Augusta’s progressive claims are just pretence without a Women’s Masters

Masters host has the experience and finances to launch a women’s tournament – it just needs the big-picture thinking.

Leona Maguire of Ireland hits her tee shot on the 12th hole during the second round of the FIR HILLS SERI PAK Championship at Palos Verdes Golf Club. Pic: Orlando Ramirez, Getty Images.

Fred Ridley’s Wednesday morning address to the media at Augusta National has become an episode in self-congratulation and script-reading. A box-ticking exercise for Ridley, the Augusta chairman, and his acolytes becomes an annual frustration for journalists. Presumably they wouldn’t want it any other way.

Those presiding over the Masters swagger with pride at the Augusta National Women’s Amateur and the children’s Drive, Chip and Putt Championship which precede the opening major of the year. Nobody of a squeamish disposition should watch either on television; broadcasters fall over themselves to offer gushing superlatives to a point which goes beyond parody. The Green Jackets lap this up. “Look! Look! We are progressive! There are children wearing shorts and everything!”