

AUGUSTA, Ga. — While Augusta National Golf Club chairman Fred Ridley commended the success of the five-year-old Augusta National Women's Amateur tournament, he doesn't foresee a scenario in which the club will host a tournament for LPGA Tour and other women's professional golfers.

The Augusta National Women's Amateur, introduced in 2019, includes an international field of 72 women amateurs. They play the first 36 holes at Champions Retreat Golf Club, then a practice round and the final round at Augusta National.

Adding another tournament for professional women's golfers would be too difficult, according to Ridley.

"[T]here are some fundamental difficulties in that," Ridley said during a news conference Wednesday. «We happily were able to find a way to have a competition for juniors and a competition for women amateurs sort of wrapped around the Masters tournament, and it just seems to fit really well.

»To have another tournament of any kind would be very difficult based on our season, based on the fact that this is essentially a winter and spring golf course. It's not open in the summer. It doesn't play the way we want it to play in the fall for a major tournament. We did have one, one time, and Dustin Johnson did very well."

Johnson won the 2020 Masters, which was postponed until mid-November that year because of COVID-19 restrictions. Johnson won with a 72-hole total of 20-under 268, which was a tournament record.

Ridley said having just one professional tournament at Augusta National Golf Club each year also protected the sanctity of the Masters.

«We really have a limited period of time we could play any additional event,» Ridley said. «We close in the third week of May. Then you add the element of… sort of the