AUGUSTA, GEORGIA | In announcing last week that Lee Elder (above) will be an honorary starter for the 2021 Masters and that Augusta National Golf Club will fund golf scholarships at Paine College, chairman Fred Ridley said the social unrest across the country this summer led him to think about not just what the club might say but what it could do.
Funding one scholarship each for the men’s and women’s golf programs in Elder’s name at nearby Paine, a historically Black college, and funding the creation of the women’s golf program there was a significant step.
Building on that, Ridley later announced the club – along with AT&T, Bank of America and IBM – will donate a combined $10 million to generate redevelopment in Augusta’s Harrisburg and Laney Walker neighborhoods. It is an initial investment in what Ridley indicated will be a long-term commitment to the area just more than 1 mile from Augusta National in need of an economic and infrastructure boost.
A new community center and a new Boys and Girls Club headquarters will be built there as part of the initial phase of the initiative.
For a club renowned for its exclusivity and criticized through the years for its insular nature, Augusta National has become a leader in growing the game and using its position to promote charitable initiatives in the Augusta community and beyond. Asked about how the club has evolved, Ridley pointed to the opportunities the club has to impact change going forward.
“I think it's always important to look back. You learn from looking back. You learn from history,†Ridley said. “We, like all organizations, are acutely aware of our past, and like I said, you do learn from looking back.
“I know any time, at least in my experience since I’ve been chairman, any time we undertake something – and I certainly observed a lot that went on during Billy Payne’s chairmanship – but I think we always ask ourselves when we come up with an idea that we think has merit and we execute on it, we always ask ourselves, ‘Why didn't we do it earlier?’ and I think it’s a fair question and I think it’s good to ask that question.
“I think all we can do at this point is to look forward and to realize that we have been blessed with tremendous resources to do many things, and we’re going to use those resources in the right way.â€
Ron Green Jr.
