Latest news with #FredRidley
Forbes
10-04-2025
- Business
- Forbes
Bank Of America, Youth On Course Launch Junior Golf Effort At Masters
Bank of America and Youth on Course have partnered to create a new initiative called "Golf with Us" ... More that's providing 50,000 juniors with affordable golf access. Just over six months ago, Bank of America signed on as the fourth Champion Partner of the Masters Tournament, with Chairman Fred Ridley acknowledging the financial institution's support of grow-the-game efforts. BofA in February then partnered with Youth on Course, promising to accelerate youth access to golf. The new partnerships now intersect with the launch of 'Golf with Us,' an initiative Bank of America is backing to provide more than 50,000 juniors nationwide with affordable access to golf courses nationwide. New members between the ages of 6 and 18 who join Youth on Course through May 24 will get a complimentary one-year membership valued at $30. The Youth on Course membership provides kids with subsidized access to thousands of golf courses for just $5 per round, significantly lowering the financial barrier that can prevent some young people from experiencing one of the nation's fastest growing sports. Thanks to BofA's ties with the Masters, a creative campaign for the effort will be launched this week during the year's first major championship. There are other strategic elements to the timing of the partnership, as both golf participation and Youth on Course's impact have seen notable growth in recent years. Youth on Course, which began in 2006, has helped kids play more than 3.2 million subsidized rounds of golf, partnering with over 2,000 courses while expanding to all 50 U.S. states and Canada. The organization ended 2024 with nearly 250,000 members, a number that continues to climb. Bank of America partnered with Youth on Course earlier this year and now is launching its first ... More growth initiative. The organization's success hasn't come without challenges. Youth on Course CEO Adam Heieck noted last summer that the surge in golf's popularity – there were a record number of rounds played again in 2024 – has created a competitive environment for tee times at public courses. "There's not a lot of unused tee times out there and golf course owners and operators are trying to maximize dollars,' said Heieck. Bank of America's commitment extends beyond just offering free memberships. The financial institution is working to address the tee time availability challenge by helping fund the expansion of municipal course locations participating in the program. Golf facilities owned and/or operated by municipalities, home to courses that currently represent about 40% of Youth on Course's facility partners but account for 50% of subsidized rounds, are crucial to the program's success as they are typically more accessible to diverse populations in urban centers. "Golf has the power to shape young lives in incredible ways -- not just through the sport itself, but through the friendships, confidence and opportunities it creates," said Heieck. "Through this partnership with Bank of America, we're making it possible for more kids across the country to step onto the course and discover what's possible. This partnership is about more than just golf; it's about opening doors and changing futures." Youth on Course ended last year with nearly 250,000 members, a number that continues to climb. The "Golf with Us" initiative also includes a series of free instructional clinics in select markets throughout spring, summer, and fall, featuring professional golfers, athletes, and celebrities with a passion for golf. Additionally, program membership includes an official handicap index through the USGA. Bank of America joined AT&T, IBM, and Mercedes-Benz as Champion Partners for the Masters Tournament and has been a partner of the Augusta National Women's Amateur since 2019. In addition, BofA became the presenting partner of the More Than Golf Invitational for female amateur golfers in partnership with the ANNIKA Foundation in 2025, and since 2002 has partnered with the Latin America Amateur Championship and Asia-Pacific Amateur Championships. The bank's newest golf partnership represents a significant commitment at an even more formative level. Youth on Course has partnered with more than 2,000 U.S. courses to offer subsidized golf for ... More juniors. Leveraging its relationship with Augusta National, the series of 'Golf with Us' commercials beginning during the Masters will help reach a broad audience as Youth on Course continues to expand and approaches 4 million subsidized rounds. "When kids get involved in sports, they learn first-hand about achieving their goals and develop lifelong skills that help them thrive," said Bank of America President of Marketing, Digital & Specialized Consumer Client Solutions David Tyrie. "By working with Youth on Course to help make golf more accessible, we're helping grow the sport while also making a positive impact in our communities."
USA Today
09-04-2025
- Entertainment
- USA Today
Does PGA Tour vs. LIV Golf fight detract from the Masters? Not one bit
Does PGA Tour vs. LIV Golf fight detract from the Masters? Not one bit Show Caption Hide Caption Rory McIlroy explains why Augusta is his forever course Rory McIlroy opens up on why Augusta is his forever course, from childhood memories to pure beauty. The Masters The Masters Tournament's prestige has grown amidst the ongoing conflict between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf. The PGA Tour has become a lesser product due to LIV Golf, with fewer tournaments featuring all the top players. LIV Golf events draw small audiences and have not significantly impacted the broader golf landscape. The Masters Tournament benefits from the golf split as it becomes a rare opportunity to see all the top players compete. AUGUSTA, Ga. – Every year since the world could see the place on television, this little town near the border of Georgia and South Carolina has been the epicenter of our retreat out of a long winter and into spring. That's always been the secret sauce of the Masters. Not the exclusivity of the club, nor the difficulty of the course, nor really the fact that it's the only major championship in golf anchored to one place every year. Mostly, it's the visuals, the colors, perfectly green fairways framed by the towering pines and flowers that pop off the television screen like an invitation to once again start going outside. As always, every inch of this place is spectacular. 'A colder-than-normal January has been conducive to a near-perfect early spring bloom of Azaleas and other flowering ornamentals,' Augusta National chairman Fred Ridley said Wednesday. 'One of our guests last week referred to the course as a beautiful painting, and I could not agree more.' But the biggest golf tournament in the world has only grown in prestige over the past four years – not that it needed any help. The still unresolved fight between the PGA Tour and LIV, still simmering for a third straight Masters, has only made this tournament more powerful and elevated its place atop the sport's food chain. The sad reality is that it's been nine months since Xander Schauffele won the Open Championship at Royal Troon. That's nine months since all the best players in the world were in the same tournament. Nine months since we saw Rory McIlroy go against Brooks Koepka in a significant event, nine months since Scottie Scheffler has had a chance to close out a tournament with Bryson DeChambeau breathing down his neck. Nearly two years since the so-called framework agreement that was supposed to bring the two sides into some type of merger agreement and almost three months since President Donald Trump's inauguration – an event that inspired hope of reconciliation given his ties to the game and extensive business with the Saudi government – everyone is still waiting. 'I think at some point if the players get all together, I think we could figure it out,' DeChambeau said. 'But it's a lot more complicated, obviously, than we all think.' At this point, it's almost boring to talk about. LIV does its thing, paying huge sums to Jon Rahm, Phil Mickelson and a handful of others to play unserious golf while drawing pathetic television audiences. (Even on the main FOX network last week, LIV Miami drew less than one-third of the 1.746 million viewers watching the final round of the Valero Texas Open.) But LIV's intrusion into the sport has undeniably made the PGA Tour a significantly lesser product, too, and not just on the margins. The Tour's so-called 'Signature Event' structure, in which eight tournaments are elevated above the others, means the top players have even less incentive to play a full schedule and so there are rarely fields packed with stars – a split within a split. Aside from The Players, has there even been a single must-see tournament yet this year? That's golf now: Weaker, less interesting, rarely relevant to the average sports fan outside of the four majors. Round and round we go, with little to suggest a solution is coming that would reunite the best players and give fans – not to mention the companies paying huge sums to sponsor most of these tournaments – a reason to keep spending their cash on professional golf. 'When I think about reunification,' Ridley said, 'I think about the having more players – all of the great players of the game – playing against each other more than just a few times a year. I'm not really in a position to say what form that should take as far as how the two organizations should come together, what legal structure that may be or what the financial aspects of that may be. But sometimes if you start kind of at eye level, and that is to encourage cooperation and trying to figure out a way to get something done, regardless of what the structure of it is, to where everyone can play together again.' For the broader good of the game, Ridley is, of course, correct. But as long as the split endures, the Masters benefits more than anyone. Why? Well, most golf fans could probably tell you that McIlroy comes into the Masters with as good of a chance as he's ever had, having won twice already this year including The Players. They could probably tell you how Scheffler, the defending champion here and No. 1 player in the world, has been struggling by his standards but flashed a hot putter last weekend that makes him extra dangerous this week. And they could probably tell you that Schauffele, who won two majors last year, has been way off form to start this season and is yet to record a top-10 finish. And the LIV guys? When the final major championship ends in July, they simply disappear into the ether. Yes, they are playing tournaments. Some of those tournaments even draw good crowds, particularly in an Australian market that deserves more world-class golf than it gets. But if you know a single thing about how Patrick Reed, Rahm, Koepka, Dustin Johnson, Cam Smith and the rest have been faring lately on the LIV tour, you are in the minority of the minority of golf fans. Now in its fourth season, there's enough of a sample size to make the following statement: Whatever you think about the concept of LIV or who's paying its bills, the results over there simply do not matter to very many people. Nothing has broken through. Nobody's really watching In fact, in four years, you can argue the only player-related LIV storyline that has been elevated to any relevance is a highly online argument between real people and social media trolls over whether four-time LIV winner Joaquin Niemann is one of the top-10 players in the world. (Given that he's never finished better than 16th at any major, I think we all know the answer to that one.) Point being, for all the significant players who took the LIV payday, the Masters is when they come out of the mothballs. Has Koepka or Rahm played well lately? Who knows. Who cares. When Masters week begins, it's like reuniting with a friend who spent the last year in western Mongolia without Internet or cell phone service. We're just happy to see them again. 'When you look back at whenever LIV started and this whole debacle started, no one really complained,' Collin Morikawa said. 'You just…we enjoyed it. But then this all happened, and you take things for granted. You look back and you're like, man, we had it pretty good. These weeks are special now. You don't take them lightly.' Make no mistake, the Masters is a colossus whether LIV exists or not. To golfers and hardcore fans, it's special because it's a major. To the common sports viewer who watches this tournament and maybe a few others, it's the visual effects – the sparkling white sand, the vividly pink flowers, the perfectly mowed grass − that inspire imagination and awe. But the PGA Tour-LIV split has made this week something different, even a level above what the Masters was before. Golf fans just don't get many tournaments like this anymore. That's a sad commentary on the state of the game but another layer of mystique for a 365-acre tract of Georgia land that was already the biggest thing in the sport.
USA Today
09-04-2025
- Politics
- USA Today
Lynch: Thankfully, some things won't change at Augusta National, not on Fred Ridley's watch
Lynch: Thankfully, some things won't change at Augusta National, not on Fred Ridley's watch AUGUSTA, Ga. — There was a time, not too distant in the rear view, when Augusta National was known for defending norms that were, even then, unpalatable. An ignoble example of such was raised by Chairman Fred Ridley in opening remarks at his annual pre-Masters press conference Wednesday, when he cited the 50th anniversary of Lee Elder becoming the first Black man to compete in the Masters, then in its 39th staging. 'Lee's inspiration, his courage and spirit remain truly an inspiration for all of us. We never will forget his enduring legacy that made golf a better game for everyone,' Ridley said. Much has changed at Augusta National since then. The membership isn't exactly a rainbow coalition but is considerably more diverse than the monochrome monolith of yore, and its creation of the Latin America Amateur, the Asia-Pacific Amateur, the Augusta National Women's Amateur and the Drive, Chip and Putt make a case for the most exclusive club in the game having become the game's most inclusive force. The Chairman's press conference is golf's State of the Union, since if the actual governing bodies believe in a higher power, then it's undoubtedly whoever occupies the position. Encyclicals issued from the altar at Augusta National carry influence far beyond these grounds and this week, every syllable is parsed for meaning that can sometimes lay a couple layers beneath the surface. The closest thing to a theme that emerged in Ridley's comments was a defense of norms, a timely issue given the tumult beyond the gates. The first norm he sought to protect was the authority of the sport's governing bodies. The USGA and R&A have announced new specifications to be adopted in 2028 that will reduce, or at least stall, the distance a golf ball can travel. That decision, reached after a lengthy and intense discussion process — has been under attack by the PGA Tour and the PGA of America, the latter disingenuously pretending it was not sufficiently consulted. It was, it just didn't care for the decision reached after those consultations. Ridley made clear there will be no daylight between the Masters and the USGA and R&A. 'Once again, I am here reaffirming our support of the governing bodies and their efforts to address the issue of distance,' he said, going on to describe the process as 'deliberative and collaborative.' Translation: the Masters will adopt a modified ball, as will the Open and U.S. Open, potentially leaving the PGA Championship (already the runt of the major litter) standing alone among premier events. It also forces the Tour to consider the domino effect on its product. If players use one ball for 48 or 49 weeks, but another for the four that define legacies, then how vulnerable are Tour events in advance of those majors as players stay home to bed in a new ball? The next norm to which the chairman turned his impressive bouffant was the integrity of competition, which is compromised by both slow play and the nature of LIV Golf. 'Playing without undue delay, as the rules and the game's traditions dictate, is an essential skill of golf at all levels,' he intoned. 'Golf is a special game because it requires us to be considerate while also being competitive. Respecting other people's time, including, importantly, the fans who support the game, is a fundamental courtesy.' A wry British scribe duly noted Sunday's spectacle of kids pacing off putts and using AimPoint at the Drive, Chip and Putt and asked whether the Chairman would be doing anything 'to encourage these young players to get a bloody move on.' Ridley pointed out that blame lies with the professionals on TV whose behavior the kids imitate, but said action is coming: 'I think it's safe to assume that next year at the Drive, Chip & Putt you will see some sort of time limitations placed on the competition.' He restated his skepticism of LIV's competitive purity since team and individual tournaments are played currently, complicating how to best assess performance. While other majors have fashioned exemption criteria for LIV's top players, Ridley said the Masters will not. It's an invitational, and LIV's Joaquin Niemann has been invited the past two years, he said. He didn't mention that the reasons cited for the two invites conspicuously omitted any mention of his play on LIV at all. One of Augusta National's most prized internal norms is its reverence for past champions, which presents a thorny issue this week. At a time when baseless fear is being whipped up about foreigners with criminal records entering the U.S., a criminal foreigner has a Masters tee time at 10:59 a.m. Thursday. Angel Cabrera, the 2009 champion, is 55 years old and hasn't competed here since 2019. During his absence, he served 30 months in prison for domestic assault in his native Argentina. 'We certainly abhor domestic violence of any type,' Ridley said by way of necessary preamble. He followed with a praiseworthy (and necessary) statement for a moment when too many are eager to contort judicial processes to their preferred outcome. 'Angel has served the sentence that was prescribed by the Argentine courts, and he is the past champion, and so he was invited,' he said. Augusta National is the kind of place that calls to mind the author E.B. White, who once wrote admiringly of people who wind the clock daily as a contribution toward order and steadfastness. That's oddly comforting these days, when norms are casually dispensed with, when most every entity in golf seems overly reactive or outright panicked, when traditions are turned over for demographic engagement, when the focus is more often on the depth of a pocketbook rather than its power, when a considered process is considered passé. For that at least, we ought to be thankful that there are some aspects of this place that won't be changing. At least not on Ridley's watch.
NBC Sports
09-04-2025
- Sport
- NBC Sports
From professional game to Drive, Chip and Putt, Augusta chairman Fred Ridley concerned about pace of play
AUGUSTA, Ga. – Pace of play could come under heightened scrutiny this week at the Masters. It certainly has the attention of chairman Fred Ridley. With the PGA Tour set to roll out new initiatives next week aimed at increased the speed of play at its tournaments, Ridley said that he was in favor of continuing the dialogue surrounding the hot topic. 'Playing without undue delay, as the rules and the game's traditions dictate, is an essential skill of golf at all levels,' Ridley said in his prepared remarks Wednesday. 'Recognizing the challenges professionals face each week, I also believe pace of play is an important element of the examination of the world's best players. 'Golf is a special game because it requires us to be considerate while also being competitive. Respecting other people's time, including, importantly, the fans who support the game, is a fundamental courtesy. Therefore, I want to encourage continued dialogue on this topic, especially at the professional levels which serve as the most visible representation of our sport.' Beginning next week at the RBC Heritage, the Tour will allow rangefinders during competition on an experimental basis. It has also pledged to crack down on the slowest players by punishing repeat offenders and publishing average stroke times. The Tour hasn't handed out a slow-play penalty in a stroke-play event since 1995. Only one Masters participant in recent memory has received a one-shot penalty — 14-year-old Guan Tianlang, at the 2013 Masters. This year's Masters features 95 players, with a twosome, Davis Riley and Patton Kizzire, leading the way at 7:40 a.m. ET. Ridley hoped that that two-ball could 'put a little more pressure' on the following groups to keep pace. Golf Channel Staff, 'I'm not going to tell you that I'm going to be happy with the results, but I think I am encouraged that the PGA Tour is doing some things, experimenting with some timing procedures that might be a little bit more aggressive than we've seen in the past,' Ridley said. Ridley was also asked about the optics of some competitors in the recent Drive, Chip & Putt using AimPoint on the greens and taking roughly two minutes to make a stroke. Because of that, Ridley said to anticipate pace-of-play changes next spring for the junior event. 'I, too, noticed exactly what you noticed,' he said. 'It's interesting, but every phase of the competition has the same length chip and the same length putt, so it's really not necessary to pace that off. They know how many yards that it is. But nevertheless, that's what they were doing. 'I think it's safe to assume that next year at the Drive, Chip & Putt you will see some sort of time limitations placed on the competition.'
USA Today
09-04-2025
- Entertainment
- USA Today
PGA Tour vs. LIV Golf fight makes Masters even more special. Yes, that's possible.
PGA Tour vs. LIV Golf fight makes Masters even more special. Yes, that's possible. Show Caption Hide Caption Rory McIlroy explains why Augusta is his forever course Rory McIlroy opens up on why Augusta is his forever course, from childhood memories to pure beauty. The Masters AUGUSTA, Ga. – Every year since the world could see the place on television, this little town near the border of Georgia and South Carolina has been the epicenter of our retreat out of a long winter and into spring. That's always been the secret sauce of the Masters. Not the exclusivity of the club, nor the difficulty of the course, nor really the fact that it's the only major championship in golf anchored to one place every year. Mostly, it's the visuals, the colors, perfectly green fairways framed by the towering pines and flowers that pop off the television screen like an invitation to once again start going outside. As always, every inch of this place is spectacular. 'A colder-than-normal January has been conducive to a near-perfect early spring bloom of Azaleas and other flowering ornamentals,' Augusta National chairman Fred Ridley said Wednesday. 'One of our guests last week referred to the course as a beautiful painting, and I could not agree more.' But the biggest golf tournament in the world has only grown in prestige over the past four years – not that it needed any help. The still unresolved fight between the PGA Tour and LIV, still simmering for a third straight Masters, has only made this tournament more powerful and elevated its place atop the sport's food chain. The sad reality is that it's been nine months since Xander Schauffele won the Open Championship at Royal Troon. That's nine months since all the best players in the world were in the same tournament. Nine months since we saw Rory McIlroy go against Brooks Koepka in a significant event, nine months since Scottie Scheffler has had a chance to close out a tournament with Bryson DeChambeau breathing down his neck. Nearly two years since the so-called framework agreement that was supposed to bring the two sides into some type of merger agreement and almost three months since president Donald Trump's inauguration – an event that inspired hope of reconciliation given his ties to the game and extensive business with the Saudi government – everyone is still waiting. 'I think at some point if the players get all together, I think we could figure it out,' DeChambeau said. 'But it's a lot more complicated, obviously, than we all think.' At this point, it's almost boring to talk about. LIV does its thing, paying huge sums to Jon Rahm, Phil Mickelson and a handful of others to play unserious golf while drawing pathetic television audiences. (Even on the main FOX network last week, LIV Miami drew less than one-third of the 1.746 million viewers watching the final round of the Valero Texas Open.) But LIV's intrusion into the sport has undeniably made the PGA Tour a significantly lesser product, too, and not just on the margins. The Tour's so-called 'Signature Event' structure, in which eight tournaments are elevated above the others, means the top players have even less incentive to play a full schedule and so there are rarely fields packed with stars – a split within a split. Aside from The Players, has there even been a single must-see tournament yet this year? That's golf now: Weaker, less interesting, rarely relevant to the average sports fan outside of the four majors. Round and round we go, with little to suggest a solution is coming that would reunite the best players and give fans – not to mention the companies paying huge sums to sponsor most of these tournaments – a reason to keep spending their cash on professional golf. 'When I think about reunification,' Ridley said, 'I think about the having more players – all of the great players of the game – playing against each other more than just a few times a year. I'm not really in a position to say what form that should take as far as how the two organizations should come together, what legal structure that may be or what the financial aspects of that may be. But sometimes if you start kind of at eye level, and that is to encourage cooperation and trying to figure out a way to get something done, regardless of what the structure of it is, to where everyone can play together again.' For the broader good of the game, Ridley is of course correct. But as long as the split endures, the Masters benefits more than anyone. Why? Well, most golf fans could probably tell you that McIlroy comes into the Masters with as good of a chance as he's ever had, having won twice already this year including The Players. They could probably tell you how Scheffler, the defending champion here and No. 1 player in the world, has been struggling by his standards but flashed a hot putter last weekend that makes him extra dangerous this week. And they could probably tell you that Schauffele, who won two majors last year, has been way off form to start this season and is yet to record a top-10 finish. And the LIV guys? When the final major championship ends in July, they simply disappear into the ether. Yes, they are playing tournaments. Some of those tournaments even draw good crowds, particularly in an Australian market that deserves more world class golf than it gets. But if you know a single thing about how Patrick Reed, Rahm, Koepka, Dustin Johnson, Cam Smith and the rest have been faring lately on the LIV tour, you are in the minority of the minority of golf fans. Now in its fourth season, there's enough of a sample size to make the following statement: Whatever you think about the concept of LIV or who's paying its bills, the results over there simply do not matter to very many people. Nothing has broken through. Nobody's really watching In fact, in four years, you can argue the only player-related LIV storyline that has been elevated to any relevance is a highly online argument between real people and social media trolls over whether four-time LIV winner Joaquin Niemann is one of the top-10 players in the world. (Given that he's never finished better than 16th at any major, I think we all know the answer to that one.) Point being, for all the significant players who took the LIV payday, the Masters is when they come out of the mothballs. Has Koepka or Rahm played well lately? Who knows. Who cares. When Masters week begins, it's like reuniting with a friend who spent the last year in western Mongolia without Internet or cell phone service. We're just happy to see them again. 'When you look back at whenever LIV started and this whole debacle started, no one really complained,' Collin Morikawa said. 'You just…we enjoyed it. But then this all happened, and you take things for granted. You look back and you're like, man, we had it pretty good. These weeks are special now. You don't take them lightly.' Make no mistake, the Masters is a colossus whether LIV exists or not. To golfers and hardcore fans, it's special because it's a major. To the common sports viewer who watches this tournament and maybe a few others, it's the visual effects – the sparkling white sand, the vividly pink flowers, the perfectly mowed grass − that inspire imagination and awe. But the PGA Tour-LIV split has made this week something different, even a level above what the Masters was before. Golf fans just don't get many tournaments like this anymore. That's a sad commentary on the state of the game but another layer of mystique for a 365-acre tract of Georgia land that was already the biggest thing in the sport.
