Kids Day at Augusta National: Where little boys can dream and little girls better not get any ideas

This week, Augusta National began its junior patronage program, allowing children to come in to the hallowed club to watch Masters action for Kids Day.

Masters opens itself to junior patrons

AUGUSTA, Ga. — Everything was gray at the beginning of the 59th Masters: The old champion who would hit the ceremonial first tee shot. The old course itself, the piney hills and hollows draped in a veil of fog.

But Thursday at Augusta National was designed to highlight the more vivid colors of youth.

So, as Arnold Palmer limbered his 78-year-old bones for his one shot of the tournament, the club’s chairman, Billy Payne, stood on the first tee and extended “a special welcome to kids attending the Masters for the first time as part of the junior patron program.”

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Welcome to Kid’s Day at the Masters, the first day of an initiative to get some children off the Wii and onto the real thing. Kids were welcome to come to the tournament in the past, but only with a tournament badge, one of the scarcest tickets in sports. The new junior program allows an adult badge holder to bring along one un-ticketed child between the ages of 8 and 16, as long as an application was submitted in advance.

“Asked Wednesday what fathers should tell their young daughters attending the Masters about their chances of becoming a club member one day, Payne responded: ‘I would tell you what I’ve told you in the past, that I don’t talk about membership issues. That’s reserved for the private deliberations of the members.’” wrote Myrtle Beach Online.

So here’s hoping the boys and girls that attended Kids Day at Augusta National had a great time. But while the boys can dream about one day becoming a member at the club, the girls just need to know they can’t, and that the club’s chairman won’t even speak about it.

–WKW