Augusta National consultant discusses hurricane damage and 2025 Masters outlook

Augusta National Golf Club was deed by Hurricane Helene successful September 2024 - and the harm is inactive being repaired up of the 2025 Masters, the club's crown jewel event

Tom Fazio, a renowned designer advisor with heavy ties to Augusta National Golf Club, has provided an update connected the harm Hurricane Helene wreaked connected the prestigious Georgia club.

Speaking connected Friday, Fazio – a titan successful modern people plan – acknowledged that Helene undoubtedly inflicted important but repairable harm. The hurricane tore done the Southeastern US successful precocious September 2024, leaving down a staggering $81.6 cardinal successful damages and taking 27 lives.

Soon aft came Hurricane Milton, this year's astir ferocious tropical cyclone to date, which plunged 2 cardinal radical into acheronian and resulted successful 16 fatalities.

The interaction of these hurricanes was felt keenly crossed the sports world: the NHL scrapped Tampa Bay Lightning's last preseason lucifer and their play opener against the Carolina Hurricanes scheduled for October 12. The NFL's Tampa Bay Buccaneers were forced to determination their operations to New Orleans successful anticipation of their crippled against the Saints connected October 13.

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Meanwhile, UFC contender Chris Barnett pulled retired of a UFC Fight Night owed to "issues" stemming from the storm.

Augusta National, a 7,510-yard, par 72 disconnected the title tees and famed arsenic 1 of the world's astir challenging courses owed to its notoriously accelerated greens, didn't flight unscathed from Helene either.

The course, which hosts 1 of golf's prestigious tournaments, The Masters, saw astir harm connected the par-3 16th spread known arsenic Redbud, a 170-yard hole, wherever respective trees fell connected the green. "Having trees autumn connected your green, what does that mean? " Fazio asked, per Sports Illustrated.

"You prime up the trees, you capable successful the divots and holes they left. Then you re-sod and you're acceptable to go."

Fazio doesn't foresee immoderate disruption for erstwhile The Masters returns successful 2025, stating that the unit astatine Augusta "have the resources and the abilities to set to the conditions there. I would ideate you won't cognize thing happened by April."

It mostly amounts to a "clean-up phase," helium said. Ultimately, for Fazio, immoderate repairs are simply cosmetic and airy successful opposition to the greater wreckage Helene caused.

"People person mislaid their homes and mislaid their lives," helium said. "Lost their cars and their possessions and that is what is important. A putting greenish astatine Augusta oregon anyplace tin ever beryllium fixed."

Scottie Scheffler, the existent Masters champion, bagged the rubric successful 2022 arsenic well, marking his 2nd triumph successful Augusta. The grounds holder is Jack Nicklaus with six championships, followed by Tiger Woods with five, and Arnold Palmer with four.

The 2025 Masters is acceptable to instrumentality spot from April 7 to 13.