LA ROMANA, Dominican Republic — Will players really be allowed to putt with the pins in during at the Masters?
Asked that question Thursday at the Latin America Amateur Championship, Augusta National chairman Fred Ridley didn’t say no.
Under the new Rules of Golf, which went into effect on Jan. 1, players are now allowed to leave the flagstick in while on the greens, as Bryson DeChambeau so eagerly demonstrated.
Given Augusta’s slick and sloped putting surfaces, it’s possible, even likely, that a player will save multiple shots using the pin as a backstop. Picture a player putting down the hill towards the water on the par-5 15th, for example.
Addressing the possibility of Augusta National going against the Rules of Golf during Masters week, Ridley first thanked the USGA’s Mike Davis and R&A’s Martin Slumbers for their work, then preached a message of “consistency” at the game’s highest levels.
“We will, as we always do, collaborate with the governing bodies. We will talk about those local rules and conditions that will be implemented,” Ridley said.
“We think it’s important that there be some consistency in top championship golf, and so you should expect that the Masters Tournament, from a rules perspective, will look very much, if not the same, as what you’re seeing in the major championships and the professional tours.”
Last week at the Sony Open, 2013 Masters champion Adam Scott told reporters that he’ll be leaving the pin all year, even if he has a 6-foot putt to win his second green jacket.
Adam Scott says he will leave the flagstick in on every putt, even if it's a six-footer to win the Masters.
— RonGreenJr (@RonGreenJr) January 9, 2019
"As you know, I'm not a person who cares how things look...I was a 30-year old man putting with a broomstick."
Updated at 7:42 p.m. ET