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Home > Terence Moore > Archives > 2008 > April > 09 > Entry
DEL.ICIO.USThe anti-Hootie, Payne modernizing Masters
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Augusta — No question, Billy Payne is into the 21st century. That’s why I miss Hootie Johnson at Augusta National, because this is a 19th century sort of place.
I say that in a good way. Well, except for that antebellum clubhouse, stuffed with servants ready for a sequel to “Gone With the Wind.” I also could do without all of those omnipresent folks in yellow jumpsuits. They sprint from behind the azaleas to snatch trash out of midair before it hits the ground.
Those things haven’t changed in the seamless transition from Hootie to Billy, especially since Billy was Hootie’s choice as successor. Here’s what has changed: a boost in television coverage, adding the par 3 event; paying customers able to bring kids between the ages of 8 and 16 to the Masters for free; an invitation to folks to use the Internet to give advice to Augusta National honchos on how they can improve and promote golf around the world; a breathtaking spot that seats nearly 2,500 on the hillside at the No. 16 green.
So, keeping within his role as the anti-Hootie, Payne did the unthinkable this week. He sauntered into the massive media center at Augusta National, and he greeted each of the disbelieving reporters looking his way with a firm handshake, an infectious smile and a brief conversation.
When the man of the moment came my way, I had one question.
Actually, it was a thought.
This guy looks just like Dan Reeves, the former Falcons coach. Payne laughed, before adding, “I’ve heard that before. And when I’m walking around the course, I have a lot of people who think I’m Hootie. Even though I’m about 20 years younger than he is, they still confuse us.”
He does look like Hootie. Sometimes, he sounds like Hootie. That said, Billy Payne is no Hootie Johnson, who was perfect for this place. He was a traditionalist. He was a hardliner. He was blunt. He was unyielding. He was just Hootie, who essentially was equal parts Cliff Roberts and Jack Stephens, the other Masters chairmen obsessed with trying to keep the future away from the present and past as much as possible around Augusta National.
This isn’t to say Payne isn’t some parts Hootie, Stephens and Roberts. In fact, Payne delivered four such moments of yore Wednesday during his State of the Masters address.
There was that Martha Burk moment, when someone tried to ask Payne about Augusta National’s famous ban of women members. He answered, “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, and other than that, I’m not going to talk about it.”
What about that new initiative that allows children in for free? What kind of numbers are you expecting? “I’m not going to tell you,” Payne said smugly. Why not? “That’s like a speed-of-the greens issue,” said Payne, trying not to grin but failing after laughter filled the room.
Then there was a question about whether Augusta National would agree to being part of a video game someday. “Well, we’re not going to be included on other people’s video games,” said Payne, before his final Hootie, Stephens and Roberts moment. So, Billy, given the raging debate among players over the decade-old rough, would you consider plowing the stuff down? He said, “If you ask 100 people, 50 would take the other side, but we like our side, and that’s what we’re going to do. We like it.”
Hootie would be proud. That is, if Hootie were around. He has been conspicuously invisible at Augusta National during the past few days after serving as chairman from 1998 until the 2007 Masters. Then again, was that Hootie or Billy at the end of Wednesday’s State of the Masters address, when a reporter thanked Payne for the extraordinary improvements to the press area and asked if Payne also had someone who could “write our stories.”
Payne paused, smiled and then gave his best Hootie impression of all: “We could do that, too.”
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