Tiger Woods returns to the Masters today with an appropriate “welcome.” From the top:
On Wednesday, Billy Payne, who has led Augusta National since 2006, did something unprecedented.
In an uncharacteristic bit of theater alien to the Augusta National culture, Payne, without prodding, singled out Tiger Woods in a harsh rebuke, saying the world’s top-ranked golfer did not live up to role model expectations and had “disappointed all of us, and more importantly, our kids and our grandkids.”
Reading from a statement, Payne added: “His future will never again be measured only by his performance against par, but measured by the sincerity of his effort to change. I hope he now realizes that every kid he passes on the course wants his swing, but would settle for his smile.”
As someone who has done some defending of Augusta in my past, it made me smile.