News

In Search of Positive Changes at Augusta National

Published

18 years ago

Apr 11, 2008

This year’s changes at Augusta National are with the patron experience in mind. Tournament coordinator Billy Payne said "Refinements to the golf course and grounds have been made almost every year since the tournament’s inception and this year was no exception".

Since Tiger’s dominating performance at Augusta in 1997, a series of changes to the course by consulting architect Tom Fazio have created a public debauchery. The golf community has criticized tournament organizers for constnatnly changing the course in ways that fail to aligwith the original values of Jones and MacKenzie. With a stated emphasis on enhancing the game for the players and patrons alike, these changes come at holes 1, 7, 9 and 11.

On the first hole, ten yards were added to the front of the back tee decks lending itself to "providing more flexibility in the event of a strong northwest wind" said Billy Payne. At other holes, the primary goals were to enhance patron viewing. In particular, No. 11 has had several trees removed; and at No. 16 a new viewing area will allow up to 2000 spectators to bear witness to events at holes 6, 15, 16, and 17. Changes more directly affecting the course’s playability come at 7 and 9. Both have had work done to the greens, sited for agronomic reasons, adding a few extra options for pin locations.

In the last 10 years, Fazio’s attempts to ‘Tiger Proof’ and ‘Protect Par’, have added well over 500 yards to the course; greens have been altered and bunkers reshaped. Jack Nicklaus told golf digest "I think they’ve ruined it from a tournament standpoint". "Gone, according to Nicklaus, is the second-shot philosophy favored by Jones and any realistic hope of an average-length player winning a green jacket" wrote Bill Fields.

When speaking about Bobby Jones we undoubtedly tell a tale of diversity and steadfast honour. Much more than a golfer we remember Jones as a lawyer, a business man, an engineer, a writer, a father and a legend. Yet when talking about the course on which he gracefully left as his legacy to the golfing world, our conversations of modern day have been focused criticisms. Even if justified in many cases, we the media often forget to embrace the good of Augusta.

Of all people, Jones was an advocate for making the game more accessible in all aspects. That is what Augusta is attempting to do this year for the patrons at No.1, 16 and even at 11. Also holding true to this value, this year a new junior pass initiative will allow kids ages 8-16 to be admitted to the grounds for free, when accompanied by an adult.

Some criticisms of course alterations over the years have gone so far as to make comparisons to plastic surgery gone wrong. It is seemingly forgotten that knives can not transform the sole. Augusta’s face may change, as will those of the players who grace the fairways, but the underlying values of the game that Jones and MacKenzie poured into the land surrounded with Georgia Pines will not be forgotten by the patrons.

It’s a celebration of Amen Corner’s 50th year this week, which gives me hope that when talking about Augusta National the topic of choice will be one with a positive tone. Whether it be watching the tee shots over Rae’s Creek, the drama at the 13th, or when we watch that final putt on 18, let’s take a moment to honour the values taught to us by Jones and MacKenzie.

News

Testing Lorem Ipsum

Published

56 mins ago

May 13, 2026

Pro Shop

What is Lorem Ipsum?

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Why do we use it?

It is a long established fact that a reader will be distracted by the readable content of a page when looking at its layout. The point of using Lorem Ipsum is that it has a more-or-less normal distribution of letters, as opposed to using ‘Content here, content here’, making it look like readable English. Many desktop publishing packages and web page editors now use Lorem Ipsum as their default model text, and a search for ‘lorem ipsum’ will uncover many web sites still in their infancy. Various versions have evolved over the years, sometimes by accident, sometimes on purpose (injected humour and the like).

News

2026 PGA Championship betting odds

Published

1 day ago

May 12, 2026

Gianni Magliocco

Scottie Scheffler leads the betting ahead of the second major championship of the year, with the World Number One a +345 favorite to get his hands on a second PGA Championship.

Rory McIlroy who won the Masters back in April is a +800 shot to complete half of the calendar slam at Aronimink Golf Club this week, while Jordan Spieth can be backed at +5900 to become a career grand slam winner.

Here is the full betting board for the 2026 PGA Championship courtesy of DraftKings.

Scottie Scheffler +345 – (Check 0ut his WITB here)

Rory McIlroy +800 – (Check out his WITB here)

Jon Rahm +1300
Cameron Young +1500
Bryson DeChambeau +1700
Xander Schauffele +1850
Matt Fitzpatrick +1950
Ludvig Aberg +2000
Tommy Fleetwood +2600
Collin Morikawa +3500
Brooks Koepka +3900
Justin Rose +4300
Russell Henley +4600
Si Woo Kim +4700
Justin Thomas +4800
Robert MacIntyre +5300
Patrick Cantlay +5300
Viktor Hovland +5400
Tyrrell Hatton +5500
Jordan Spieth +5900
Sam Burns +6000
Hideki Matsuyama +6200
Adam Scott +6400
Rickie Fowler +7000
Chris Gotterup +7400
Patrick Reed +7400
Min Woo Lee +7800
Ben Griffin +8000
Sepp Straka +8400
Shane Lowry +9000
Akshay Bhatia +9200
Maverick McNealy +9200
Joaquin Niemann +9200
Jake Knapp +9200
Jason Day +9600
Kurt Kitayama +10000
J.J. Spaun +10000
Harris English +10500
Nicolai Hojgaard +11000
Gary Woodland +11000
David Puig +11000
Michael Thorbjornsen +12000
Jacob Bridgeman +12000
Keegan Bradley +12500
Corey Conners +14000
Alex Fitzpatrick +15000
Sungjae Im +15500
Sahith Theegala +15500
Harry Hall +15500
Alex Noren +16000
Thomas Detry +16500
Marco Penge +16500
Kristoffer Reitan +17000
Alex Smalley +17000
Wyndham Clark +17500
Sam Stevens +17500
Keith Mitchell +17500
Daniel Berger +18500
Ryan Gerard +20000
Nick Taylor +20000
Rasmus Hojgaard +21000
Dustin Johnson +21000
Pierceson Coody +23000
Aaron Rai +24000
Jordan Smith +24000
Angel Ayora +24000
Bud Cauley +25000
Matt McCarty +26000
Jayden Schaper +26000
Brian Harman +27000
Taylor Pendrith +27000
Ryan Fox +27000
J.T. Poston +27000
Cameron Smith +29000
Ryo Hisatsune +29000
Michael Kim +29000
Max Homa +29000
Denny McCarthy +29000
Tom McKibbin +30000
Rico Hoey +32000
Matt Wallace +32500
Ricky Castillo +33000
Haotong Li +33000
Michael Brennan +34000
Max Greyserman +36000
Stephan Jaeger +37500
Christiaan Bezuidenhout +37500
Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen +39000
Aldrich Potgieter +40000
Andrew Novak +42000
Patrick Rodgers +42500
Daniel Hillier +42500
Max McGreevy +46000
Billy Horschel +48000
Chris Kirk +48000
Ian Holt +49000
Casey Jarvis +49000
William Mouw +50000
Steven Fisk +50000
John Parry +50000
Nico Echavarria +52500
Garrick Higgo +52500
John Keefer+55000
Matthias Schmid +57500
Austin Smotherman +57500
Sami Valimaki +60000
Andrew Putnam +60000
Lucas Glover +62500
Daniel Brown +62500
Jhonattan Vegas +75000
Emiliano Grillo +80000
Mikael Lindberg +85000
Adrien Saddier +100000
Bernd Wiesberger +100000
Elvis Smylie +110000
Stewart Cink +130000
Kota Kaneko +130000
David Lipsky +150000
Chandler Blanchet +150000
Andy Sullivan +150000
Joe Highsmith +180000
Adam Schenk +200000
Travis Smyth +200000
Davis Riley +225000
Martin Kaymer +400000
Brian Campbell +400000
Padraig Harrington +450000
Kazuki Higa +450000
Jordan Gumberg +450000
Ryan Vermeer +500000
Austin Hurt +500000
Tyler Collet +500000
Timothy Wiseman +500000
Shaun Micheel +500000
Y.E. Yang +500000
Michael Block+500000
Mark Geddes+500000
Luke Donald+500000
Bryce Fisher+500000
Jimmy Walker +500000
Jason Dufner +500000
Jesse Droemer +500000
Jared Jones +500000
Garrett Sapp +500000
Francisco Bide +500000
Zach Haynes +500000
Paul McClure+500000
Derek Berg +500000
Chris Gabriele +500000
Braden Shattuck +500000
Ben Polland +500000
Ben Kern +50000

Tour Photo Galleries

Photos from the 2026 PGA Championship

Published

2 days ago

May 11, 2026

GolfWRX Staff

GolfWRX is on site for the second major of 2026: The PGA Championship from Aronimink in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania.

The tournament’s location, just outside Philadelphia, and its status as a major championship mean GolfWRXers are in for a treat: WITBs from a strong field, custom gear celebrating the PGA Championship, and the rich culture of the City of Brotherly Love — we have noted a relative absence of cheesesteak-themed items thus far this week, but most of the rest of the usual suspects are well represented.

Check out links to all our photos below.