AUGUSTA, Ga. — Augusta National Golf Club chairman Fred Ridley said Wednesday that the club supports governing bodies’ efforts to reduce elite driving distance, which he says are needed to protect golf’s integrity.

“My feeling on this subject is [that] failure’s not an option,” Ridley said during a news conference ahead of this week’s Masters. “I think we need to continue to work together to come to some agreement. Tough issues like this require compromise, and I think there has been some compromise to date.”

The United States Golf Association announced in March that it might not implement a new Overall Distance Standard, which would reduce elite driving distances by 15 yards, until 2030. The USGA and R&A had previously stated the new testing rules would apply to elite players in 2028 before affecting all golfers in 2030.

“I want to reemphasize that support and affirm our position as the USGA and R&A represent their collective obligation as custodians of the game,” Ridley said. “I also want to be clear that our position is grounded on much more than protecting the Augusta National golf course. We will continue to make modifications as are necessary to react to driving distances that in some cases exceed 350 yards.”

Ridley noted that amateur Jackson Herrington, who qualified for his first Masters as the 2025 U.S. Amateur runner-up, told him that he drove balls over the fairway bunkers on Nos. 1 and 5 during practice rounds this week

“About a 325-yard carry, and one was into the wind,” Ridley said.

The Masters tees on the par-4, 445-yard opening hole were pushed back 20 to 25 yards in 2002 and additional 15 to 20 yards four years later.

The par-4 fifth hole was lengthened to 445 yards in 2003 and extended by another 40 yards in 2019.

“I’ve said that we can make changes, but there’s not much we can do to make [additional] changes-unless we tear down the Eisenhower Cabin, and we’re not going to do that,” Ridley said of the iconic cabin near the 10th tee, which was built by the club for U.S. President Dwight E. Eisenhower and his wife in 1953.

“We’ll make changes when we can, but I think it’s time to really address this issue. It’s been talked about for a long time. There’s certainly commercial interests that are at play here, and we all know what those are.”

The USGA and R&A announced in January that they were seeking additional input on whether it would be more efficient to implement the rollback for all golfers on a single date instead of a staggered start. The input period ends April 16.

“Unfortunately, many courses, including some iconic venues, do not have that option,” Ridley said, about making course changes to accommodate increased length. “Until recent years, golf has been a game of imagination, creativity, and variety. The game has become much more one-dimensional.

Ridley argued the proposed equipment changes would be “immaterial” to recreational golfers.

“Regulation of the golf ball is not an attempt to turn back time or stifle progress,” he said. “It is an effort to preserve the essence of what makes golf the great game that it is.”

Also, Ridley said Augusta National Golf Club supported five-time Masters champion Tiger Woods’ decision to step away from competitive golf and his administrative roles with the PGA Tour to seek treatment, following his DUI arrest in Florida on March 27.

Woods was involved in redesigning the existing course and a new nine-hole short course at The Patch, which will open to the public on April 15.

Later this year, Augusta National Golf Club will break ground on a new TGR Learning Lab, a STEM learning facility that Woods and his TGR Foundation created more than two decades ago.

“I would like to add that we fully support Tiger’s recent decision to focus on his health and well-being,” Ridley said. “Our commitment to the TGR Foundation and to Tiger personally has not wavered. We wish him the very best.”

AUGUSTA, Ga. — When Gary Woodland last played the Masters in 2024, he was months removed from surgery to remove a brain tumor.

At that point, it may have appeared to outsiders that he’d finished his fight. Woodland, though, said he “didn’t know what the future held.”

Woodland, now 41, revealed in a Golf Channel sit-down last month he was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder in the wake of the surgery. The tumor, which was not fully removed in surgery, was located near his amygdala, the part of the brain that controls fear and anxiety.

Not three weeks after going public about his PTSD, Woodland won the Texas Children’s Houston Open, his long-awaited first victory since claiming the 2019 U.S. Open. Even then, in the midst of his biggest on-course triumph in years, Woodland was struggling mentally.

“I had a big battle Friday of Houston,” Woodland said Tuesday ahead of his Masters return. “I got hypervigilant on the ninth hole, and I battled the last 10 holes thinking people were trying to kill me. I have security with me. The Tour’s been amazing.

“But I talked to Tour security that night and I told them what I was going through, and every time I looked up on the weekend, my security team was behind me. Any time I got startled on the weekend, I turned around — last year I didn’t talk to Tour security. I fought this on my own. It was awful. Turning around and knowing that I’m safe, having somebody there with me, it’s the only reason why I won like two weeks ago.”

Woodland revealed that the PGA Tour communicated with Augusta National ahead of his arrival, and he’s since met with Augusta’s security team.

“I’ll have, just like on tour, I’ll have security with me,” Woodland said. “The main deal is they were showing me where security is. The whole deal for me is it’s visual, right? If I can see somebody, then I can remind myself that I’m safe constantly.

“So I have a good idea now where security is on every hole. The big deal for me, my caddie knows too. So he can constantly remind me. Like I said, I don’t have control when this thing hits me, and it’s tough. It can be a fan. It can be a walking score. It can be a camera guy running by me, just any startlement from behind me can trigger this pretty quickly. Knowing where the security is is a constant reminder that I’m safe.”

Woodland said he hoped his win in Houston has “a bigger impact on somebody else’s life,” and that his message to those coping with similar adversity is to reach out and talk to somebody.

“We live in a world, as men and especially as an athlete, that you put your head down and you fight through it. I’ve done it my whole life,” Woodland said. “This is honestly one battle that I’m not able to do on my own. I tried, and it wasn’t working.”

Woodland’s 13th career Masters start is set to be even more emotional than his 12th.

“People ask me, ‘How was the win (in Houston)?’ The one thing I know is having this brain tumor and having PTSD, it doesn’t matter if I win or lose. It doesn’t care,” he said. “I had a tough time (that week) battling this stuff. A lot of stimulation comes with winning, stuff I hadn’t seen in a long time.

“It’s a big week for me this week. The fans are very close on the tee boxes. There’s a lot going on. There’s probably not a safer golf tournament in the world, so I’m happy for that, but it’s still a battle in my head if I’m safe or not. That’s a tough pill to swallow.

“I’m emotional from the standpoint I know how close I probably was to never being back here, and I’m very proud of myself for earning my way back.”

AUGUSTA, Ga. — If there was such a thing as natural order when it comes to who deserves to — and should — win the Masters, Justin Rose is your man this week at Augusta National.

But, of course, there is no such thing.

Augusta National owes no one a damn thing.

Just ask Greg Norman, who had his heart mercilessly ripped from his chest not once but two or three times at Augusta and never won a green jacket.

Scars or belief?

This is a question that faces Justin Rose as he embarks on his 21st career Masters this week at Augusta National.

To be sure: Rose has done everything but win a green jacket in his first 20 tries, finishing second three times, including last year in a playoff to Rory McIlroy. In all, he has seven finishes inside the top 10.

The Masters has also represented significant heartbreak for Rose.

He lost to Sergio Garcia in a playoff in 2017 after shooting a final-round 69. And his loss to McIlroy last year came after Rose posted a 6-under-par 66 on Sunday to force a playoff, playing beautiful golf.

Scars from defeat or belief, based on his close calls, that he can finally cross the line and have that coveted green jacket slipped over his shoulders in Butler Cabin on Sunday night?

These are things Rose, at age 45 and understanding his realistic chances are dwindling with each year, ponders. He chooses to live on the positive side of the tracks.

“I hope it only boosts my belief that I can go ahead and do it,’’ Rose said Monday. “I feel like I’ve pretty much done what it takes to win. I just haven’t kind of walked over the line. I feel like I’ve executed well enough to have done the job.

“I’m very aware that I’ve been close here,’’ Rose went on. “I’m very aware that I’ve had tough, tough losses here. I also am aware that I enjoy this place. So I don’t want to feel that those three second-place finishes need to create a different sort of feeling for me.’’

He was asked whether he falls in the “desire’’ or “obsession’’ camp in wanting a Masters.

“I’d say firmly in the desire camp, just because I know that the latter is not going to help me,’’ Rose said.

This is a player who missed his first 21 cuts to start his professional career. So, don’t ever question Rose’s mental toughness.

“I’ve realized that you can’t skip through a career without a little bit of heartache and heartbreak,’’ he said. “If you’re going to be willing to win them, you’ve got to be willing to kind of be on the wrong side of it as well. The key is showing up. The point is you’ve got to put yourself there.

“The better player you are, the more chances you’re going to have and the more you’re going to win. I don’t feel like [the Masters] owes me anything. I come here with a good sort of attitude. I come here with it [being] a place that I enjoy being.

“There’s certain places you get to and you take a deep breath and go, ‘Right, it’s nice to be here.’ Augusta still is one of those places for me.’’

Rose, who played a practice round with Jersey Shore native Chris Gotterup on Monday, said he’s “always trying to learn’’ around the place.

“Listen, you can know everything in the world, but when it comes to execution, if you’re not playing well, it doesn’t matter how well you know anything,’’ he said. “It’s an execution-based business, and the golf course doesn’t know what I know.

“From my point of view, I don’t think, ‘Oh, I know how to play this golf course. It’s going to be fun. It’s going to be easy.’ I turn up every day I play this golf course knowing it’s a new body of work.’’

Rose, who won the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines earlier this year, breaking the tournament record and becoming the first wire-to-wire winner of that event since 1955, is an absolute sentimental favorite here this week.

Three runner-up finishes and handling those with pure class, which has always been Rose’s calling card, will do that.

“I’ve already experienced it this week,’’ Rose said. “A lot of people are wishing me well or thinking it’s going to be my year, whatever, just based around sentiment. So, I’m going to have to manage that a bit this week, and that’s going to be part of my week this week for sure is people remembering what happened last year.

“That’s fine, but I’ve got to kind of be aware of that, be ready for that, and I’ve got to have my own narrative and not kind of buy into everyone else’s narrative.’’