Tournament chairman Fred Ridley has praised the “monumental effort” of his Augusta National staff in helping the city’s recovery from Hurricane Helene ahead of The Masters.

Hurricane Helene made landfall in Augusta last September and resulted in historic damage in the region, with 11 deaths, thousands of buildings destroyed and a significant portion of the population without electricity and water for several weeks after.

Augusta National also suffered damage – including tree loss – but focused its efforts into supporting the community, with Ridley praising the “spirit of the entire Augusta National family” – ahead of the opening major of the year.

“I hope all of you will agree that our golf course and grounds are in magnificent condition,” Ridley said in his pre-tournament press conference. “One of our guests last week referred to the course as a beautiful painting and I could not agree more.

“We’ve celebrated the natural beauty of this property for many years, but it is a commitment of our horticulture and agronomy teams and our entire Augusta National staff that we will never take for granted.

“As we are here today, only six months after Hurricane Helene swept through our community, that sentiment has never meant more than it does at this moment.

“The spirit of our entire Augusta National family throughout the challenges of the months that followed Helene will be a signature of the 89th Masters Tournament.

“For weeks, water, power, food, fuel and other basic necessities were either difficult or impossible to access. Nevertheless, our employees were out in the community distributing food, cleaning up debris and donating food and money to help others in their time of need.

“I thank each and every one of them, and to everyone in Augusta who made sacrifices to assist others, even when you were impacted yourself, we are deeply appreciative, and we will continue to do our best to support you and our community.”

Augusta focuses energy in community

Augusta National announced in the days after the hurricane that it would make a $5m donation towards the Hurricane Helene Community Crisis Fund, while its employees served across multiple organisations set up to support the community.

“What I think is more important and what really was something that had an impact on me was the way our employees went into the community and really started focusing their efforts, in addition to the work they had to do here, but how they could help their fellow citizens of Augusta,” Riley added.

“Many of those people were impacted themselves. They had trees fall on their houses, on their cars. Their properties were littered with debris and trees. But it was really amazing what they did to help others.

“I’m very proud organisationally of what we were able to do to help the community, both down at the HUB and also at our north campus operations centre just across Washington Road, which really was set up as a distribution centre for the entire city to distribute food, water, clothing, et cetera.

“Our people really reacted. They did a great job here, obviously, but we expected that. But what they did in the community was something that I’ll always remember.”

Players excited for Augusta test

Those watching The Masters will notice little – if any – difference to Augusta National’s iconic layout, with Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler relishing the chance to challenge for major victory this week.

“I don’t think the course plays any differently,” McIlroy said. “From a tee-shot perspective, there are a couple of tee shots that are maybe a little less visually intimidating…but really, apart from that, I think it’s pretty much the same.”

Scheffler added: “There were a significant amount of trees lost on the golf course, but overall I think when you’re hitting into the trees you’re still going to be in a good amount of trouble.

“There’s only a few trees that are gone that are really noticeable, ones that are in play. But overall the golf course is in great shape. The greens are really good. I think we’re in store for another great tournament.”

When is The Masters live on Sky Sports?

Sky Sports Golf will be showing record hours of live coverage from the 2025 contest, including more action over the final two rounds than previous years. Wall-to-wall coverage from the tournament begins at 2pm on Thursday, with Featured Group action and regular updates until the global broadcast window begins at 8pm.

The same timings will apply on Friday, while a new addition to this year’s coverage sees a Masters build-up show live from 3pm over the weekend ahead of full coverage starting at 5pm, covering all the action until after the close of play.

Sky+, Sky Q and Sky Glass will provide plenty of bonus feeds and allow you to follow players’ progress through various parts of Augusta’s famous layout, including Amen Corner and more.

Who will win The Masters? Watch throughout the week live on Sky Sports. Live coverage of the opening round begins with Featured Groups on Thursday from 2pm on Sky Sports Golf. Get Sky Sports or stream with no contract on NOW.