Charlie Hanger, executive editor of Golf.com, had this observation on Golf.com’s PGA Tour Confidential:
My first thought was, finally. Payne seemed genuinely flustered with the harsh questioning this year, and I wonder if behind closed doors that led him to push for the change. The issue was clearly not going away, so they really didn’t have much of a choice.
I went to ASAPsports.com and reviewed the press conference Augusta National Chairman Billy Payne conducted on the Wednesday of tournament week. Indeed, he was pressed as hard on the women’s issue as he had been in years.
Here are some of the exchanges. The first mention came on the third question.
Q. You began talking about a number of the changes that happened here at the course. Since you’ve been Chairman, all of those changes have been well‑documented. One of the changes that