[{"_1":2,"_3":-5,"_4":-5},"loaderData",{"_5":6,"_7":8},"actionData","errors","root",{"_137":-5,"_138":-5,"_139":140,"_141":142,"_143":144},"routes/clips.$id.$slug",{"_9":10,"_11":12},"clip",{"_13":14,"_15":16,"_17":-5,"_18":19,"_20":-5,"_21":22,"_23":24,"_25":26,"_27":28,"_29":30,"_31":32,"_33":34,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":40,"_41":-5,"_42":-5,"_43":-5,"_44":45,"_46":-5,"_47":48,"_49":50,"_51":-5},"canonicalUrl","https://howleaderslead.com/clips/1827/focus-on-community-efforts-that-align-with-your-core-values","id",1827,"title","Focus on community efforts that align with your core values","subtitle","transcript","WEBVTT\n\n1\n00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:06.280\nBut ultimately, we identified a community, a neighborhood in Augusta that's\n\n2\n00:00:06.280 --> 00:00:07.000\nvery not\n\n3\n00:00:07.000 --> 00:00:11.350\nfar from the club, about a mile from the club, that was once a middle class\n\n4\n00:00:11.350 --> 00:00:12.320\nneighborhood\n\n5\n00:00:12.320 --> 00:00:16.360\nback when we had a lot of textile mills in Augusta.\n\n6\n00:00:16.360 --> 00:00:20.730\nAnd as those disappeared, that community deteriorated and really needed some\n\n7\n00:00:20.730 --> 00:00:21.600\nuplifting.\n\n8\n00:00:21.600 --> 00:00:23.000\nIt was called Harrisburg.\n\n9\n00:00:23.000 --> 00:00:27.200\nThere are actually two side-by-side neighborhoods called Harrisburg and Laney\n\n10\n00:00:27.200 --> 00:00:27.840\nWalker.\n\n11\n00:00:27.840 --> 00:00:32.590\nLaney Walker was a historically black community that had largely been destroyed\n\n12\n00:00:32.590 --> 00:00:32.960\nback in the\n\n13\n00:00:32.960 --> 00:00:35.400\nriots in the 1970s.\n\n14\n00:00:35.400 --> 00:00:39.000\nAnd we felt that that was an opportunity right at our back door, right at our\n\n15\n00:00:39.000 --> 00:00:39.640\nfront door\n\n16\n00:00:39.640 --> 00:00:42.280\nactually, where we can make a difference.\n\n17\n00:00:42.280 --> 00:00:49.000\nAnd so I reached out to our sponsors and I said, \"Will you help us do this?\"\n\n18\n00:00:49.000 --> 00:00:54.820\nWe started with an announcement that AT&T, IBM and Bank of America stepped up\n\n19\n00:00:54.820 --> 00:00:55.760\nand matched\n\n20\n00:00:55.760 --> 00:00:57.920\na contribution that we committed.\n\n21\n00:00:57.920 --> 00:01:01.980\nWe have a story of starting out with a $10 million fund to build a new Boys and\n\n22\n00:01:01.980 --> 00:01:02.920\nGirls Club in\n\n23\n00:01:02.920 --> 00:01:05.800\nthis community as well as a new community center.\n\n24\n00:01:05.800 --> 00:01:09.280\nAnd I think this is just the beginning of what we're going to be able to do in\n\n25\n00:01:09.280 --> 00:01:10.240\nthat community\n\n26\n00:01:10.240 --> 00:01:13.720\nand hopefully others focusing in the Augusta community.\n\n27\n00:01:13.720 --> 00:01:17.520\nThat's one of the pillars of our mission statement is giving back to our\n\n28\n00:01:17.520 --> 00:01:18.360\ncommunity.\n\n29\n00:01:18.360 --> 00:01:20.400\nAnd we're going to do that and we're very excited.\n\n30\n00:01:20.400 --> 00:01:24.160\nAnd our entire team at the club is excited.\n\n31\n00:01:24.160 --> 00:01:27.280\nAnd that's, that really makes me feel good.\n","pretty_transcript","start_time",2293719,"end_time",2379000,"keywords","Philanthropy, community service, core values, Harrisburg, Laney-Walker","slug","focus-on-community-efforts-that-align-with-your-core-values","origin","cms","mux_playback_id","giSn3kGf502aW42o4SBkTfTOxAMN9ufs00u200jDboaRoE","mux_asset_id","vZFteWgjIfVyJNSA6LJj00K6jdOw3L1N1o9C3phthgmk","leader_id",105,"episode_id",254,"updated_at","2025-02-26T20:08:08.000000Z","meta_title","meta_description","og_image_media_id","web_url","https://www.howleaderslead.com/clips/1827/focus-on-community-efforts-that-align-with-your-core-values","og_image_url","leader",{"_13":36,"_101":102,"_103":104,"_105":106,"_25":107,"_108":109,"_62":110,"_59":110,"_111":112,"_69":113,"_39":114,"_115":-5,"_41":-5,"_42":-5,"_43":-5,"_116":117,"_89":118,"_44":119,"_120":121,"_122":123,"_46":-5,"_124":125,"_126":127,"_93":128,"_51":-5},"episode",{"_13":38,"_15":52,"_27":53,"_17":54,"_55":56,"_18":57,"_20":58,"_59":60,"_61":-5,"_62":60,"_63":-5,"_64":65,"_66":67,"_68":-5,"_69":-5,"_70":71,"_72":73,"_74":-5,"_35":36,"_39":75,"_41":-5,"_42":-5,"_43":-5,"_76":77,"_78":79,"_80":81,"_82":83,"_84":-5,"_85":-5,"_86":87,"_88":-5,"_89":-5,"_46":-5,"_90":91,"_92":-5,"_93":-5,"_51":-5},"og_image_media","Part 1: Preserve Tradition and Drive Innovation","part-1-preserve-tradition-and-drive-innovation","In this first of two interviews, meet the man behind the Masters and learn how Augusta National is staying true to its traditions while also boldly moving forward. Discover the leadership lessons Fred learned while playing in the ‘75 Masters with Jack Nicklaus, making controversial Masters rulings, and launching the first-ever Augusta National Women’s Amateur.","summary","

Today’s guest is Fred Ridley, Chairman of Augusta National Golf Club, and the man behind the Masters.

Fred has so much love and respect for the game of golf, and he’s quite a player himself – he won the 1975 US Amateur and competed in a few Masters tournaments.

But after a successful career as a commercial lawyer and overseeing the Masters Championship Committee for ten years, Fred took over as Chairman in 2017. It’s never easy to step into a high-profile role, especially when it comes with the responsibility of a legendary brand and event like the Masters.

But he’s up for the challenge, leading with a smart eye for detail and a big heart for people. And he’s shaping an incredible vision for the future of Augusta National while upholding the history and tradition that makes it so special.

You’re going to learn so much about how he balances those two things – and how every decision he makes is really all about the people around him, not just the processes of the organization.

In part one of this two-part conversation, you’ll learn:

The mentality that helped Fred become the surprise champion of the 1975 US Amateur
What Fred learned about leadership after a controversial ruling involving Tiger Woods
The inspiring story behind launching the Augusta National Women’s Amateur (and how it can inspire you to launch a new initiative)
One key trait of any worthwhile community involvement effort

Take your learning further. Get proven leadership advice from these (free!) resources:

The How Leaders Lead App: A vast library of 90-second leadership lessons to stay sharp on the go

Daily Insight Emails: One small (but powerful!) leadership principle to focus on each day

Whichever you choose, you can be sure you’ll get the trusted leadership advice you need to advance your career, develop your team, and grow your business.

","WEBVTT\n\n1\n00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:07.960\nWelcome to How Leaders Lead where every week you get to listen in while I\n\n2\n00:00:07.960 --> 00:00:08.640\ninterview some\n\n3\n00:00:08.640 --> 00:00:10.640\nof the very best leaders in the world.\n\n4\n00:00:10.640 --> 00:00:14.000\nI break down the key learning so that by the end of the episode, you'll have\n\n5\n00:00:14.000 --> 00:00:14.560\nsomething\n\n6\n00:00:14.560 --> 00:00:18.240\nsimple you can apply as you develop into a better leader.\n\n7\n00:00:18.240 --> 00:00:20.880\nThat's what this podcast is all about.\n\n8\n00:00:20.880 --> 00:00:25.110\nThis past weekend I had the opportunity to attend the most exciting and most\n\n9\n00:00:25.110 --> 00:00:25.920\nanticipated\n\n10\n00:00:25.920 --> 00:00:27.760\ngolf tournament in the world.\n\n11\n00:00:27.760 --> 00:00:33.280\nThe 2021 Masters held it to renowned Augusta National Golf Club.\n\n12\n00:00:33.280 --> 00:00:37.040\nBelieve me, I've never seen a place more beautiful.\n\n13\n00:00:37.040 --> 00:00:41.520\nThe birds were chirping, the azaleas were blooming, and this course was in\n\n14\n00:00:41.520 --> 00:00:42.360\nmagnificent\n\n15\n00:00:42.360 --> 00:00:46.440\nshape and the players were just put to the test.\n\n16\n00:00:46.440 --> 00:00:51.290\nIt was so much fun watching Hideki Matsuyama become the first male Japanese\n\n17\n00:00:51.290 --> 00:00:52.480\nplayer to win\n\n18\n00:00:52.480 --> 00:00:55.320\na major and the coveted green jacket.\n\n19\n00:00:55.320 --> 00:01:01.620\nIt was also so exciting watching Japan's 17-year-old Subasa Kachitani win the\n\n20\n00:01:01.620 --> 00:01:02.280\nAugusta\n\n21\n00:01:02.280 --> 00:01:07.240\nNational Women's Amateur in a playoff the weekend before.\n\n22\n00:01:07.240 --> 00:01:11.600\nWhat a great couple of weeks for Japan and the whole golf community.\n\n23\n00:01:11.600 --> 00:01:16.190\nSo it's obviously the perfect time to sit down with Fred Ridley, the chairman\n\n24\n00:01:16.190 --> 00:01:16.920\nof Augusta\n\n25\n00:01:16.920 --> 00:01:18.680\nNational Golf Club.\n\n26\n00:01:18.680 --> 00:01:23.090\nNow when we talk about Augusta National and the Masters, of course, the famous\n\n27\n00:01:23.090 --> 00:01:23.960\nline is\n\n28\n00:01:23.960 --> 00:01:27.120\nthat it's a tradition unlike any other.\n\n29\n00:01:27.120 --> 00:01:28.480\nAnd that's so true.\n\n30\n00:01:28.480 --> 00:01:32.960\nAnd let me tell you, Fred has a ton of respect for Augusta's unique tradition\n\n31\n00:01:32.960 --> 00:01:33.840\nand historical\n\n32\n00:01:33.840 --> 00:01:35.480\nguiding values.\n\n33\n00:01:35.480 --> 00:01:39.900\nBut he also has an incredible vision for its future, leading efforts to elevate\n\n34\n00:01:39.900 --> 00:01:40.520\nthe women's\n\n35\n00:01:40.520 --> 00:01:45.620\ngame, serve the community, and invest in communications infrastructure, just to\n\n36\n00:01:45.620 --> 00:01:46.560\nname a few of the\n\n37\n00:01:46.560 --> 00:01:48.920\nthings that this man is doing.\n\n38\n00:01:48.920 --> 00:01:53.920\nThe great leaders I know understand how to preserve tradition and drive bold\n\n39\n00:01:53.920 --> 00:01:54.800\ninnovation\n\n40\n00:01:54.800 --> 00:01:58.080\nthat takes the organization into the future.\n\n41\n00:01:58.080 --> 00:02:02.200\nThat's a balance that always moves the business forward in the right way.\n\n42\n00:02:02.200 --> 00:02:07.800\nYou're going to learn so much from Fred about how he balances those two things.\n\n43\n00:02:07.800 --> 00:02:12.080\nIn fact, there's so much great stuff here that is going to take two separate\n\n44\n00:02:12.080 --> 00:02:12.600\nepisodes\n\n45\n00:02:12.600 --> 00:02:14.200\nto get to it all.\n\n46\n00:02:14.200 --> 00:02:19.250\nSo here's part one of my conversation with my good friend and soon to be yours,\n\n47\n00:02:19.250 --> 00:02:25.360\nFred Ridley.\n\n48\n00:02:25.360 --> 00:02:27.840\nYou know, Fred, it's such an honor to have you with us.\n\n49\n00:02:27.840 --> 00:02:30.600\nAnd thanks so much for taking the time to have this conversation.\n\n50\n00:02:30.600 --> 00:02:31.600\nThank you, David.\n\n51\n00:02:31.600 --> 00:02:33.400\nIt's an honor for me to be here.\n\n52\n00:02:33.400 --> 00:02:37.220\nYou know, Fred, I obviously want to get into how you're leading Augusta\n\n53\n00:02:37.220 --> 00:02:38.000\nNational.\n\n54\n00:02:38.000 --> 00:02:42.560\nBut first, can you tell us a story about when you were a kid that helped shape\n\n55\n00:02:42.560 --> 00:02:43.160\nthe kind\n\n56\n00:02:43.160 --> 00:02:45.040\nof person that you've become today?\n\n57\n00:02:45.040 --> 00:02:49.850\nWell, I think as a young guy, you know, I was always a pretty good student in\n\n58\n00:02:49.850 --> 00:02:50.640\nschool.\n\n59\n00:02:50.640 --> 00:02:52.680\nI think I was a mediocre athlete.\n\n60\n00:02:52.680 --> 00:02:56.720\nAnd I think probably I might have liked a little bit of confidence.\n\n61\n00:02:56.720 --> 00:03:01.680\nAnd I remember I started playing golf when I was 10 years old.\n\n62\n00:03:01.680 --> 00:03:05.650\nAnd when I was about 14, I was playing in a tournament, a junior tournament\n\n63\n00:03:05.650 --> 00:03:06.200\nwith really\n\n64\n00:03:06.200 --> 00:03:07.840\nthe top juniors in the state.\n\n65\n00:03:07.840 --> 00:03:11.880\nI grew up in an area of sort of a hotbed of junior golf.\n\n66\n00:03:11.880 --> 00:03:13.640\nAnd there were a couple of guys from Tampa.\n\n67\n00:03:13.640 --> 00:03:18.290\nI lived in the center of the state at the time named Eddie Pierce and Gary Koch\n\n68\n00:03:18.290 --> 00:03:18.480\n.\n\n69\n00:03:18.480 --> 00:03:23.520\nAnd I'm sure you know, Gary Koch from his television persona today.\n\n70\n00:03:23.520 --> 00:03:27.360\nBut Eddie Pierce was probably the best junior golfer in the country.\n\n71\n00:03:27.360 --> 00:03:30.800\nAnd I was playing a tournament over Labor Day with them.\n\n72\n00:03:30.800 --> 00:03:31.800\nAnd I won the tournament.\n\n73\n00:03:31.800 --> 00:03:35.720\nI mean, everyone was shocked, including me.\n\n74\n00:03:35.720 --> 00:03:39.160\nI think that really gave me a shot of confidence.\n\n75\n00:03:39.160 --> 00:03:43.500\nAnd you know, which I think translated really beyond just playing the sport of\n\n76\n00:03:43.500 --> 00:03:44.160\ngolf.\n\n77\n00:03:44.160 --> 00:03:46.080\nSo that was one that I remember.\n\n78\n00:03:46.080 --> 00:03:47.080\nAbsolutely.\n\n79\n00:03:47.080 --> 00:03:50.800\nYou know, I understand that your mom and dad were public educators.\n\n80\n00:03:50.800 --> 00:03:53.040\nAnd how did that influence you?\n\n81\n00:03:53.040 --> 00:03:54.960\nWell, they were.\n\n82\n00:03:54.960 --> 00:03:58.600\nMy parents, both their families moved to Florida in the 1930s.\n\n83\n00:03:58.600 --> 00:04:00.120\nIt's a Lakeland, Florida.\n\n84\n00:04:00.120 --> 00:04:01.560\nAnd that's where they met.\n\n85\n00:04:01.560 --> 00:04:03.920\nBoth of my parents were in public education.\n\n86\n00:04:03.920 --> 00:04:07.080\nMy father was initially a math teacher at Lakeland High School.\n\n87\n00:04:07.080 --> 00:04:11.970\nAnd then ultimately sort of moved through the administrative roles of public\n\n88\n00:04:11.970 --> 00:04:12.760\neducation.\n\n89\n00:04:12.760 --> 00:04:16.920\nAnd when he retired, was in charge of personnel for our county.\n\n90\n00:04:16.920 --> 00:04:21.080\nMy mother didn't go to college until she was in her late 30s.\n\n91\n00:04:21.080 --> 00:04:24.930\nAnd after we were a little bit older, got her degree and then ultimately got\n\n92\n00:04:24.930 --> 00:04:25.680\nher master's\n\n93\n00:04:25.680 --> 00:04:30.040\ndegree was a teacher and then ultimately a principal.\n\n94\n00:04:30.040 --> 00:04:34.520\nBut I mean, they had to certainly emphasize the importance of education.\n\n95\n00:04:34.520 --> 00:04:41.230\nAnd I know my father was very instrumental in suggesting and advocating me\n\n96\n00:04:41.230 --> 00:04:41.840\nultimately\n\n97\n00:04:41.840 --> 00:04:42.920\ngoing to law school.\n\n98\n00:04:42.920 --> 00:04:49.300\nIt was something that he actually went to law school for a semester after he\n\n99\n00:04:49.300 --> 00:04:50.000\ngot his\n\n100\n00:04:50.000 --> 00:04:52.560\nmaster's degree in education.\n\n101\n00:04:52.560 --> 00:04:55.720\nAnd I think he made straight A's but came to the reality.\n\n102\n00:04:55.720 --> 00:04:57.400\nMy sister was born about that time.\n\n103\n00:04:57.400 --> 00:05:04.830\nI think he was wondering how he was going to afford to basically raise a family\n\n104\n00:05:04.830 --> 00:05:05.360\nand go\n\n105\n00:05:05.360 --> 00:05:06.360\nto school.\n\n106\n00:05:06.360 --> 00:05:07.360\nAnd so he dropped out.\n\n107\n00:05:07.360 --> 00:05:09.120\nSo I think he always regretted that.\n\n108\n00:05:09.120 --> 00:05:14.030\nAnd in some extent, probably encouraged me a little bit more to become a lawyer\n\n109\n00:05:14.030 --> 00:05:14.080\n.\n\n110\n00:05:14.080 --> 00:05:17.750\nYou know, Fred, you're a good student and you go on to the University of\n\n111\n00:05:17.750 --> 00:05:18.440\nFlorida.\n\n112\n00:05:18.440 --> 00:05:23.240\nYou play as an alternate, as I understand it, on the Harold Gator golf team.\n\n113\n00:05:23.240 --> 00:05:27.680\nAnd you go on to win the USM in 1975.\n\n114\n00:05:27.680 --> 00:05:30.840\nThat had to be an amazing experience.\n\n115\n00:05:30.840 --> 00:05:31.840\nTell us about it.\n\n116\n00:05:31.840 --> 00:05:34.160\nWhat's it like to win the United States amateur?\n\n117\n00:05:34.160 --> 00:05:38.770\nWell, you know, it's interesting, David, you described that pretty well as an\n\n118\n00:05:38.770 --> 00:05:39.560\nalternate.\n\n119\n00:05:39.560 --> 00:05:43.260\nYou know, I played a fair amount for the University of Florida, but I was never\n\n120\n00:05:43.260 --> 00:05:44.240\na solid first\n\n121\n00:05:44.240 --> 00:05:45.240\nteamer.\n\n122\n00:05:45.240 --> 00:05:48.430\nYou know, I like to tell people I was a mediocre college golfer, but I think\n\n123\n00:05:48.430 --> 00:05:49.160\nthat's giving\n\n124\n00:05:49.160 --> 00:05:51.320\nme more credit than I really deserve.\n\n125\n00:05:51.320 --> 00:05:55.890\nSo when I won the US amateur, I actually was in between my first and second\n\n126\n00:05:55.890 --> 00:05:57.120\nyear law school.\n\n127\n00:05:57.120 --> 00:06:01.420\nAnd so, you know, that sort of gets people looking at you a little funny when\n\n128\n00:06:01.420 --> 00:06:01.800\nyou tell\n\n129\n00:06:01.800 --> 00:06:02.800\nthem that.\n\n130\n00:06:02.800 --> 00:06:06.760\nBut the fact of the matter was that I had started to play probably the best\n\n131\n00:06:06.760 --> 00:06:07.320\ngolf in my\n\n132\n00:06:07.320 --> 00:06:13.000\nlife, the last semester of my undergraduate college career in Florida.\n\n133\n00:06:13.000 --> 00:06:19.920\nAnd I had met a gentleman who, I'm sure you know the name, a very well-known P\n\n134\n00:06:19.920 --> 00:06:21.040\nGA golf instructor\n\n135\n00:06:21.040 --> 00:06:22.760\nnamed Jack Grout.\n\n136\n00:06:22.760 --> 00:06:27.360\nJack Grout was best known for, I listened to your podcast with Jack Nicholas.\n\n137\n00:06:27.360 --> 00:06:31.240\nAnd of course, Mr. Grout was his lifelong teacher.\n\n138\n00:06:31.240 --> 00:06:35.760\nAnd I'd met Mr. Grout in the spring of 1974, right before I graduated from the\n\n139\n00:06:35.760 --> 00:06:36.320\nUniversity\n\n140\n00:06:36.320 --> 00:06:37.400\nof Florida.\n\n141\n00:06:37.400 --> 00:06:43.310\nAnd after a year in law school, I convinced my dad to finance one more summer\n\n142\n00:06:43.310 --> 00:06:44.280\nof golf.\n\n143\n00:06:44.280 --> 00:06:48.760\nAnd let me go out and play golf one more time and I won't ask you again.\n\n144\n00:06:48.760 --> 00:06:52.910\nSo that was at the end of the summer, I played all summer in 1975, I spent a\n\n145\n00:06:52.910 --> 00:06:53.560\nlot of time\n\n146\n00:06:53.560 --> 00:06:55.200\nwith Jack Grout.\n\n147\n00:06:55.200 --> 00:06:59.000\nAnd I played very well all summer, but had not won anything.\n\n148\n00:06:59.000 --> 00:07:03.300\nAnd so I came to the US amateur, I qualified for the US amateur by winning the\n\n149\n00:07:03.300 --> 00:07:03.920\nlast spot\n\n150\n00:07:03.920 --> 00:07:05.000\nin the playoff.\n\n151\n00:07:05.000 --> 00:07:07.840\nAnd so I got to the tournament.\n\n152\n00:07:07.840 --> 00:07:11.830\nAnd those days in the mid-70s, it was all match play once you got to the\n\n153\n00:07:11.830 --> 00:07:12.920\nchampionship.\n\n154\n00:07:12.920 --> 00:07:15.360\nThere was no stroke play qualifying.\n\n155\n00:07:15.360 --> 00:07:18.520\nSo I had to win eight matches to win the tournament.\n\n156\n00:07:18.520 --> 00:07:23.040\nAnd it was kind of one of those things where you get in just the right state of\n\n157\n00:07:23.040 --> 00:07:24.320\nmind, where\n\n158\n00:07:24.320 --> 00:07:28.690\nyou don't look ahead, but you don't really worry about the outcome of the day\n\n159\n00:07:28.690 --> 00:07:29.000\nthat you're\n\n160\n00:07:29.000 --> 00:07:30.000\nplaying.\n\n161\n00:07:30.000 --> 00:07:31.000\nAnd that's kind of where I was that week.\n\n162\n00:07:31.000 --> 00:07:32.640\nI can't explain why.\n\n163\n00:07:32.640 --> 00:07:36.180\nI just took each match one at a time and near the end of the tournament, I\n\n164\n00:07:36.180 --> 00:07:37.080\nplayed some really\n\n165\n00:07:37.080 --> 00:07:40.840\ngood players, players like Curtis Strange and Andy Bean.\n\n166\n00:07:40.840 --> 00:07:44.170\nAnd then on the finals, I played a guy named Keith Ferguson, who was a top\n\n167\n00:07:44.170 --> 00:07:45.000\ncollege player\n\n168\n00:07:45.000 --> 00:07:47.040\nat the University of Houston.\n\n169\n00:07:47.040 --> 00:07:49.800\nSo I think I was probably the underdog in every one of those matches.\n\n170\n00:07:49.800 --> 00:07:52.840\nBut somehow I got through them all and won all eight matches.\n\n171\n00:07:52.840 --> 00:07:56.080\nAnd all of a sudden I was the US amateur champion.\n\n172\n00:07:56.080 --> 00:08:00.940\nYou know, as I understand it, Fred, you were the last US amateur champion that\n\n173\n00:08:00.940 --> 00:08:01.520\ndecided\n\n174\n00:08:01.520 --> 00:08:03.200\nnot to go pro.\n\n175\n00:08:03.200 --> 00:08:08.800\nYou finished your law education and then you went into law.\n\n176\n00:08:08.800 --> 00:08:12.190\nTell us how you thought about that decision because you had to have, I mean, at\n\n177\n00:08:12.190 --> 00:08:12.480\nthat\n\n178\n00:08:12.480 --> 00:08:14.280\npoint, your confidence had to be brewing.\n\n179\n00:08:14.280 --> 00:08:17.000\nI mean, you beat some great players.\n\n180\n00:08:17.000 --> 00:08:20.280\nI mean, it was part of it was just circumstantial.\n\n181\n00:08:20.280 --> 00:08:24.440\nI mean, part of it was maybe a little bit of pragmatism.\n\n182\n00:08:24.440 --> 00:08:27.280\nI actually, as I mentioned, I'd only completed your law school.\n\n183\n00:08:27.280 --> 00:08:29.880\nSo I had to decide I was sort of at crossroads.\n\n184\n00:08:29.880 --> 00:08:33.480\nIf I was going to turn professional, that would have been the time to do it.\n\n185\n00:08:33.480 --> 00:08:38.030\nI reasoned that if I did that, the likelihood of me ever getting my law degree\n\n186\n00:08:38.030 --> 00:08:38.960\nwas not very\n\n187\n00:08:38.960 --> 00:08:39.960\ngreat.\n\n188\n00:08:39.960 --> 00:08:43.080\nSo I decided to go ahead and go back and finish law school.\n\n189\n00:08:43.080 --> 00:08:44.960\nI did take a semester off.\n\n190\n00:08:44.960 --> 00:08:49.570\nI was at a Stetson Law School where I went to school, gave me a sabbatical of\n\n191\n00:08:49.570 --> 00:08:50.320\nsorts.\n\n192\n00:08:50.320 --> 00:08:56.960\nAnd I did play a lot of tournament golf during that one spring, spring of 1976.\n\n193\n00:08:56.960 --> 00:09:01.800\nAnd actually that was great for me because I think I realized that while I had\n\n194\n00:09:01.800 --> 00:09:02.180\nsort of\n\n195\n00:09:02.180 --> 00:09:08.270\nmoved up to becoming one of the top amateurs, I wasn't really sure that my game\n\n196\n00:09:08.270 --> 00:09:08.760\nwas where\n\n197\n00:09:08.760 --> 00:09:10.640\nit should be to be a golf professional.\n\n198\n00:09:10.640 --> 00:09:14.660\nAnd you have to remember, David, back in those days, the leading money winner\n\n199\n00:09:14.660 --> 00:09:15.240\nwas making\n\n200\n00:09:15.240 --> 00:09:16.240\nabout $300,000.\n\n201\n00:09:16.240 --> 00:09:20.000\nAnd there were very few people who were even making $100,000.\n\n202\n00:09:20.000 --> 00:09:23.950\nWhile that was a lot of money back then, even inflation adjusted, it wasn't\n\n203\n00:09:23.950 --> 00:09:24.600\nnear what it\n\n204\n00:09:24.600 --> 00:09:25.600\nwas today.\n\n205\n00:09:25.600 --> 00:09:28.400\nSo I'm not sure I would have made that same decision today.\n\n206\n00:09:28.400 --> 00:09:33.080\nBut by the time I graduated two years later, things, the world had changed for\n\n207\n00:09:33.080 --> 00:09:33.520\nme.\n\n208\n00:09:33.520 --> 00:09:37.640\nI had some interesting opportunities outside of playing golf.\n\n209\n00:09:37.640 --> 00:09:42.350\nAnd it just felt like to me that the right decision was to go forward, remain\n\n210\n00:09:42.350 --> 00:09:43.040\nan amateur\n\n211\n00:09:43.040 --> 00:09:44.040\ngolfer.\n\n212\n00:09:44.040 --> 00:09:46.680\nAnd I made the right decision.\n\n213\n00:09:46.680 --> 00:09:52.520\nYou said your dad sort of pointed you into the world of law.\n\n214\n00:09:52.520 --> 00:09:57.120\nWas that something that you were really passionate about when you got into it?\n\n215\n00:09:57.120 --> 00:10:00.640\nAnd were you really focused on it in a big time way?\n\n216\n00:10:00.640 --> 00:10:01.640\nInteresting question.\n\n217\n00:10:01.640 --> 00:10:08.240\nI was very agreeable and was happy to go to law school.\n\n218\n00:10:08.240 --> 00:10:12.240\nI've enjoyed being a lawyer much more than being a law student.\n\n219\n00:10:12.240 --> 00:10:16.700\nI did pretty well in law school, but it was not something that I had a passion\n\n220\n00:10:16.700 --> 00:10:17.040\nfor.\n\n221\n00:10:17.040 --> 00:10:21.170\nAnd I guess for that reason, in my last semester of law school, I had an\n\n222\n00:10:21.170 --> 00:10:22.360\nopportunity to sort\n\n223\n00:10:22.360 --> 00:10:25.920\nof take a little turn in the road and had an opportunity to go work in the\n\n224\n00:10:25.920 --> 00:10:27.040\nsports management\n\n225\n00:10:27.040 --> 00:10:32.320\nbusiness for Martin McCormick, who of course is an icon in that industry.\n\n226\n00:10:32.320 --> 00:10:33.400\nAnd I took it.\n\n227\n00:10:33.400 --> 00:10:35.800\nAnd so that was my first job out of law school.\n\n228\n00:10:35.800 --> 00:10:38.400\nI didn't practice law for about three years.\n\n229\n00:10:38.400 --> 00:10:43.320\nAnd really an interesting opportunity that I decided to take advantage of.\n\n230\n00:10:43.320 --> 00:10:47.870\nYou know, now you're a partner at the renowned Foley and Lardner Law Firm with\n\n231\n00:10:47.870 --> 00:10:48.640\nyou have over\n\n232\n00:10:48.640 --> 00:10:50.520\na thousand lawyers.\n\n233\n00:10:50.520 --> 00:10:54.480\nYou're heading up the high end commercial real estate practice.\n\n234\n00:10:54.480 --> 00:10:58.560\nWhen you're recognized, you know, I've seen it all here, you're recognized as\n\n235\n00:10:58.560 --> 00:10:58.920\none of the\n\n236\n00:10:58.920 --> 00:11:01.680\nleading lawyers in the country.\n\n237\n00:11:01.680 --> 00:11:05.950\nWhat principles did you learn in golf that helped you grow into a leader in the\n\n238\n00:11:05.950 --> 00:11:06.520\nfirm?\n\n239\n00:11:06.520 --> 00:11:08.920\nYou know, lawyers are really not trained to be leaders.\n\n240\n00:11:08.920 --> 00:11:13.640\nAt its simplest form, lawyers are somewhat independent contractors, you know,\n\n241\n00:11:13.640 --> 00:11:14.840\nthat are\n\n242\n00:11:14.840 --> 00:11:19.790\nexpected to go out and become a good practitioner, but yet develop enterprise,\n\n243\n00:11:19.790 --> 00:11:20.920\ndevelop business\n\n244\n00:11:20.920 --> 00:11:22.160\nfor the law firm.\n\n245\n00:11:22.160 --> 00:11:29.420\nI think really I would say that the competitive attribute required to be a\n\n246\n00:11:29.420 --> 00:11:31.520\nsuccessful golfer,\n\n247\n00:11:31.520 --> 00:11:37.460\nwhich for a short period of time I was, I think that really spilled over into\n\n248\n00:11:37.460 --> 00:11:38.200\nmy legal\n\n249\n00:11:38.200 --> 00:11:39.200\ncareer.\n\n250\n00:11:39.200 --> 00:11:43.120\nYou know, I knew that nobody was going to do it for me.\n\n251\n00:11:43.120 --> 00:11:45.720\nAnd then I had to work hard.\n\n252\n00:11:45.720 --> 00:11:49.950\nMy first bit of advice to anyone considering being a lawyer is you better make\n\n253\n00:11:49.950 --> 00:11:50.480\nsure you\n\n254\n00:11:50.480 --> 00:11:53.880\nreally want to do this because it's really hard.\n\n255\n00:11:53.880 --> 00:11:58.410\nAnd so I really just think, you know, I remember my sort of progression as a\n\n256\n00:11:58.410 --> 00:11:59.600\nlawyer was really\n\n257\n00:11:59.600 --> 00:12:02.480\nalmost opposite from what many lawyers do.\n\n258\n00:12:02.480 --> 00:12:06.530\nI have a lot of friends who have their own law firms that started out in big\n\n259\n00:12:06.530 --> 00:12:07.160\nfirms and\n\n260\n00:12:07.160 --> 00:12:10.620\nsort of got smaller as they got more experience to where they wanted to run\n\n261\n00:12:10.620 --> 00:12:11.560\ntheir own firm.\n\n262\n00:12:11.560 --> 00:12:14.080\nI started in a four lawyer law firm when I came back from Cleveland, Oregon,\n\n263\n00:12:14.080 --> 00:12:15.920\nTri, and\n\n264\n00:12:15.920 --> 00:12:16.920\nG.\n\n265\n00:12:16.920 --> 00:12:19.320\nAnd I'm now in a law firm that has eleven other lawyers.\n\n266\n00:12:19.320 --> 00:12:22.880\nI've really sort of done it the opposite that many people have.\n\n267\n00:12:22.880 --> 00:12:26.440\nAnd I say that because I remember I've really only been, other than the small\n\n268\n00:12:26.440 --> 00:12:27.080\nfirm I've been\n\n269\n00:12:27.080 --> 00:12:32.430\nwith two firms over the years, I remember joining my prior firm in the mid 80s,\n\n270\n00:12:32.430 --> 00:12:32.920\nwhich\n\n271\n00:12:32.920 --> 00:12:40.010\nhad a reputation in our community of being very hard working, almost a majority\n\n272\n00:12:40.010 --> 00:12:40.520\nterm\n\n273\n00:12:40.520 --> 00:12:41.920\nof a sweatshop.\n\n274\n00:12:41.920 --> 00:12:44.420\nAnd I remember one of the partners interviewing me and saying, \"Are you sure\n\n275\n00:12:44.420 --> 00:12:45.040\nyou really want\n\n276\n00:12:45.040 --> 00:12:46.640\nto do this?\"\n\n277\n00:12:46.640 --> 00:12:49.040\nAnd I said, \"You know, I'm pretty competitive.\"\n\n278\n00:12:49.040 --> 00:12:52.680\nAnd I think I know what it takes to be successful in this environment and I'm\n\n279\n00:12:52.680 --> 00:12:53.480\nready to go.\n\n280\n00:12:53.480 --> 00:12:57.970\nSo I really think it's really the competition and the self-reliance that you\n\n281\n00:12:57.970 --> 00:12:58.760\nreally have\n\n282\n00:12:58.760 --> 00:13:03.760\nto have to be an athlete that sort of kind of took me into my current career.\n\n283\n00:13:03.760 --> 00:13:04.760\nGreat.\n\n284\n00:13:04.760 --> 00:13:07.470\nYou know, I want to go back to your golfing record just for a second for our\n\n285\n00:13:07.470 --> 00:13:07.960\nlisteners\n\n286\n00:13:07.960 --> 00:13:11.080\nbecause it truly is amazing.\n\n287\n00:13:11.080 --> 00:13:18.120\nYou beat Andy Bean and Curtis Strange and Keith Fergus in the US amateur.\n\n288\n00:13:18.120 --> 00:13:24.200\nAnd then you beat Sandy Lyle, not once, but twice in the Walker Cup.\n\n289\n00:13:24.200 --> 00:13:29.850\nNow Andy and Keith go on to become great pros and Curtis and Sandy go on to win\n\n290\n00:13:29.850 --> 00:13:30.680\ntwo major\n\n291\n00:13:30.680 --> 00:13:32.440\nchampionships each.\n\n292\n00:13:32.440 --> 00:13:35.880\nNow, you know, and I think about that, it's amazing.\n\n293\n00:13:35.880 --> 00:13:36.880\nYou're really competitive.\n\n294\n00:13:36.880 --> 00:13:40.120\nHave you ever had any regrets on not turning pro?\n\n295\n00:13:40.120 --> 00:13:46.350\nWell, David, you know, we've known each other a few years and you know what I\n\n296\n00:13:46.350 --> 00:13:46.760\ndo.\n\n297\n00:13:46.760 --> 00:13:51.770\nThe privilege I have leading our club Augusta National and the Masters\n\n298\n00:13:51.770 --> 00:13:53.680\nTournament and everything\n\n299\n00:13:53.680 --> 00:13:58.320\nthat golf has given to me has been manyfold what I've given to it.\n\n300\n00:13:58.320 --> 00:14:01.160\nSo I would say that I have no regrets.\n\n301\n00:14:01.160 --> 00:14:05.850\nI would not trade what I have done and what I've been able to do, what I've\n\n302\n00:14:05.850 --> 00:14:06.520\nbeen blessed\n\n303\n00:14:06.520 --> 00:14:09.440\nwith for any amount of PGA Tour wins.\n\n304\n00:14:09.440 --> 00:14:11.880\nSo I hope that answers your question.\n\n305\n00:14:11.880 --> 00:14:13.240\nIt sure does.\n\n306\n00:14:13.240 --> 00:14:18.150\nYou know, and by winning the US amateur, you qualified to play in the 1976\n\n307\n00:14:18.150 --> 00:14:18.920\nMasters.\n\n308\n00:14:18.920 --> 00:14:20.880\nNow that's incredible.\n\n309\n00:14:20.880 --> 00:14:22.760\nWho did you play with?\n\n310\n00:14:22.760 --> 00:14:25.720\nAnd how did you handle your nerves on the first tee?\n\n311\n00:14:25.720 --> 00:14:28.480\nI mean, I don't think I could have taken the club back.\n\n312\n00:14:28.480 --> 00:14:33.870\nWell, there is a tradition which I'm sure you're aware of, David, that the\n\n313\n00:14:33.870 --> 00:14:34.720\ndefending\n\n314\n00:14:34.720 --> 00:14:39.160\nMasters champion plays with the current US amateur champion.\n\n315\n00:14:39.160 --> 00:14:43.410\nAnd those days we played, the Masters was paired in two-somes even the first\n\n316\n00:14:43.410 --> 00:14:45.800\ntwo days.\n\n317\n00:14:45.800 --> 00:14:50.770\nSo I was paired, of course, Jack Nicholas won the Masters in 1975 with that\n\n318\n00:14:50.770 --> 00:14:52.000\nsort of famous\n\n319\n00:14:52.000 --> 00:14:57.070\nputt on number 16, you know, where he raised this club, which ultimately I\n\n320\n00:14:57.070 --> 00:14:58.000\nthink became\n\n321\n00:14:58.000 --> 00:14:59.640\none of his logos.\n\n322\n00:14:59.640 --> 00:15:03.400\nAnd so he was a defending champion and I was a US amateur champion.\n\n323\n00:15:03.400 --> 00:15:05.800\nSo we were paired in the first round.\n\n324\n00:15:05.800 --> 00:15:10.320\nNow, you know, I had a little bit of an advantage as far as how nervous was I\n\n325\n00:15:10.320 --> 00:15:11.800\ngoing to be in\n\n326\n00:15:11.800 --> 00:15:16.380\nthat through Jack Groud, I had gotten to know Jack Nicholas a little bit over\n\n327\n00:15:16.380 --> 00:15:17.240\nthe past year\n\n328\n00:15:17.240 --> 00:15:19.760\nand actually played a couple of times with him.\n\n329\n00:15:19.760 --> 00:15:23.320\nAnd he was nice enough that week to ask me to play a practice round.\n\n330\n00:15:23.320 --> 00:15:27.800\nSo while it was really nerve-wracking, it was not quite as bad as walking you\n\n331\n00:15:27.800 --> 00:15:28.160\nup on\n\n332\n00:15:28.160 --> 00:15:30.560\nthe first tee and I haven't introduced myself.\n\n333\n00:15:30.560 --> 00:15:35.930\nI do remember teeing it up and I have no recollection of swinging the golf club\n\n334\n00:15:35.930 --> 00:15:36.360\nand hitting it\n\n335\n00:15:36.360 --> 00:15:37.360\noff the first tee.\n\n336\n00:15:37.360 --> 00:15:39.600\nFortunately, I looked up and it did go down the middle.\n\n337\n00:15:39.600 --> 00:15:43.200\nBut that was certainly a great experience for a young guy.\n\n338\n00:15:43.200 --> 00:15:48.590\nWell, when you think back on it, what do you remember now most from that\n\n339\n00:15:48.590 --> 00:15:49.800\nexperience?\n\n340\n00:15:49.800 --> 00:15:54.920\nA couple of things, just the awesome presence of mine, the awesome talent and\n\n341\n00:15:54.920 --> 00:15:55.800\npresence of\n\n342\n00:15:55.800 --> 00:15:56.800\nmine in Jack Nicholas.\n\n343\n00:15:56.800 --> 00:16:02.290\nI mean, you got to remember, you know, he was 36 years old at the time and I\n\n344\n00:16:02.290 --> 00:16:03.280\nwas 23 and\n\n345\n00:16:03.280 --> 00:16:04.280\nhe was 36.\n\n346\n00:16:04.280 --> 00:16:07.680\nSo he was in the absolute prime of his career.\n\n347\n00:16:07.680 --> 00:16:12.560\nYou know, he had lost a bunch of weight, he had the long, blonde hair.\n\n348\n00:16:12.560 --> 00:16:15.960\nI mean, he was really, he was something.\n\n349\n00:16:15.960 --> 00:16:18.360\nYou know, hit the ball a mile for back in those days.\n\n350\n00:16:18.360 --> 00:16:20.000\nOf course, equipment was much different.\n\n351\n00:16:20.000 --> 00:16:24.550\nBut I think the one moment I remember in that round more than any is we had\n\n352\n00:16:24.550 --> 00:16:25.480\nplayed seven\n\n353\n00:16:25.480 --> 00:16:26.480\nholes.\n\n354\n00:16:26.480 --> 00:16:30.940\nI was even and he was one under and the eight falls apart five, I burned, and\n\n355\n00:16:30.940 --> 00:16:31.560\nhe made a\n\n356\n00:16:31.560 --> 00:16:32.560\npar.\n\n357\n00:16:32.560 --> 00:16:36.920\nSo we were both one under on the first night's tee rather and I had the honors.\n\n358\n00:16:36.920 --> 00:16:40.240\nAnd of course, we're hitting these small wooden headed drivers back then.\n\n359\n00:16:40.240 --> 00:16:42.240\nI can't even believe we could hit it anywhere.\n\n360\n00:16:42.240 --> 00:16:44.880\nBut, but I had a really good drive off the night tee.\n\n361\n00:16:44.880 --> 00:16:48.680\nI mean, my best of the day and I was feeling pretty good.\n\n362\n00:16:48.680 --> 00:16:52.910\nAnd so I picked up my tee and kind of caught Jack's eye as I was walking back\n\n363\n00:16:52.910 --> 00:16:53.680\nto the side\n\n364\n00:16:53.680 --> 00:16:55.600\nof the tee like, okay, Jack.\n\n365\n00:16:55.600 --> 00:17:02.640\nI asked my best and he smiled and he teeted up and knocked at 50 yards by me.\n\n366\n00:17:02.640 --> 00:17:07.120\nAnd then we went from there to I had some trouble in the back nine, shall we\n\n367\n00:17:07.120 --> 00:17:07.320\nsay, and\n\n368\n00:17:07.320 --> 00:17:11.610\nJack sort of methodically, you know, hit the all the par fives into made one\n\n369\n00:17:11.610 --> 00:17:12.360\nother birdie\n\n370\n00:17:12.360 --> 00:17:14.680\nmade high birdies and 13 cars.\n\n371\n00:17:14.680 --> 00:17:16.920\nIt was the easiest 67 I've ever seen.\n\n372\n00:17:16.920 --> 00:17:20.880\nAnd so you asked me a question earlier why I didn't turn professional.\n\n373\n00:17:20.880 --> 00:17:24.200\nI think that round might have been a microcosm of the answer.\n\n374\n00:17:24.200 --> 00:17:28.520\nI've seen those pictures of you too, where, you know, he's got the long hair.\n\n375\n00:17:28.520 --> 00:17:30.480\nYou got some long hair going back then too.\n\n376\n00:17:30.480 --> 00:17:32.320\nYou guys look pretty good together.\n\n377\n00:17:32.320 --> 00:17:35.930\nYou know, I think the day I became chairman of Augusta, our senior staff\n\n378\n00:17:35.930 --> 00:17:36.840\npresented me with\n\n379\n00:17:36.840 --> 00:17:42.520\na photo of that was in the archives of Augusta National Jack.\n\n380\n00:17:42.520 --> 00:17:45.480\nThe two of us walking down, I think was a 14th fairway.\n\n381\n00:17:45.480 --> 00:17:47.120\nIt looked like to me.\n\n382\n00:17:47.120 --> 00:17:49.400\nAnd that might be the picture you're talking about.\n\n383\n00:17:49.400 --> 00:17:54.680\nI had never seen that picture in 40 some odd years prior to that.\n\n384\n00:17:54.680 --> 00:17:56.960\nAnd so that was really cool.\n\n385\n00:17:56.960 --> 00:18:02.460\nYou know, prior to being chairman, you're the head of the master's competition\n\n386\n00:18:02.460 --> 00:18:03.200\ncommittee\n\n387\n00:18:03.200 --> 00:18:07.960\nfor 10 years, I believe, which included overseeing the rules.\n\n388\n00:18:07.960 --> 00:18:11.490\nCan you tell us about one or two of your most challenging experiences and how\n\n389\n00:18:11.490 --> 00:18:12.120\nyou handled\n\n390\n00:18:12.120 --> 00:18:13.120\nthem?\n\n391\n00:18:13.120 --> 00:18:16.960\nThere were a couple of David, you know, someone mentioned to me, and I know\n\n392\n00:18:16.960 --> 00:18:17.840\nthis has been said\n\n393\n00:18:17.840 --> 00:18:22.710\nby a number of people, but being a golf rules official is made up of long\n\n394\n00:18:22.710 --> 00:18:23.920\nperiods of time\n\n395\n00:18:23.920 --> 00:18:29.200\nof boredom, punctuated by several moments of terror.\n\n396\n00:18:29.200 --> 00:18:31.120\nAnd I can certainly attest to that.\n\n397\n00:18:31.120 --> 00:18:32.720\nNow, I guess a couple of things.\n\n398\n00:18:32.720 --> 00:18:38.670\nOne is the first year, Hootie Johnson had asked me to take over the competition\n\n399\n00:18:38.670 --> 00:18:39.640\ncommittees\n\n400\n00:18:39.640 --> 00:18:40.640\nin 2006.\n\n401\n00:18:40.640 --> 00:18:44.960\nSo 2007 was the first tournament and I was in that role.\n\n402\n00:18:44.960 --> 00:18:49.120\nAnd I remember that on Friday evening, I was getting ready to leave the\n\n403\n00:18:49.120 --> 00:18:50.760\ntournament headquarters\n\n404\n00:18:50.760 --> 00:18:53.960\nand one of our officials walked in and said, \"I think we may have a problem\n\n405\n00:18:53.960 --> 00:18:54.760\ninvolving Phil\n\n406\n00:18:54.760 --> 00:18:55.760\nMickelson.\"\n\n407\n00:18:55.760 --> 00:19:00.250\nI've told this story several times, so I don't feel what might be telling it\n\n408\n00:19:00.250 --> 00:19:00.840\nbecause it reflects\n\n409\n00:19:00.840 --> 00:19:02.560\nvery well on him.\n\n410\n00:19:02.560 --> 00:19:06.750\nAnd the story was that Phil had been playing, had teed off on the 18th hole\n\n411\n00:19:06.750 --> 00:19:07.440\nlate in the\n\n412\n00:19:07.440 --> 00:19:11.040\nday and had teed his wall up.\n\n413\n00:19:11.040 --> 00:19:14.760\nThat was a time of day when there were shadows being cast on the tee and he had\n\n414\n00:19:14.760 --> 00:19:15.280\nteed his\n\n415\n00:19:15.280 --> 00:19:19.280\nball up in the shadow of his caddies golf bag.\n\n416\n00:19:19.280 --> 00:19:22.940\nAnd just as his caddie was about to move the golf bag, Phil told him not to\n\n417\n00:19:22.940 --> 00:19:24.760\nmove the bag.\n\n418\n00:19:24.760 --> 00:19:29.400\nAnd obviously what he was trying to do, because he knew people next to the tee\n\n419\n00:19:29.400 --> 00:19:29.920\nwere going\n\n420\n00:19:29.920 --> 00:19:33.800\nto move, he was moving a little bit and he would see those dancing shadows so\n\n421\n00:19:33.800 --> 00:19:34.360\nhis caddie\n\n422\n00:19:34.360 --> 00:19:38.720\nhad ended inadvertently or unintentionally created sort of a block of that.\n\n423\n00:19:38.720 --> 00:19:44.130\nSo there's a rule in the rule book that says that you basically can't take\n\n424\n00:19:44.130 --> 00:19:45.640\nassistance from\n\n425\n00:19:45.640 --> 00:19:48.200\noutside agencies, outside sources.\n\n426\n00:19:48.200 --> 00:19:52.650\nAnd there's actually a decision in the book that were an in-is fictional, but\n\n427\n00:19:52.650 --> 00:19:53.880\nit's hypothetical,\n\n428\n00:19:53.880 --> 00:19:59.140\nbut where a caddie holds up a towel to block the sun from the player's vision\n\n429\n00:19:59.140 --> 00:19:59.720\nand that's\n\n430\n00:19:59.720 --> 00:20:00.720\na penalty.\n\n431\n00:20:00.720 --> 00:20:03.480\nSo there was a big debate about that.\n\n432\n00:20:03.480 --> 00:20:07.560\nWe went into the night and I realized it was too late to actually call Phil.\n\n433\n00:20:07.560 --> 00:20:10.920\nSo I got him in the next morning because I'd seen him on video.\n\n434\n00:20:10.920 --> 00:20:13.240\nI'd seen and heard everything.\n\n435\n00:20:13.240 --> 00:20:16.720\nSo I told him basically I said, \"Look, tell me what happened.\"\n\n436\n00:20:16.720 --> 00:20:17.720\nHe told me what happened.\n\n437\n00:20:17.720 --> 00:20:21.320\nI said, \"Look, I think I'd like to talk to your caddies,\" bones with Kai.\n\n438\n00:20:21.320 --> 00:20:23.160\nAnd I said, \"I want to talk to bones.\"\n\n439\n00:20:23.160 --> 00:20:27.710\nAnd so bones came in, in long story short, and actually there's a decision in\n\n440\n00:20:27.710 --> 00:20:28.240\nthe rule\n\n441\n00:20:28.240 --> 00:20:32.560\nbook now that supports our decision, but we did not penalize Phil because we\n\n442\n00:20:32.560 --> 00:20:33.360\ndidn't think\n\n443\n00:20:33.360 --> 00:20:36.720\nthat what a caddie had done was intentional.\n\n444\n00:20:36.720 --> 00:20:40.090\nThe second one was publicized, David, and I think you probably remember it in\n\n445\n00:20:40.090 --> 00:20:40.480\nthe end\n\n446\n00:20:40.480 --> 00:20:42.640\nof all Tiger Woods.\n\n447\n00:20:42.640 --> 00:20:45.240\nAnd it was 2013.\n\n448\n00:20:45.240 --> 00:20:49.660\nTiger was making a run in the second round to really shooting up the golf\n\n449\n00:20:49.660 --> 00:20:50.600\ncourse and got\n\n450\n00:20:50.600 --> 00:20:51.760\nto the 15th hole.\n\n451\n00:20:51.760 --> 00:20:55.890\nAnd I think the win was in the face of the player, so he laid up and hit his\n\n452\n00:20:55.890 --> 00:20:56.640\nthird shot,\n\n453\n00:20:56.640 --> 00:21:00.640\nhit the flag stick and bounced it back in the water.\n\n454\n00:21:00.640 --> 00:21:04.800\nSo he had to decide what he was going to do or he was going to drop the ball.\n\n455\n00:21:04.800 --> 00:21:09.370\nAnd he took a look at the ball drop and another possibility and then decided to\n\n456\n00:21:09.370 --> 00:21:09.960\ndrop the\n\n457\n00:21:09.960 --> 00:21:14.830\nball where he played, we had just played the shot, which he had the right to do\n\n458\n00:21:14.830 --> 00:21:14.920\n.\n\n459\n00:21:14.920 --> 00:21:18.980\nAnd so he played the shot and hit it like two feet from the hole and made a\n\n460\n00:21:18.980 --> 00:21:19.680\ngreat six.\n\n461\n00:21:19.680 --> 00:21:21.840\nSo story over, we thought.\n\n462\n00:21:21.840 --> 00:21:26.600\nWell, what happened was that about 10 o'clock that night, I got a call from a\n\n463\n00:21:26.600 --> 00:21:27.400\nwell-known\n\n464\n00:21:27.400 --> 00:21:31.280\nbroadcaster whose name I won't mention, who said, \"Have you heard about Tiger's\n\n465\n00:21:31.280 --> 00:21:31.720\ninterview\n\n466\n00:21:31.720 --> 00:21:32.720\nwith ESPN?\"\n\n467\n00:21:32.720 --> 00:21:33.720\nAnd I said, \"No.\"\n\n468\n00:21:33.720 --> 00:21:36.560\nAnd he said, \"Well, let me play it for you.\"\n\n469\n00:21:36.560 --> 00:21:40.720\nSo he held up his phone to the TV and replayed the interview where Tiger said\n\n470\n00:21:40.720 --> 00:21:41.320\nthat when he\n\n471\n00:21:41.320 --> 00:21:46.170\nhad dropped the ball, he had taken a step back and dropped it, a step back from\n\n472\n00:21:46.170 --> 00:21:46.640\nwhere\n\n473\n00:21:46.640 --> 00:21:48.400\nhe had played the shot.\n\n474\n00:21:48.400 --> 00:21:52.490\nWell, prior to that, we had been called and notified that he may not have\n\n475\n00:21:52.490 --> 00:21:53.680\ndropped it properly\n\n476\n00:21:53.680 --> 00:21:58.560\nand we looked at it on the video and we thought he had done it properly.\n\n477\n00:21:58.560 --> 00:22:00.120\nSo we didn't take any action.\n\n478\n00:22:00.120 --> 00:22:03.850\nWell, that night after I heard Tiger's interview, that put the whole thing in a\n\n479\n00:22:03.850 --> 00:22:05.720\ndifferent light.\n\n480\n00:22:05.720 --> 00:22:08.000\nAnd so again, here we go.\n\n481\n00:22:08.000 --> 00:22:10.320\nNext morning, we called Tiger's agent that night.\n\n482\n00:22:10.320 --> 00:22:11.320\nHe wants to call him.\n\n483\n00:22:11.320 --> 00:22:14.720\nIt was like midnight and he said, \"No, wait till the morning.\"\n\n484\n00:22:14.720 --> 00:22:16.360\nSo I brought Tiger in.\n\n485\n00:22:16.360 --> 00:22:20.540\nWe talked about the situation and the issue was not whether he was going to be\n\n486\n00:22:20.540 --> 00:22:21.200\npenalized\n\n487\n00:22:21.200 --> 00:22:23.040\nbecause he had to be penalized.\n\n488\n00:22:23.040 --> 00:22:25.800\nThe question was, was he going to be disqualified?\n\n489\n00:22:25.800 --> 00:22:29.360\nAnd the media was, you know, was going crazy.\n\n490\n00:22:29.360 --> 00:22:32.510\nAnd so I made a decision that we were going to give him a two-shot penalty that\n\n491\n00:22:32.510 --> 00:22:33.040\nwe weren't\n\n492\n00:22:33.040 --> 00:22:34.280\ngoing to penalize him.\n\n493\n00:22:34.280 --> 00:22:39.320\nAnd part of that decision, David, was the fact that when I reflected on the\n\n494\n00:22:39.320 --> 00:22:40.480\nwhole situation\n\n495\n00:22:40.480 --> 00:22:44.320\nand how we had handled it, I thought we could have done a better job.\n\n496\n00:22:44.320 --> 00:22:49.560\nAnd I thought that we should have had Tiger come in and talked to us, you know,\n\n497\n00:22:49.560 --> 00:22:50.120\nrather\n\n498\n00:22:50.120 --> 00:22:52.120\nthan just rely on the video.\n\n499\n00:22:52.120 --> 00:22:57.000\nAnd so I used a discretionary option in the rule to give him the two-shot\n\n500\n00:22:57.000 --> 00:22:58.000\npenalty rather\n\n501\n00:22:58.000 --> 00:23:00.520\nthan disqualifying.\n\n502\n00:23:00.520 --> 00:23:01.880\nAnd I was criticized for that.\n\n503\n00:23:01.880 --> 00:23:06.760\nI basically thought that I did the right thing, that we did the right thing.\n\n504\n00:23:06.760 --> 00:23:09.160\nAnd I still feel we did the right thing.\n\n505\n00:23:09.160 --> 00:23:13.760\nI know that after noon I was actually went down to the press building because\n\n506\n00:23:13.760 --> 00:23:14.360\nthere was\n\n507\n00:23:14.360 --> 00:23:18.560\na lot of chatter about this and did a 20-minute press conference.\n\n508\n00:23:18.560 --> 00:23:22.920\nAnd someone asked me right near the interview, if you had to do this over again\n\n509\n00:23:22.920 --> 00:23:23.680\n, would you\n\n510\n00:23:23.680 --> 00:23:25.000\nhave done it any differently?\n\n511\n00:23:25.000 --> 00:23:28.690\nAnd I said, well, I don't think there's a day that goes by in my life that I\n\n512\n00:23:28.690 --> 00:23:29.040\nwould have\n\n513\n00:23:29.040 --> 00:23:30.040\ndone something differently.\n\n514\n00:23:30.040 --> 00:23:33.320\nAnd I think probably most people, if they were honest, would say that.\n\n515\n00:23:33.320 --> 00:23:37.790\nAnd so I think that was a situation where you basically have to own your\n\n516\n00:23:37.790 --> 00:23:38.800\ndecisions.\n\n517\n00:23:38.800 --> 00:23:39.800\nAnd we did.\n\n518\n00:23:39.800 --> 00:23:40.800\nAnd we did the right thing.\n\n519\n00:23:40.800 --> 00:23:44.560\nAnd I think the outcome was correct.\n\n520\n00:23:44.560 --> 00:23:50.780\nYou know, Fred, I was hoping you would tell that story because it's a great one\n\n521\n00:23:50.780 --> 00:23:51.160\n.\n\n522\n00:23:51.160 --> 00:23:53.240\nAnd I remember that press interview.\n\n523\n00:23:53.240 --> 00:23:56.560\nAnd I think that's a lesson in what happens when you're totally honest.\n\n524\n00:23:56.560 --> 00:24:01.400\nYou disarmed all the criticism by just saying that because there isn't anybody.\n\n525\n00:24:01.400 --> 00:24:04.720\nThere isn't anybody that ever has a regret or two.\n\n526\n00:24:04.720 --> 00:24:06.560\nYou know, so I thought that was fantastic.\n\n527\n00:24:06.560 --> 00:24:11.630\nSo you learn you're going to be the chairman of one of the most unique,\n\n528\n00:24:11.630 --> 00:24:12.680\nimportant, and\n\n529\n00:24:12.680 --> 00:24:15.200\nfamous institutions in the world.\n\n530\n00:24:15.200 --> 00:24:20.200\nHow do you feel about just the enormous worldwide visibility of the job?\n\n531\n00:24:20.200 --> 00:24:26.120\nWell, although I have had the privilege of being in and around Augusta National\n\n532\n00:24:26.120 --> 00:24:26.320\nreally\n\n533\n00:24:26.320 --> 00:24:31.410\nfor well, it would have been 35 years when I became chairman actually longer\n\n534\n00:24:31.410 --> 00:24:32.160\nthan about\n\n535\n00:24:32.160 --> 00:24:33.560\n40, 40 years.\n\n536\n00:24:33.560 --> 00:24:35.480\nI'm not sure I fully appreciated it.\n\n537\n00:24:35.480 --> 00:24:41.510\nI did have the sort of the advantage of having sort of kind of set at the right\n\n538\n00:24:41.510 --> 00:24:42.240\nside of the\n\n539\n00:24:42.240 --> 00:24:47.370\nchairman, Billy Payne, for 11 years because Billy's tenure as chairman and my\n\n540\n00:24:47.370 --> 00:24:48.120\ntenure is\n\n541\n00:24:48.120 --> 00:24:52.840\nto say, out of the competition committees coincided exactly 11 years.\n\n542\n00:24:52.840 --> 00:24:55.640\nSo Billy and I became very good friends.\n\n543\n00:24:55.640 --> 00:24:58.680\nHe has certainly been one of my mentors.\n\n544\n00:24:58.680 --> 00:25:02.440\nAnd I think following him was certainly an honor.\n\n545\n00:25:02.440 --> 00:25:07.840\nBut it was also a big responsibility because I think Billy honored the\n\n546\n00:25:07.840 --> 00:25:09.680\ntraditions of Augusta\n\n547\n00:25:09.680 --> 00:25:15.980\nNational but sort of took the club and its brand sort of outside of the gate,\n\n548\n00:25:15.980 --> 00:25:16.760\nso to speak.\n\n549\n00:25:16.760 --> 00:25:21.750\nAnd doing that I think really the club became more consequential in the world\n\n550\n00:25:21.750 --> 00:25:22.560\nof golf.\n\n551\n00:25:22.560 --> 00:25:25.880\nAnd I think we owe a debt of gratitude to him.\n\n552\n00:25:25.880 --> 00:25:30.000\nSo I was following almost somewhat of an icon.\n\n553\n00:25:30.000 --> 00:25:36.620\nAnd so in that respect, I had to think how I wanted to approach the job and\n\n554\n00:25:36.620 --> 00:25:37.800\nreally just\n\n555\n00:25:37.800 --> 00:25:41.500\ndecided pretty quickly that I'm going to approach it like I do everything else\n\n556\n00:25:41.500 --> 00:25:41.840\nand I'm\n\n557\n00:25:41.840 --> 00:25:45.170\ngoing to be me and I'm not going to try to be anybody else and I'm going to do\n\n558\n00:25:45.170 --> 00:25:45.480\nit my\n\n559\n00:25:45.480 --> 00:25:46.480\nway.\n\n560\n00:25:46.480 --> 00:25:52.210\nI pretty quickly became to understand the respect and the influence that the\n\n561\n00:25:52.210 --> 00:25:52.640\nclub and\n\n562\n00:25:52.640 --> 00:25:56.400\nthe masters term that has around the world and the responsibility that we have.\n\n563\n00:25:56.400 --> 00:26:00.640\nAnd so that's really been guiding the way I've approached the job.\n\n564\n00:26:00.640 --> 00:26:05.080\nYou mentioned that Billy Payne was your mentor and you're right.\n\n565\n00:26:05.080 --> 00:26:07.680\nI mean he did a lot of great things.\n\n566\n00:26:07.680 --> 00:26:13.420\nI mean created the Asian and Latin American amateurs, the National Drive Chipp\n\n567\n00:26:13.420 --> 00:26:14.120\net Putt,\n\n568\n00:26:14.120 --> 00:26:18.760\nthe new skills competition, improved the facilities.\n\n569\n00:26:18.760 --> 00:26:22.840\nAs a mentor, what was the biggest thing you picked up from Billy?\n\n570\n00:26:22.840 --> 00:26:29.440\nI think it was something that I already knew.\n\n571\n00:26:29.440 --> 00:26:35.280\nBut I saw in Billy and it really validated my feelings.\n\n572\n00:26:35.280 --> 00:26:42.320\nI saw in Billy someone who understood maybe better than anyone I've ever met.\n\n573\n00:26:42.320 --> 00:26:45.120\nThe power of relationships.\n\n574\n00:26:45.120 --> 00:26:51.480\nBilly is one of the most caring, thoughtful, dynamic leaders I've ever met.\n\n575\n00:26:51.480 --> 00:26:56.450\nI mean he will, on the one hand, he will be really hard on you and then he'll\n\n576\n00:26:56.450 --> 00:26:57.240\nturn around\n\n577\n00:26:57.240 --> 00:26:58.680\nand give you a hug.\n\n578\n00:26:58.680 --> 00:27:02.200\nSo you always know where you stand with him.\n\n579\n00:27:02.200 --> 00:27:03.920\nAnd so I learned a lot.\n\n580\n00:27:03.920 --> 00:27:08.740\nI mean I'm a little more, let me say measured or subdued than the Billy is, but\n\n581\n00:27:08.740 --> 00:27:09.640\nI really\n\n582\n00:27:09.640 --> 00:27:13.910\nlearned a lot from him and I really appreciate all that he's done for me in\n\n583\n00:27:13.910 --> 00:27:15.040\npreparing me,\n\n584\n00:27:15.040 --> 00:27:18.420\neven though I didn't know he was preparing me necessarily, but preparing me for\n\n585\n00:27:18.420 --> 00:27:19.840\nthe job.\n\n586\n00:27:19.840 --> 00:27:23.480\nYou're the first chairman of Augusta that actually played in the Masters we\n\n587\n00:27:23.480 --> 00:27:24.280\ntalked about a little\n\n588\n00:27:24.280 --> 00:27:25.720\nbit earlier.\n\n589\n00:27:25.720 --> 00:27:28.840\nThat was so cool to see that.\n\n590\n00:27:28.840 --> 00:27:32.780\nWhat changes have you made or planned to make that are influenced by looking at\n\n591\n00:27:32.780 --> 00:27:33.360\nthe club\n\n592\n00:27:33.360 --> 00:27:36.400\nfrom a player's perspective?\n\n593\n00:27:36.400 --> 00:27:44.080\nIt's really important that at sort of a high level that we do everything we can\n\n594\n00:27:44.080 --> 00:27:44.880\nto make\n\n595\n00:27:44.880 --> 00:27:49.940\nthe experience of the player absolutely the best possible and the best that\n\n596\n00:27:49.940 --> 00:27:50.720\nthey could\n\n597\n00:27:50.720 --> 00:27:53.840\nexperience anywhere anytime.\n\n598\n00:27:53.840 --> 00:27:59.400\nBut that David really just fits in with the culture of excellence and\n\n599\n00:27:59.400 --> 00:28:01.560\ncontinuous improvement\n\n600\n00:28:01.560 --> 00:28:04.480\nthat overlays everything that we do.\n\n601\n00:28:04.480 --> 00:28:07.560\nWhether it be the Masters Tournament, whether it be club operations, whether it\n\n602\n00:28:07.560 --> 00:28:08.000\nbe growing\n\n603\n00:28:08.000 --> 00:28:13.100\nthe game, whether it be contributing to our community, all of which are sort of\n\n604\n00:28:13.100 --> 00:28:13.720\npillars\n\n605\n00:28:13.720 --> 00:28:14.960\nof our mission.\n\n606\n00:28:14.960 --> 00:28:19.440\nSo I think from that perspective we do that and then we have a real challenge\n\n607\n00:28:19.440 --> 00:28:20.120\njust like\n\n608\n00:28:20.120 --> 00:28:25.220\nany other competition does in making sure that the wonderful golf course at\n\n609\n00:28:25.220 --> 00:28:26.360\nAugusta National\n\n610\n00:28:26.360 --> 00:28:32.510\nStage relevant in today's times is very difficult because players are becoming\n\n611\n00:28:32.510 --> 00:28:33.680\nmore athletic\n\n612\n00:28:33.680 --> 00:28:34.680\nthan they've ever been.\n\n613\n00:28:34.680 --> 00:28:38.970\nThere's a lot of discussion right now about equipment and that's certainly a\n\n614\n00:28:38.970 --> 00:28:39.640\nbig issue\n\n615\n00:28:39.640 --> 00:28:45.070\nand a big factor but the physical abilities and technical expertise of these\n\n616\n00:28:45.070 --> 00:28:45.840\nathletes\n\n617\n00:28:45.840 --> 00:28:46.840\nis amazing.\n\n618\n00:28:46.840 --> 00:28:50.120\nAnd it's so far advanced from where it was when I played competitively.\n\n619\n00:28:50.120 --> 00:28:53.400\nIt's not even round with Jack Nicholas we talked about.\n\n620\n00:28:53.400 --> 00:28:57.670\nI mean it's apples and oranges day and night today and the way players play\n\n621\n00:28:57.670 --> 00:28:58.200\ngolf.\n\n622\n00:28:58.200 --> 00:29:04.310\nSo we've got a big challenge to make sure that we keep our golf course up to\n\n623\n00:29:04.310 --> 00:29:05.120\ndate but\n\n624\n00:29:05.120 --> 00:29:11.960\nyet the guiding principles there are always the philosophy and the approach to\n\n625\n00:29:11.960 --> 00:29:12.760\nthe game\n\n626\n00:29:12.760 --> 00:29:16.520\nand the shot making that Bobby Jones and Alistair McKenzie had.\n\n627\n00:29:16.520 --> 00:29:20.120\nSo that's the delicate balance that we have.\n\n628\n00:29:20.120 --> 00:29:23.470\nYou know Fred one of the things that impressed me and I remember I was talking\n\n629\n00:29:23.470 --> 00:29:24.360\nabout it just\n\n630\n00:29:24.360 --> 00:29:28.650\nright after you decided to do this was you know you found your footing very\n\n631\n00:29:28.650 --> 00:29:29.360\nquickly as\n\n632\n00:29:29.360 --> 00:29:33.200\na chairman and you jumped right out of the box and launched the Augusta\n\n633\n00:29:33.200 --> 00:29:34.200\nNational Women's\n\n634\n00:29:34.200 --> 00:29:35.200\nAmateur.\n\n635\n00:29:35.200 --> 00:29:38.400\nAnd tell us your thinking about that decision.\n\n636\n00:29:38.400 --> 00:29:42.440\nWell I guess I would start by saying that you know I've been around women a lot\n\n637\n00:29:42.440 --> 00:29:42.960\nbecause\n\n638\n00:29:42.960 --> 00:29:49.630\nI've lived with four of them for many decades and my three daughters are now\n\n639\n00:29:49.630 --> 00:29:50.720\nall adults\n\n640\n00:29:50.720 --> 00:29:53.840\nand out of out on their own and doing very well.\n\n641\n00:29:53.840 --> 00:30:01.280\nThey have always been huge golf fans and a couple of them play quite a bit as\n\n642\n00:30:01.280 --> 00:30:01.400\nwell.\n\n643\n00:30:01.400 --> 00:30:06.840\nAnd I really felt like that the women's game was and women's golf was a huge\n\n644\n00:30:06.840 --> 00:30:07.880\nopportunity\n\n645\n00:30:07.880 --> 00:30:13.600\nto basically to promote and grow the health of the game.\n\n646\n00:30:13.600 --> 00:30:17.840\nI mean it's half of our population and it's really been underserved.\n\n647\n00:30:17.840 --> 00:30:22.870\nSo the idea really was the same with respect to what we did in Asia, what we\n\n648\n00:30:22.870 --> 00:30:23.680\ndid in the\n\n649\n00:30:23.680 --> 00:30:30.160\nLatin America and that really was to give these young women these great players\n\n650\n00:30:30.160 --> 00:30:30.960\nan opportunity\n\n651\n00:30:30.960 --> 00:30:35.820\nto showcase their talents in a setting that is really the most wonderful\n\n652\n00:30:35.820 --> 00:30:36.880\nsetting in the\n\n653\n00:30:36.880 --> 00:30:38.280\nworld of golf.\n\n654\n00:30:38.280 --> 00:30:41.940\nAnd so that was really the motivation behind it really was to take our efforts\n\n655\n00:30:41.940 --> 00:30:42.720\nto the women's\n\n656\n00:30:42.720 --> 00:30:47.820\nside of the game is something that I have a great passion for and I think you\n\n657\n00:30:47.820 --> 00:30:48.000\nknow I'm\n\n658\n00:30:48.000 --> 00:30:52.170\nso happy that even in this COVID environment we've been able to reschedule it\n\n659\n00:30:52.170 --> 00:30:53.000\nsecond Augusta\n\n660\n00:30:53.000 --> 00:30:55.200\nNational Women's Amateur in April.\n\n661\n00:30:55.200 --> 00:31:00.160\nOf course we couldn't have drawn up a better finish to the first one than we\n\n662\n00:31:00.160 --> 00:31:00.960\ndid with these\n\n663\n00:31:00.960 --> 00:31:07.510\ntwo great golfers Jennifer Kupchow and Maria Fossey that not only just played\n\n664\n00:31:07.510 --> 00:31:08.520\nincredible\n\n665\n00:31:08.520 --> 00:31:14.240\ngolf but displayed sportsmanship it was epic it really was.\n\n666\n00:31:14.240 --> 00:31:19.070\nAnd so just to be a part of that to witness that to see the joy on their faces\n\n667\n00:31:19.070 --> 00:31:19.600\nand so\n\n668\n00:31:19.600 --> 00:31:25.040\nmany patrons who attended the parents and grandparents of these young women it\n\n669\n00:31:25.040 --> 00:31:25.440\njust\n\n670\n00:31:25.440 --> 00:31:27.160\nwas very exciting.\n\n671\n00:31:27.160 --> 00:31:30.460\nYou know Fred I've watched the Masters every year since I was a kid and I have\n\n672\n00:31:30.460 --> 00:31:30.880\nto tell\n\n673\n00:31:30.880 --> 00:31:35.370\nyou it was as fun and as exciting as anything I've ever seen in golf the sports\n\n674\n00:31:35.370 --> 00:31:36.080\nmanship the\n\n675\n00:31:36.080 --> 00:31:39.400\ncamaraderie the challenge it's everything we love about golf isn't it?\n\n676\n00:31:39.400 --> 00:31:43.250\nIt really is David and I think there's so many lessons that we've learned\n\n677\n00:31:43.250 --> 00:31:44.320\nhaving the privilege\n\n678\n00:31:44.320 --> 00:31:51.150\nto play the game that really spills over into our lives every parts of our life\n\n679\n00:31:51.150 --> 00:31:51.320\nand when\n\n680\n00:31:51.320 --> 00:31:56.560\nit comes to friends, I mean I can't think of many friends I have that don't\n\n681\n00:31:56.560 --> 00:31:57.280\nhave some\n\n682\n00:31:57.280 --> 00:32:00.400\nconnection somewhere somehow to golf.\n\n683\n00:32:00.400 --> 00:32:05.950\nIt's just an unbelievable conduit to friendships and relationships and we're\n\n684\n00:32:05.950 --> 00:32:06.800\nvery lucky you\n\n685\n00:32:06.800 --> 00:32:07.800\nwere golfers.\n\n686\n00:32:07.800 --> 00:32:12.480\nAbsolutely you know and the Augusta National Women's Amateur you know you look\n\n687\n00:32:12.480 --> 00:32:12.840\nat it now\n\n688\n00:32:12.840 --> 00:32:15.840\nand I say oh yeah that's a great idea you know great ideas are always great\n\n689\n00:32:15.840 --> 00:32:16.560\nafter somebody\n\n690\n00:32:16.560 --> 00:32:20.520\ncomes up with them but you know you had to have some people tell you it couldn\n\n691\n00:32:20.520 --> 00:32:20.840\n't be\n\n692\n00:32:20.840 --> 00:32:26.160\ndone I mean you know Augusta is the traditional place you know it's like you\n\n693\n00:32:26.160 --> 00:32:28.200\nknow you're definitely\n\n694\n00:32:28.200 --> 00:32:31.880\nbreaking some new ground here what were some of the hurdles you had to overcome\n\n695\n00:32:31.880 --> 00:32:32.000\n?\n\n696\n00:32:32.000 --> 00:32:36.800\nWell believe it or not there weren't very many and I say that because one of\n\n697\n00:32:36.800 --> 00:32:37.560\nthe things\n\n698\n00:32:37.560 --> 00:32:43.140\nthat I've really learned since I've become chairman and I will say I've learned\n\n699\n00:32:43.140 --> 00:32:43.480\na lot\n\n700\n00:32:43.480 --> 00:32:50.150\nthat sort of the pent up desire among all of our team members to do great\n\n701\n00:32:50.150 --> 00:32:51.080\nthings and\n\n702\n00:32:51.080 --> 00:32:56.040\nit's almost like there's not a challenge you can give them that they don't\n\n703\n00:32:56.040 --> 00:32:56.240\naccept and\n\n704\n00:32:56.240 --> 00:33:01.780\nrun with it with great enthusiasm and that to me has been the most invigorating\n\n705\n00:33:01.780 --> 00:33:02.120\npart\n\n706\n00:33:02.120 --> 00:33:07.260\nof this job is having a group of people who they're like third red horses they\n\n707\n00:33:07.260 --> 00:33:07.440\njust\n\n708\n00:33:07.440 --> 00:33:14.220\ncan't wait to you know for the gates to open and take off and so this idea was\n\n709\n00:33:14.220 --> 00:33:15.080\nand I'll\n\n710\n00:33:15.080 --> 00:33:19.550\ntell you just a real quick story about how when it started I had my first\n\n711\n00:33:19.550 --> 00:33:20.880\nmeeting the\n\n712\n00:33:20.880 --> 00:33:26.640\nfirst day I was chairman and I was in in my office with our executive director\n\n713\n00:33:26.640 --> 00:33:26.840\nWill\n\n714\n00:33:26.840 --> 00:33:31.880\nJones who you know well and he's one of the most capable executives I've ever\n\n715\n00:33:31.880 --> 00:33:32.000\nmet and\n\n716\n00:33:32.000 --> 00:33:35.320\nwe finished our meeting and he was just getting up and I said well there's one\n\n717\n00:33:35.320 --> 00:33:35.760\nmore thing\n\n718\n00:33:35.760 --> 00:33:40.640\nI want to talk to you about and he said what's that and he sat back down and I\n\n719\n00:33:40.640 --> 00:33:41.320\nsaid I want\n\n720\n00:33:41.320 --> 00:33:48.600\nto launch an international championship for women's golf and he kind of nodded\n\n721\n00:33:48.600 --> 00:33:49.160\nme I could\n\n722\n00:33:49.160 --> 00:33:54.440\ntell that he thought yeah tell me more and I said if we really mean what we say\n\n723\n00:33:54.440 --> 00:33:55.040\nif I really\n\n724\n00:33:55.040 --> 00:33:59.260\nmean what I'm telling you right now it has to be here to Guston National and\n\n725\n00:33:59.260 --> 00:33:59.720\nhis eyes\n\n726\n00:33:59.720 --> 00:34:03.210\nsort of got bigger and then the and then he would see thought he had heard it\n\n727\n00:34:03.210 --> 00:34:03.640\nall and\n\n728\n00:34:03.640 --> 00:34:08.030\nI said and will I want to announce this at the Masters in April and then you\n\n729\n00:34:08.030 --> 00:34:08.600\nknow there\n\n730\n00:34:08.600 --> 00:34:13.810\nwas this big lump in his throat I could see it and you know space turned a\n\n731\n00:34:13.810 --> 00:34:14.560\nlittle light\n\n732\n00:34:14.560 --> 00:34:20.730\nbut after he collected himself he basically nodded and said understood we can\n\n733\n00:34:20.730 --> 00:34:21.400\ndo that\n\n734\n00:34:21.400 --> 00:34:25.360\nand that's how it started and it was off and running.\n\n735\n00:34:25.360 --> 00:34:28.580\nThat's great that can't do spirits and I think the other thing David if I could\n\n736\n00:34:28.580 --> 00:34:28.840\nsay\n\n737\n00:34:28.840 --> 00:34:36.880\nabout that is I think that that endeavor has created so much energy and so much\n\n738\n00:34:36.880 --> 00:34:37.800\npride among\n\n739\n00:34:37.800 --> 00:34:42.560\nour staff and importantly among our membership.\n\n740\n00:34:42.560 --> 00:34:46.160\nYou know I can't tell you how many members came up to me that week and said I\n\n741\n00:34:46.160 --> 00:34:46.720\n've never\n\n742\n00:34:46.720 --> 00:34:52.430\nbeen prouder to be a part of this organization so it has had many benefits to\n\n743\n00:34:52.430 --> 00:34:53.920\nthe organization\n\n744\n00:34:53.920 --> 00:34:57.640\nthat go beyond just the term in itself.\n\n745\n00:34:57.640 --> 00:35:02.410\nYou know as you know your friend Lee Elder became the first black professional\n\n746\n00:35:02.410 --> 00:35:02.920\nto play\n\n747\n00:35:02.920 --> 00:35:06.640\nin the tournament at Augusta.\n\n748\n00:35:06.640 --> 00:35:10.790\nTell us about your special relationship that you and now the club have formed\n\n749\n00:35:10.790 --> 00:35:11.560\nwith Lee.\n\n750\n00:35:11.560 --> 00:35:16.060\nWell of course Lee played in the Masters was the first black player to play in\n\n751\n00:35:16.060 --> 00:35:16.320\nthe\n\n752\n00:35:16.320 --> 00:35:22.950\nMasters in 1975 and he didn't make the cut so when I came the next year he wasn\n\n753\n00:35:22.950 --> 00:35:23.800\n't there\n\n754\n00:35:23.800 --> 00:35:28.740\nbut he did qualify through his play on the PGA Tourty come back in 1977 and I\n\n755\n00:35:28.740 --> 00:35:29.280\nplayed\n\n756\n00:35:29.280 --> 00:35:35.170\nthree times I played in '76, '78 so when he came back in 1977 we were both in\n\n757\n00:35:35.170 --> 00:35:36.040\nthe field\n\n758\n00:35:36.040 --> 00:35:39.840\nand I think one year I think he played through about 1980 or '81 and I think he\n\n759\n00:35:39.840 --> 00:35:40.280\nhad one\n\n760\n00:35:40.280 --> 00:35:44.730\nor two pretty good finishes but I don't remember if it was '77 or '78 but we\n\n761\n00:35:44.730 --> 00:35:45.520\nplayed a practice\n\n762\n00:35:45.520 --> 00:35:49.790\nround in the tournament together before the tournament and so he reminded me of\n\n763\n00:35:49.790 --> 00:35:50.280\nthat when\n\n764\n00:35:50.280 --> 00:35:55.960\nI saw him last year and you know we haven't kept in really close touch but you\n\n765\n00:35:55.960 --> 00:35:56.200\nknow I've\n\n766\n00:35:56.200 --> 00:36:02.680\nalways admired him and I just thought that this was something that would not\n\n767\n00:36:02.680 --> 00:36:03.200\njust be\n\n768\n00:36:03.200 --> 00:36:07.400\nmeaningful to the Masters and it was the right thing to do but I knew how\n\n769\n00:36:07.400 --> 00:36:08.200\nmeaningful\n\n770\n00:36:08.200 --> 00:36:14.530\nto be to Lee Elder and you know to see the joy on his face when he was at the\n\n771\n00:36:14.530 --> 00:36:15.040\nclub when\n\n772\n00:36:15.040 --> 00:36:18.960\nthis announcement was made last November I mean it's something I'll never\n\n773\n00:36:18.960 --> 00:36:19.520\nforget and\n\n774\n00:36:19.520 --> 00:36:23.010\nI'll always treasure so I'm so excited I'm so looking forward to him coming\n\n775\n00:36:23.010 --> 00:36:24.400\nback in April\n\n776\n00:36:24.400 --> 00:36:27.620\nand walking out on that first tee with Jack and Gary I think it's going to be a\n\n777\n00:36:27.620 --> 00:36:28.240\nunbelievable\n\n778\n00:36:28.240 --> 00:36:29.240\nmoment.\n\n779\n00:36:29.240 --> 00:36:33.270\nI think that will be a great moment and then you've also created a scholarship\n\n780\n00:36:33.270 --> 00:36:34.080\nfund in\n\n781\n00:36:34.080 --> 00:36:35.080\nhis name.\n\n782\n00:36:35.080 --> 00:36:40.090\nThat's right, Payne College which is one of the HBCUs right in Augusta I think\n\n783\n00:36:40.090 --> 00:36:40.480\nit's\n\n784\n00:36:40.480 --> 00:36:46.360\na hundred years old we have endowed a scholarship both on the men's and women's\n\n785\n00:36:46.360 --> 00:36:47.000\nteam and the\n\n786\n00:36:47.000 --> 00:36:51.860\nwomen's team doesn't exist so we are funding the creation of a women's golf\n\n787\n00:36:51.860 --> 00:36:52.480\nteam.\n\n788\n00:36:52.480 --> 00:36:55.590\nYou know that's a work in progress but it's going to happen and it's going to\n\n789\n00:36:55.590 --> 00:36:56.360\nbe so exciting\n\n790\n00:36:56.360 --> 00:36:57.360\nto see it happen.\n\n791\n00:36:57.360 --> 00:37:01.410\nThat's great you know and Fred I know you've always been passionate about\n\n792\n00:37:01.410 --> 00:37:02.160\ndiversity across\n\n793\n00:37:02.160 --> 00:37:07.800\nthe board and we've talked about it and with the tragic murder of George Floyd\n\n794\n00:37:07.800 --> 00:37:08.080\nracial\n\n795\n00:37:08.080 --> 00:37:10.680\ninjustices come to the forefront.\n\n796\n00:37:10.680 --> 00:37:14.060\nHow have you thought about this and what are you doing at Augusta National to\n\n797\n00:37:14.060 --> 00:37:15.720\nmake a difference?\n\n798\n00:37:15.720 --> 00:37:21.500\nWhen that tragedy happened I think it causes all to reflect perhaps in a way\n\n799\n00:37:21.500 --> 00:37:22.280\nthat we had\n\n800\n00:37:22.280 --> 00:37:24.280\nnever reflected before.\n\n801\n00:37:24.280 --> 00:37:28.880\nI remember reading an op-ed that Condi Rice wrote I think it was in the\n\n802\n00:37:28.880 --> 00:37:30.120\nWashington Post\n\n803\n00:37:30.120 --> 00:37:35.620\nwhere she thought this time was different and I think she was right and her\n\n804\n00:37:35.620 --> 00:37:36.240\nsort of\n\n805\n00:37:36.240 --> 00:37:41.980\nfinal thought was okay now what are you going to do reader to make your\n\n806\n00:37:41.980 --> 00:37:44.040\ncommunity different.\n\n807\n00:37:44.040 --> 00:37:47.560\nThere was some thought that our organizations should have made you know a\n\n808\n00:37:47.560 --> 00:37:48.520\npublic statement\n\n809\n00:37:48.520 --> 00:37:52.910\nyou know like a number of organizations had but my focus really I wanted our\n\n810\n00:37:52.910 --> 00:37:53.480\nfocus to\n\n811\n00:37:53.480 --> 00:37:58.860\nbe on action and so you know very soon after this happened and this was really\n\n812\n00:37:58.860 --> 00:37:59.280\nthis was\n\n813\n00:37:59.280 --> 00:38:00.800\na bottoms up effort.\n\n814\n00:38:00.800 --> 00:38:06.570\nI mean we reached out to our employees we wanted their input we wanted to hear\n\n815\n00:38:06.570 --> 00:38:07.280\nthem talk\n\n816\n00:38:07.280 --> 00:38:13.590\nabout their concerns and what was important to them but ultimately we\n\n817\n00:38:13.590 --> 00:38:15.760\nidentified a community\n\n818\n00:38:15.760 --> 00:38:21.110\na neighborhood in Augusta that's very not far from the club about a mile from\n\n819\n00:38:21.110 --> 00:38:21.800\nthe club\n\n820\n00:38:21.800 --> 00:38:26.500\nthat was once a middle class neighborhood back when we had a lot of textile\n\n821\n00:38:26.500 --> 00:38:28.040\nmills in Augusta\n\n822\n00:38:28.040 --> 00:38:33.280\nand as those disappeared that community deteriorated and really needed some upl\n\n823\n00:38:33.280 --> 00:38:34.120\nifting it's called\n\n824\n00:38:34.120 --> 00:38:38.230\nHarrisburg there are actually two side by side neighborhoods called Harrisburg\n\n825\n00:38:38.230 --> 00:38:38.680\nand Laney\n\n826\n00:38:38.680 --> 00:38:43.710\nWalker Laney Walker was a historically black community that had largely been\n\n827\n00:38:43.710 --> 00:38:44.480\ndestroyed\n\n828\n00:38:44.480 --> 00:38:49.420\nback in the riots in the 1970s and we felt that that was an opportunity right\n\n829\n00:38:49.420 --> 00:38:49.880\nat our\n\n830\n00:38:49.880 --> 00:38:54.570\nback door right at our front door actually where we can make a difference and\n\n831\n00:38:54.570 --> 00:38:55.400\nso I reached\n\n832\n00:38:55.400 --> 00:39:01.300\nout to our sponsors and I said will you help us do this you know we started\n\n833\n00:39:01.300 --> 00:39:02.360\nwith the announcement\n\n834\n00:39:02.360 --> 00:39:08.700\nthat AT&T IBM and Bank of America stepped up and matched a contribution that we\n\n835\n00:39:08.700 --> 00:39:09.720\ncommitted\n\n836\n00:39:09.720 --> 00:39:13.580\nwe have story of starting out with a ten million dollar fund to build a new\n\n837\n00:39:13.580 --> 00:39:14.120\nboys and\n\n838\n00:39:14.120 --> 00:39:18.140\ngirls club in this community as well as a new community center and I think this\n\n839\n00:39:18.140 --> 00:39:18.560\nis just\n\n840\n00:39:18.560 --> 00:39:22.610\nthe beginning of what we're going to be able to do in that community and\n\n841\n00:39:22.610 --> 00:39:23.680\nhopefully others\n\n842\n00:39:23.680 --> 00:39:27.400\nfocusing in the Augusta community that's one of the pillars of our mission\n\n843\n00:39:27.400 --> 00:39:28.400\nstatement is\n\n844\n00:39:28.400 --> 00:39:32.240\ngiving back to our community and we're going to do that and we're very excited\n\n845\n00:39:32.240 --> 00:39:33.400\nand our\n\n846\n00:39:33.400 --> 00:39:39.240\nentire team at the club is excited and that's that really makes me feel good\n\n847\n00:39:39.240 --> 00:39:39.560\nyou should\n\n848\n00:39:39.560 --> 00:39:43.080\nfeel good about that you know and one of the things that I think people may not\n\n849\n00:39:43.080 --> 00:39:43.560\nrealize\n\n850\n00:39:43.560 --> 00:39:47.560\nis the gust is the second largest city in Georgia that's right and you're\n\n851\n00:39:47.560 --> 00:39:48.320\nreally focused\n\n852\n00:39:48.320 --> 00:39:52.940\non making a difference in the community and and how you know how important do\n\n853\n00:39:52.940 --> 00:39:54.320\nyou see that\n\n854\n00:39:54.320 --> 00:39:59.200\nFred not only as a leader of Augusta National but for any leader as it relates\n\n855\n00:39:59.200 --> 00:40:00.000\nto getting\n\n856\n00:40:00.000 --> 00:40:04.680\ninvolved in the community. Well you know I think you know sometimes these\n\n857\n00:40:04.680 --> 00:40:05.280\nefforts are\n\n858\n00:40:05.280 --> 00:40:10.870\nso broad you know and they have so much bureaucracy that they never help the\n\n859\n00:40:10.870 --> 00:40:12.120\npeople they're intended\n\n860\n00:40:12.120 --> 00:40:17.400\nto to help and so you know I think every community has a tremendous opportunity\n\n861\n00:40:17.400 --> 00:40:19.800\nand so many so\n\n862\n00:40:19.800 --> 00:40:24.470\nmany are doing it right you know I think our friend Tom Cousins who really has\n\n863\n00:40:24.470 --> 00:40:25.360\ntransformed\n\n864\n00:40:25.360 --> 00:40:28.730\nthe the community the Eastlake community in Atlanta I mean it really has\n\n865\n00:40:28.730 --> 00:40:30.080\nproduced a model\n\n866\n00:40:30.080 --> 00:40:35.080\npurpose built community so model for others and frankly some of those learnings\n\n867\n00:40:35.080 --> 00:40:35.400\nwe're\n\n868\n00:40:35.400 --> 00:40:40.600\ntrying to follow in Augusta but you know I think if just about every community\n\n869\n00:40:40.600 --> 00:40:40.760\nhas as\n\n870\n00:40:40.760 --> 00:40:45.070\ncompanies has businesses that have the wherewithal to help and if everybody\n\n871\n00:40:45.070 --> 00:40:46.840\njust did their part\n\n872\n00:40:46.840 --> 00:40:50.690\nthis could this would be not only a better country but a better world so this\n\n873\n00:40:50.690 --> 00:40:51.000\nis our\n\n874\n00:40:51.000 --> 00:40:54.920\nfocus now it could certainly become broader over time but right now we're\n\n875\n00:40:54.920 --> 00:40:55.720\nlooking just\n\n876\n00:40:55.720 --> 00:41:00.490\ndown the road and hoping we can make a difference in Augusta. Great you know\n\n877\n00:41:00.490 --> 00:41:01.280\nAugusta National\n\n878\n00:41:01.280 --> 00:41:05.870\nFred is you know along with so many other institutions and companies it's\n\n879\n00:41:05.870 --> 00:41:06.560\ntaking heat\n\n880\n00:41:06.560 --> 00:41:11.820\nfor not doing enough in the past on the diversity front as today's leader how\n\n881\n00:41:11.820 --> 00:41:12.800\ndo you look back\n\n882\n00:41:12.800 --> 00:41:19.500\non on the history as you go forward. Certainly you know times change times are\n\n883\n00:41:19.500 --> 00:41:20.240\ndifferent\n\n884\n00:41:20.240 --> 00:41:24.150\nthey change but I think the best way to answer that David is just to say that\n\n885\n00:41:24.150 --> 00:41:24.840\nyou know I\n\n886\n00:41:24.840 --> 00:41:29.090\nthink we can all learn from our past and I think that we've certainly tried to\n\n887\n00:41:29.090 --> 00:41:29.760\ndo that\n\n888\n00:41:29.760 --> 00:41:34.800\nand are there circumstances that we wish might have been different over the\n\n889\n00:41:34.800 --> 00:41:35.520\nyears I think\n\n890\n00:41:35.520 --> 00:41:39.510\nthe answer that is definitely yes there have been a lot of good people that\n\n891\n00:41:39.510 --> 00:41:41.160\nhave been involved\n\n892\n00:41:41.160 --> 00:41:45.670\nin growing this organization over the years I think it's evolved I think it's\n\n893\n00:41:45.670 --> 00:41:46.240\nmatured\n\n894\n00:41:46.240 --> 00:41:52.360\nand I'm very proud of what we have and what we are doing and I can tell you\n\n895\n00:41:52.360 --> 00:41:53.320\nthat this\n\n896\n00:41:53.320 --> 00:41:57.940\nissue is paramount is it is at the forefront of our thinking not only what we\n\n897\n00:41:57.940 --> 00:41:58.600\n're doing\n\n898\n00:41:58.600 --> 00:42:03.040\nin the community but how we're hiring how we're promoting and like a lot of\n\n899\n00:42:03.040 --> 00:42:04.080\norganizations\n\n900\n00:42:04.080 --> 00:42:08.040\nwe have a long way to go but the important thing is is that we're thinking\n\n901\n00:42:08.040 --> 00:42:08.800\nabout it we're\n\n902\n00:42:08.800 --> 00:42:21.320\ntrying and we are going to make a difference.\n\n903\n00:42:21.320 --> 00:42:25.880\nWell it's clear to me that Fred understands what Augusta National Golf Club\n\n904\n00:42:25.880 --> 00:42:26.000\nneeds he's\n\n905\n00:42:26.000 --> 00:42:30.190\nmaking sure they look to the future while embracing the tradition unlike any\n\n906\n00:42:30.190 --> 00:42:30.720\nother that\n\n907\n00:42:30.720 --> 00:42:35.740\nmakes them so special I just love how Fred has stepped right into this role\n\n908\n00:42:35.740 --> 00:42:36.000\nwhich is\n\n909\n00:42:36.000 --> 00:42:40.070\nincredibly high profile and he's finding his own footing and doing some\n\n910\n00:42:40.070 --> 00:42:41.200\nincredible things\n\n911\n00:42:41.200 --> 00:42:46.850\nto move the organization forward and enrich the community and hey here's some\n\n912\n00:42:46.850 --> 00:42:47.600\ngood news\n\n913\n00:42:47.600 --> 00:42:51.600\nwe're going to dig a whole lot deeper into how he does that in the second part\n\n914\n00:42:51.600 --> 00:42:51.960\nof this\n\n915\n00:42:51.960 --> 00:42:56.460\nepisode and actually that makes my job pretty easy this week when it comes to\n\n916\n00:42:56.460 --> 00:42:57.160\ngiving you\n\n917\n00:42:57.160 --> 00:43:02.070\nsome coaching this week as part of your weekly personal development plan is\n\n918\n00:43:02.070 --> 00:43:03.080\nsimple just tune\n\n919\n00:43:03.080 --> 00:43:07.640\nin to part two of my interview with Fred Ridley we go into more detail on what\n\n920\n00:43:07.640 --> 00:43:08.280\nit looks like\n\n921\n00:43:08.280 --> 00:43:13.580\nto preserve tradition and drive innovation plus of course you know he's got\n\n922\n00:43:13.580 --> 00:43:14.320\nsome epic\n\n923\n00:43:14.320 --> 00:43:18.730\nstories from Augusta National you don't want to miss it so do you want to know\n\n924\n00:43:18.730 --> 00:43:19.480\nhow leaders\n\n925\n00:43:19.480 --> 00:43:24.300\nlead what we learned today is the great leaders preserve tradition and drive\n\n926\n00:43:24.300 --> 00:43:25.360\ninnovation thanks\n\n927\n00:43:25.360 --> 00:43:29.450\nagain for tuning in to another episode of how leaders lead where every Thursday\n\n928\n00:43:29.450 --> 00:43:29.920\nyou get\n\n929\n00:43:29.920 --> 00:43:33.910\nto listen in while I interview some of the very best leaders in the world I\n\n930\n00:43:33.910 --> 00:43:34.320\nmake it a\n\n931\n00:43:34.320 --> 00:43:38.610\npoint to give you something simple on each episode that you can apply to your\n\n932\n00:43:38.610 --> 00:43:39.280\nbusiness\n\n933\n00:43:39.280 --> 00:43:42.160\nso that you will become the best leader you can be.\n\n934\n00:43:42.160 --> 00:43:43.160\n.\n\n935\n00:43:43.160 --> 00:43:44.160\n.\n\n936\n00:43:44.160 --> 00:43:45.160\n.\n\n937\n00:43:45.160 --> 00:43:46.160\n.\n\n938\n00:43:46.160 --> 00:43:47.160\n.\n\n939\n00:43:47.160 --> 00:43:48.160\n.\n\n940\n00:43:48.160 --> 00:43:49.160\n.\n\n941\n00:43:49.160 --> 00:43:50.160\n.\n\n942\n00:43:50.160 --> 00:43:51.160\n.\n\n943\n00:43:51.160 --> 00:43:52.160\n.\n\n944\n00:43:52.160 --> 00:43:56.920\n(... from the video)","

David Novak 0:04

Welcome to How leaders lead where every week you get to listen in while I interview some of the very best leaders in the world, I break down the key learnings so that by the end of the episode, you'll have something simple you can apply as you develop into a better leader. That's what this podcast is all about. This past weekend, I had the opportunity to attend the most exciting and most anticipated golf tournament in the world, the 2021 Masters held at the renowned Augusta National Golf Club. Believe me, I've never seen a place more beautiful. The birds were chirping, the azaleas were blooming and this course was in magnificent shape. And the players were just put to the test. It was so much fun watching Hideki Matsuyama become the first male Japanese player to win a major and the coveted green jacket. It was also so exciting watching Japan 17 year old su Basa Kakutani win the Augusta National Women's Amateur in a playoff the weekend before, what a great couple of weeks for Japan and the whole golf community. So it's obviously the perfect time to sit down with Fred Ridley, the chairman of Augusta National Golf Club. Now, when we talk about Augusta National in the Masters, of course, the famous line is that it's a tradition unlike any other. And that's so true. And let me tell you, Fred has a ton of respect for Augustus unique tradition and historical guiding values. But he also has an incredible vision for its future, leading efforts to elevate the women's game, serve the community and invest in communications infrastructure, just to name a few of the things that this man is doing. The great leaders I know understand how to preserve tradition, and drive bold innovation that takes the organization into the future. That's a balance that always moves the business forward in the right way. You're going to learn so much from Fred about how he balances those two things. In fact, there's so much great stuff here that it's going to take two separate episodes to get to it all. So here's part one of my conversation with my good friend, and soon to be yours, Fred Ridley.

You know, Fred, it's such an honor to have you with us. And thanks so much for taking the time to have this conversation.

Fred Ridley 2:30

Thank you, David. It's an honor for me to be here. You know, Fred,

David Novak 2:34

I obviously want to get into how you're leading Augusta National but but first, can you tell us a story about when you were a kid that helps shape the kind of person that you become today?

Fred Ridley 2:45

Well, I think as a young guy, you know, I was always a pretty good student in school. I think I was a mediocre athlete. And I think probably, I might have lacked a little bit of confidence. And I remember, I started playing golf when I was 10 years old. And when I was about 14, I was playing in a tournament, a junior tournament with really the top juniors in the state. I grew up in an area, sort of a hotbed of junior golf. And there were a couple of guys from Tampa, I lived in the center of the state at the time, named Eddie Pierce and Gary Koch. And I'm sure you're, you know, very cold from his his television persona today. But Eddie Pierce was probably the best Junior golfer in the country. And I was playing a tournament over Labor Day with them. And I won the tournament. I mean, everyone was shocked, including me. I think that that really gave me a shot a confidence, and, you know, which I think translated really beyond just playing the sport of golf. So that was one that I remember.

David Novak 3:45

Absolutely. You know, I understand that your mom and dad were public educators. And how did that influence you?

Fred Ridley 3:52

Well, they were my parents, both their families moved to Florida in the 1930s, to Lakeland, Florida, and that's where they met. Both of my parents were in public education. My father was initially a math teacher at Lakeland High School and then ultimately sort of moved through the administrative roles of public education and when he retired, was in charge of personnel for our county. My mother didn't go to college until she was in her late 30s. And after we were a little bit older, got her degree and then ultimately got her master's degree, was a teacher and then ultimately, a principal. But I mean, they they had to certainly emphasize the importance of education. And I know my father was very instrumental and suggesting and advocating me ultimately going to law school. It was something that he actually went to law school for semester after he got his master's degree in education, and I think he made straight A's but came to the reality my sister was born about that time and I think he was wondering how he was going to afford Word, afford to basically raise a family and go to school. And so he dropped out. So I think he always regretted that and to some extent, probably encouraged me a little bit more to become a lawyer.

David Novak 5:13

You know, Fred, you are a good student and you go on to the University of Florida, you play as an alternate as I understand it on the heralded Gator golf team, and you go on to win the USM in 1975. That had to be an amazing experience. Tell us about it. What's it like to win the United States amateur?

Fred Ridley 5:34

Well, you know, it's interesting, David, you described that pretty well, that I as an alternate, you know, I played a fair amount for the University of Florida, but I was never a solid first Teamer. You know, I like to tell people, I was a mediocre college golfer. But I think that's giving me more credit than I really deserved. So when I won the US amateur, I actually was in between my first and second year law school. And so you know, that sort of gets people looking at you a little funny when you when you tell them that but the fact of the matter was, that I had started to play, probably the best golf in my life, the last semester of my undergraduate college career in Florida, and I had met a gentleman who I'm sure you know, the name, very well known. PGA golf instructor named Jack grout, Jack grout was best known for I listened to your podcast with Jack Nicklaus. And of course, Mr. Grout was his life lifelong teacher. And I'd met Mr. grout in the spring of 1974. Right before I graduated from the University of Florida. And after a year in law school, I convinced my dad to finance one more summer of golf. And let me go out and play golf one more time. And I want to ask you, yeah, so that was at the end of the summer, I played all summer of 1975. I spent a lot of time with Jack trout. And I played very well all summer, but had not won anything. So I came to the US amateur, I qualified for the US amateur by winning the last spot in the playoff. And so I got, I got, I got to the tournament in those days in the mid 70s. It was all match play. Once you got to the championship, there was no stroke, play qualifying. So I had to win eight matches to win the tournament. But you know, it was kind of one of those things where you get in just the right state of mind where you don't look ahead, but you don't really worry about the outcome of the day that you're playing. And that's kind of where I was that week. I can't explain why I just took each match one at a time. And near the end of the tournament, I played some really good players, players like Curtis strange and Andy Bean, and then the finals, I played a guy named Keith Fergus, who was a top college player at the University of Houston. So I think I was probably the underdog and every one of those matches, but somehow I got through them all and won all eight matches. And all of a sudden, I was the US amateur champion.

David Novak 7:56

You know, as I understand it, Fred, you were the last us amateur champion decided not to go pro. You finished your law, education, and then you went into into law. Tell us how you thought about that decision? Because you had to have I mean, at that point, your confidence had to be brewing. I mean, you you beat some great players.

Fred Ridley 8:16

I mean, it was hard. It was just circumstantial. I mean, part of it was maybe a little bit of pragmatism, I actually, as I mentioned, I only completed a year of law school. So I had to decide, I was sort of a crossroads. If I was going to turn professional, that would have been the time to do it. I reasoned that if I if I did that the likelihood of me ever getting my law degree was not very great. So I decided to go ahead and go back and finish law school. I did take a semester off at Stetson Law School, where I went to school gave me a sabbatical of sorts. And I did play a lot of tournament golf during that one spring spring of 1976. And actually, that was great for me, because I think I realized that while I had sort of moved up to becoming one of the top amateurs, though, I wasn't really sure that my game was, was where it should be to be a golf professional. And you have to remember, David, back in those days, the leading money winner was making about $300,000. And there were very few people who were even making $100,000 Well, that was a lot of money back then, you know, even inflation adjusted, it wasn't near what it was today. So I'm not sure I would have made that same decision today. But by the time I graduated two years later, you know, things the world had changed. For me. I had some interesting opportunities outside of playing golf, and it just felt like to me that the right decision was to go forward. remain an amateur golfer and I made the right decision.

David Novak 9:46

You know, you said your dad sort of pointed into the world of law. You know, was that something that you were really passionate about when you got into it and and were you really focused on on it in a big time way.

Fred Ridley 10:00

Interesting question. While I was very agreeable and was happy to go to law school, I'm enjoy being a lawyer much more than being a law student. I did pretty well in law school. But it was not something that I had a passion for. And I guess for that reason, my last semester of law school, I had an opportunity to sort of take a little turn in the road, and had an opportunity to go work in the sports management business for Mark McCormick, who of course, is an icon in that industry, and I took it. And so that was my first job out of law school. I didn't practice law firm for about three years. And really an interesting opportunity that I decided to take advantage of,

David Novak 10:42

you know, now your partner at the renowned Foley and Lardner law firm with you have over 1000 lawyers, you're heading up the high end commercial real estate practice. And you're recognized. You know, I've seen it all here, you're recognized as one of the leading lawyers in the country. What principles did you learn in golf that helped you grow into a leader in the firm? No, lawyers

Fred Ridley 11:06

are really not trained to be leaders, that is simplest form. Lawyers are somewhat independent contractors, you know, that are expected to go out and become a good practitioner, but yet develop enterprise develop business for the law firm. I think really, I would say that the competitive attributes required to be a successful golfer, which for a short period of time, I was, I think, that really spilled over into into my, my legal career, you know, I knew that, that nobody was going to do it for me, and then I had to work hard. My first bit of advice to anyone considering beyond being a lawyer is, you better make sure you really want to do this, because it's really hard. And so I really just think you already remember, my sort of progression as a lawyer was really almost opposite from what many lawyers do. I have a lot of friends who have their own law firms that started out in big firms. And it sort of got smaller as they got more experience to where they wanted to run their own firm. I started with four lawyer law firm, when I came back from Cleveland, Oregon, trying GE, and I now own a law firm that has 1100 lawyers, I really sort of done it the opposite that that many people have. And I say that because I remember, I've really only been other than the small firm. I've been with two firms over the years. I remember joining my prior firm in the mid 80s, which had a reputation in our community of being very hard working, almost pejorative term of a sweatshop. And I remember one of the partners interviewing me and saying, Are you sure you really want to do this? And I said, you know, I'm pretty competitive. And I think I know what it takes to be successful in this environment, and I'm ready to go. So I really think it's really the competition and the self reliance that you really have to have to be an athlete that sort of kind of took me into my current career.

David Novak 13:03

Great, you know, I want to go back to your golfing record just for a second for our listeners, because it truly is amazing. You beat Andy bean and Curtis strange in in key Fergus in the US amateur and then you beat Sandy Lyle, not once, but twice in the in the walker cup. Now Andy and Keith go on to become great pros. And Curtis and Sandy go on to win two major championships each now, you know, and I think about that. So Basie if you're really competitive. Have you ever had any regrets on not not turning pro?

Fred Ridley 13:40

Well, David, you know, we've known each other a few years. And, you know, you know what I do? And the privilege I have leading our club, Augusta National and the Masters tournament, and everything that golf has given to me has been many fold what I've given to it. So I would say that I have no regrets. I would not trade, what I have done and what I've been able to do what I've been blessed with for any amount of PGA Tour wins. So I hope that answers your question.

David Novak 14:12

Sure does, you know, and by winning the US amateur you qualified to play in the 1976 Masters now that's incredible. Who did you play with? And how did you handle you handle your nerves on the first tee? I mean, I don't think I could have taken the club back.

Fred Ridley 14:28

Well, there is a tradition which I'm sure you're aware of David that that the defending masters champion plays with the current US amateur champion. In those days, we play the Masters was paired in twosomes, even the first two days. So I was paired of course Jack Nicklaus won the Masters in it 75 With that sort of famous pot on number number 16 where he raised his club which ultimately I think became one of his logos. And so he He was, he was the defending champion and I was the US amateur champion. So we were appeared in the first round. Now, you know, I had a little bit of an advantage as far as how nervous was I going to be in that through Jack grout I had gotten to know Jack Nicklaus a little bit over the past year and actually played a couple of times with him. And he was nice enough that week to ask me to play a practice round. So while it was really nerve racking, it was not quite as bad as walking up on the first tee and having to introduce myself. I do remember teeing it up, and I have no recollection of swinging the golf club and hitting it off the First Tee. Fortunately, I looked up and it did go down the middle. But that was certainly a great experience for a young guy.

David Novak 15:44

Well, when you think back on it, what do you remember, remember now most from that experience,

Fred Ridley 15:49

couple things. Just the awesome presence of mind the awesome talent and presence of mine and Jack Nicklaus. I mean, you, you gotta remember, you know, he was 36 years old at the time. And I was 23. And he was 36. So he was in the absolute prime of his career. You know, he had, you know, he lost a bunch of weight. He had the long blonde hair. I mean, he was, he was really, he was something, you know, hit the ball a mile for back in those days, of course, equipment was much different. But I think the one moment I remember in that realm more than any, is we had played seven holes. I was even and he was one under and the eight falls apart. Five. I birdied and he made a par So we were both one under on the first night see, rather, and I had the honors. And of course, we're hitting these small wooden headed drivers back then. I can't even believe we can hit it anywhere. But But I had a really good drive off and it I mean, my best of the day, and I was feeling pretty good. And so I picked up my tea and kind of caught Jack's eye as I was walking back to the side of the tea like okay, Jack, I asked my best. And he smiled, and he teed it up and knocked it 50 yards by me. And then we went from there to I had some trouble in the back nine, shall we say? And Jack sort of methodically, you know, hit the all the par fives and to me one other birdie made five birdies and 13 cars. It was easiest 67 I've ever seen. And so you asked me a question earlier why I didn't turn professional. I think that round might have been a microcosm of the answer.

David Novak 17:23

Yeah, I just I've seen those pictures of you, too, where you know, he's got the long hair. You got some long hair going back then to you guys look pretty good together.

Fred Ridley 17:32

You know, I think the day I became chairman of Augusta, our senior staff presented me with a photo of that was in the archives of Augusta National Jack, the two of us walking down. I think it was a 14 fairway it looked like to me. And that might be the picture you're talking about. And I had never seen that picture in 40 some odd years prior to that. And so is that so that was really cool. You know,

David Novak 17:57

prior to being chairman, you're the head of the Masters competition committee for 10 years, I believe, which included overseeing the rules. Can you tell us about one or two of your most challenging experiences and how you handle it?

Fred Ridley 18:12

There were a couple of David, someone mentioned to me I know this has been said by a number of people. But being a golf rules official is made up of long periods of time of boredom, punctuated by several moments of terror. And I can certainly attest to that. I guess a couple of things. One is the first year, Judy Johnson had asked me to take over the competition committees in 2006 2007 was the first tournament and I was in that role. And I remember that on Friday evening, when I was getting ready to leave the tournament headquarters and one of our officials walked in and said, I think we may have a problem involving Phil Mickelson. I've told this story several times. So I know Phil would mind me telling you because it reflects very well on him. And the story was that that Phil had been playing had teed off on the 18th hole late in the day, and had teed his wall up. It was a time of day when there were shadows being cast on the tee. And he attained his ball up in the shadow of his caddies golf bag. And just as his caddy was about to move the golf bag, Phil told him not to move the bag. And obviously what he was trying to do, because he knew people next to the tee, were going to move be moving a little bit and he was seeing those dancing shadows. So he just Kennedy had inadvertently or unintentionally created sort of a block of that. Well, there's a there's a rule in the rulebook that says that you basically can't take assistance from outside agencies outside sources. And there's actually a decision in the book that hat that we're in, it's fictional, but it's it's hypothetical, but we're a caddy holds up a towel to block the sun from the player's vision. And that's a pen Multi. So there was a big debate about that we went into the night, and I realized it was too late to actually call Phil. So I got him in the next morning, because I'd seen him on video. I'd seen and heard everything. So I told him, basically I said, Look, tell me what happened. He told me what happened. I said, Well, I think I'd like to talk to your caddy use Bo's MCI. And I said, I want to talk to bones. And so bones came in and long story short, and actually, there's a there's a decision in the rulebook. Now that supports our hard decision. But we did not penalize Phil, because we didn't think that what scatti had done was intentional. The second one was publicized, David, and I think you probably remember it, about Tiger Woods. And it was 2013 Tiger was making a run in the second round to really shooting up the golf course and got to the 15th hole. And I think the wind was in the face of the player. So he laid up and hit his third shot, hit the flagstick and bounced it back in the water. So he had to decide what he was going to do, or he was going to drop the ball. And he took, he took a look at the ball drop and another possibility, and then decided to drop the ball where he played it to he just played the shot, which he had the right to do. So he played the shot and hit it like two feet from the hole and made it a great six. So story over we thought, Well, what happened was that about 10 o'clock that night, I got a call from a well known broadcaster whose name I won't mention, who said have you heard about Tigers interview with ESPN? And I said no. And he said, Well, let me let me play it for you. So he held up his phone to the TV and replay the interview where tiger said that when he dropped the ball, he had taken a step back and dropped it, you know, step back from where he played the shot. Well, prior to that we had been called and notified that he may not have dropped the property. And we looked at it on the video. And we thought he had done we had done it properly. So we didn't take any action. Well, that night after I heard Tiger's interview that put the whole thing in a different light. And so again, here we go next morning, we call the Tigers Asia that night, he wants to call him it was like midnight, and he said no, wait to the morning. So I brought tiger in we talked about the situation. And the issue was not whether he was going to be penalized because he had to be penalized. The question was, was he going to be disqualified, and the media was, you know, was going crazy. And, and so I made a decision that we were going to give him a two shot penalty, we weren't going to penalize him. And part of that decision, David was the fact that, but I reflected on on the whole situation and how we had handled it, I thought we could have done a better job. And I thought that we should have had Tiger come in and talk to us. You know, rather than just rely on the video. And so I use a discretionary option in the rule to give him the two shot penalty rather than disqualified. And I was criticized for that. I basically thought that, that I did the right thing that we did the right thing. And I still feel we did the right thing. I know, that afternoon, I was actually went down to the press building because there was a lot there was a lot of chatter about this and did a 20 minute press conference and someone asked me, Brian, during the end of the interview, if you had to do this over again, would you've done it any differently. And I said, Well, you know, I don't think there's a day that goes by in my life that I would have done something differently. And I think probably most people, if they're honest, would say that. And so I think that was a situation where you basically have to own your decisions. And we did and we did the right thing. And I think the outcome was correct.

David Novak 23:47

You know, Fred, I was hoping you would tell that story, because it's a great one. And I remember that precedent. And I think that's a lesson in what happens when you're totally honest. You disarmed all the criticism by just say that because there isn't anybody, there isn't anybody that ever has a regret or to you know, so I thought that was fantastic. So So you learned you're going to be the chairman of one of the most unique, important and famous institutions in the world. How do you feel about just the enormous worldwide visibility of the job?

Fred Ridley 24:20

Although I have had the privilege of being in and around Augusta National, really for? Well, it would have been 35 years. And I'd be thinking Sherman, actually longer than that 4040 years. I'm not sure I fully appreciated it. I did have the sort of the advantage of having sort of, kind of set it the bright side of the chairman Billy paying for 11 years because Billy's tenure as Chairman and my tenure is out of the competency committees coincided exactly 11 years. So Billy and I became very good friends. He has certainly been one of my mentors. And I think following Em was certainly an honor of it, it was also a big responsibility, because I think Billy honored the traditions of Augusta National, but sort of took the club and its, and its brand sort of outside of the gates so to speak. And in doing that, I think, really, the club became more consequential in the world of golf. And, you know, I think we owe a debt of gratitude to him. So I was following a, you know, almost somewhat of an icon and, and so in that respect, I had to think, you know, how I wanted to approach the job. And, and really just decided pretty quickly that, I'm going to approach it, like I do everything else, and I'm going to be me, and I'm not going to try to be anybody else. And I'm going to do it my way, I pretty quickly became to understand the respect and the influence that the club and the Masters tournament has around the world and responsibility that we have. And so that's really been guiding the way I've approached this job.

David Novak 26:00

You mentioned that Billy Payne was your your mentor. And you're right. I mean, he did a lot of great things. I mean, created the Asian and Latin American amateurs, the National drive, Chip and putt these skills, competition, improved the facilities, you know, eight, as a mentor, what was the biggest thing you picked up from from from Billy,

Fred Ridley 26:22

you know, I think it was something that I already knew. But, but I saw in Billy, and it really validated my feelings I saw and Billy, someone who, who understood maybe better than anyone I've ever met, the power of relationships. And Billy is one of the most caring, thoughtful dynamically leaders I've ever met. I mean, he will, on the one hand, he will be really hard on you, and then he'll turn around and give you a hug. So, you know, you always know where you stand with him. And so I learned a lot. I mean, I'm I'm a little more, let me say measured or subdued, and the ability is, but I really learned a lot from and I really appreciate all that he's done for me, and preparing me, even though I didn't know he was preparing me necessarily, but preparing me for the job.

David Novak 27:19

You know, you're the first chairman of Augusta that actually played in the Masters we talked about a little bit earlier, that was so cool, you know, to see that, what changes have you made or plan to make that are that are influenced by looking at the club from a player's perspective,

Fred Ridley 27:35

it's really important that, you know, at a sort of a high level that we do, we do everything we can to make the experience of the player, absolutely the best possible and the best that they could experience anywhere, anytime. But that David really, it really just fits in with the culture of excellence and continuous improvement that overlays everything that we do, whether it be the Masters tournament, whether it be club operations, whether it be growing the game, whether it be, you know, contributing to our community, all of which are sort of pillars of our mission. So I think from that perspective, we do that. And then you know, we have a real challenge, just like any other competition does, in making sure that the wonderful golf course at Augusta National stays relevant. In today's times, it's very difficult because players are becoming more athletic than they've ever been. You know, there's a lot of discussion right now about equipment. And that's certainly a big issue and a big factor. But the physical abilities and technical expertise of these athletes is amazing. And it's so far advanced from where it was when I played competitively it's not our, it's not at that round with Jack Nicklaus. We talked about, I mean, it's apples and oranges day and night today, in the way players play golf. So we've got a big a big challenge to make sure that we keep our golf course up to date. But but yet the guiding principles, there are always the philosophy and the approach to the game. And the shotmaking that Bobby Jones and Alistair Mackenzie had so that's that's the delicate balance.

David Novak 29:19

You know, Fred, one of the things that impressed me and I remember I was talking about it just right after you you decided to do this was you found your footing very quickly as a chairman and you jumped right out of the box and launched the Augusta National Women's Amateur and tell us tell us your thinking about that decision?

Fred Ridley 29:38

Well, I guess I would start by saying that you know, I've been around women a lot because I've lived with for them for many decades and my three daughters are now all adults and out of out on their own and doing very well. They have always been huge golf fans and and in a couple of them play quite a bit as well. And I really felt like that the women's game was in women's golf was a huge opportunity to basically for to grow to promote and grow the health of the game. I mean, it's half of our population, and it's really been underserved. So the idea really was the same with respect to what we did in Asia, what we didn't learn from Latin America. And that really was to give these young women, these great players an opportunity to showcase their talents in a setting that is really the most wonderful setting in the world of golf. And so that was really the motivation behind it really was to take our efforts to the women's side of the game. It's something that I have a great passion for. And I think, you know, I'm so happy that even in this COVID environment, we've been able to reschedule a second progressive National Women's Amateur in April. Of course, we couldn't have, we couldn't have drawn up a better finish to the first one than we did with these two great golfers, Jennifer cup show and Maria Fossey that not only just played incredible golf, but displayed sportsmanship. It was it was epic, it really was. And so just to be a part of that, to witness that, to see the joy on their faces, and so many patrons who attended the parents and grandparents of these young women. It just was very exciting.

David Novak 31:26

You know, Fred, I've watched the Masters every year since I was a kid. And I have to tell you, it was as fun and as exciting as anything I've ever seen in golf, the sportsmanship, the camaraderie, the challenge. It's everything we love about golf. And

Fred Ridley 31:39

it really is David. And I think there's so many lessons that we've learned, having the privilege to play the game that that really spills over, into into our lives every every parts of our life. And when it comes to friends, golly. I mean, I can't think of many friends I have that don't have some connection somewhere somehow to go. It's just an unbelievable conduit to friendships and relationships. And we're very lucky golfers.

David Novak 32:07

Absolutely, you know, the Augusta National Women's Amateur, you know, you know, you look at it natural. Oh, yeah, that's a great idea. You know, great ideas are always great after somebody comes up with them. But, you know, you had to have some people tell you it couldn't be done. I mean, you know, Augusta is the traditional place. You know, it's like, you're definitely breaking some new ground here. What were some of the hurdles you had to overcome?

Fred Ridley 32:31

Well, believe it or not, there weren't very many. And I say that, because one of the things that I've really learned, since I've become chairman, and I will say I've learned a lot, that sort of the pent up desire among all of our team members to do great things. And it's almost like there's not a challenge you can give them today don't accept, and run with it with great enthusiasm. And that, to me, has been the most invigorating part of this job is having a group of people who they're like thoroughbred horses, they just can't wait to, you know, for the gates to open and take off. And so this idea was, and I'll tell you just a real quick story about how, when it started, I had my first meeting, the first day, I was chairman. And I was in my office with our Executive Director, will Jones, who you know, well, and he's one of the most capable executives I've ever met. And we finished our meeting. And he was just getting up. And I said, Well, there's one more thing I want to talk to you about. And he so he said, What's that he sat back down. And I said, I want to watch a international championship for women's golf. And he kind of nodded me, I could tell that he thought, yeah, tell me more. And I said, if we really mean what we say, if I really mean what I'm telling you right now, it has to be here at Augusta National. And his eyes sort of got bigger. And then the and then he was he thought he heard it all. And then I said, Well, I want to announce this at the Masters in April. And then there was this big lump in his throat I can see. And no space turned a little white. But after he collected himself, he basically nodded and said, understood, we can do that. And that's how it started. And it was off and running.

David Novak 34:25

That's kind of like candy spirit. And I think the other thing, David,

Fred Ridley 34:27

if I could say about that is I think that that endeavor, has created so much energy and so much pride among our staff. And, importantly, among our membership, you know, I can't tell you how many members came up to me that week and said, I've never been prouder to be a part of this organization. So it's had many benefits to the organization that go beyond just the tournament itself.

David Novak 34:57

You know, as you know, your friendly l Were became the first black professional to play in the tournament at Augusta, and tell us about your special relationship that you and now the club have formed with Lee.

Fred Ridley 35:11

Well, of course, the league played in the Masters was the first black player to play in the Masters in 1975. And he didn't make the cut. So when I came the next year, he wasn't there. But he did qualify through his play on the PGA Tour to come back in 1977. And I played three times I played in 76, seven and eight. So when he came back in 1977, we were both in the field. And I think one year I think he played through about 1980, or 81. And I think he had one or two pretty good finishes. But I don't remember if it was 77, or 78. But we played a practice round in the tournament together before the tournament. And so he reminded me of that when I saw him last last year. And you know, we haven't kept in really close touch. But you know, I've always admired him. And I just thought that this was something that would not not just be meaningful to the Masters, and it was the right thing to do. But I knew how meaningful it'd be to the elder. And, you know, to see the joy on his face when he was at the club. When this announcement was made last November. I mean, it's something I'll never forget. And I'll always treasure so I'm so excited. I'm so looking forward to him coming back in April. And walking out on that first tee with Jack and Jerry, I think it's going to be an unbelievable moment.

David Novak 36:29

I think that will be a great moment. And then you've also created a scholarship fund and in His name.

Fred Ridley 36:34

That's right paying college, which is one of the HBCUs right in Augusta I think is 100 years old, we have endowed a scholarship, both on the men's and women's team and the women's team doesn't exist. So we're funding the creation of the of a women's golf team. You know, that's a work in progress, but it's going to happen, and it's going to be so exciting to see it happen.

David Novak 36:57

That's great, you know, and, Fred, I know you've always been passionate about diversity across the board. And we've talked about it and and with the tragic murder of George Floyd, racial injustice has come to the forefront. How have you thought about this? And what are you doing at Augusta National to make a difference?

Fred Ridley 37:15

When that tragedy happened? I think it I think it causes all to reflect perhaps in a way that we had never reflected before. You know, I remember reading a an op ed that Condi Rice wrote, I think it was in the Washington Post that where she she thought this time was different. And I think she was right. And her sort of final thought was, okay, now what are what are you going to do reader to make your community different? There was some thought that our organization should have made, you know, a public statement, you know, like a number of organizations had, but my focus really wanted our focus to be on action. And so, you know, very soon after this happened, and this was really this was a bottoms up effort. I mean, we we reached out to our employees, we wanted their input, we wanted to hear them talk about their concerns, and, and what, what was important to them. But ultimately, we identified a community, a neighborhood in Augusta, that's very not far from the club, about a mile from the club. That was once a middle class neighborhood back when we had a lot of textile mills in Augusta. And as those disappeared, that community deteriorated and really needed some uplifting, it's called Harrisburg. They're actually to two side by side neighborhoods, Scott Harrisburg and Laney Walker, Laney Walker was a historically black community that had largely been destroyed back in the riots in the 1970s. And we felt that that was an opportunity right at our back door right in our front door, actually, where we can make a difference. And so I reached out to our sponsors, and I said, Will you help us do this? You know, we started with an announcement that at at IBM and Bank of America stepped up and matched a contribution that we committed, we have story of starting out with a $10 million fund to build a new boys and girls club in this community, as well as a new community center. And I think this is just the beginning of what we're going to be able to do in that community, and hopefully others, focusing in the Augusta community, that's one of the pillars of our mission statement is giving back to our community. And we're going to do that and we're very excited and our entire team at the club is excited. And that's, that really makes me feel good.

David Novak 39:38

He should feel good about that. You know, and one of the things that I think people may not realize is the gust is the second largest city in Georgia. That's right. And you're really focused on making a difference in the community. And I you know, how important do you see that Fred, not only as a leader of Augusta National but for any leader as it relates to getting involved in the community?

Fred Ridley 40:01

Well, you know, I think, you know, sometimes these efforts are so broad, you know, and they have so much bureaucracy that they never help the people they're intended to help. And so, you know, I think every community has a tremendous opportunity to so many. So many are doing it right. You know, I think our friend Tom Cousins, who really has transformed the communities like community in Atlanta, I mean, it really is produced a model purpose built communities a model for others, and frankly, some of those learnings we're trying to follow in Augusta. But, you know, I think if just about every community has, has companies has businesses that have the wherewithal to help. And if everybody just did their part, this could this would be not only a better country, but a better world. So this is our focus now, it can certainly become broader over time. But right now, we're looking just down the road and hoping we can make a difference in Augusta.

David Novak 40:59

Great, you know, Augusta National threat is, you know, along with so many other institutions and companies, it's taken heat for not doing enough in the past on the diversity front, as today's leader, how do you look back on on the history as you go forward?

Fred Ridley 41:15

Certainly, times change times are different they change. But I think the best way to answer that, David is just to say that, you know, I think we can all learn from our past. And I think that we've certainly tried to do that. And are there circumstances that we wish might have been different over the years? I think the answer that is definitely yes. There have been a lot of good people that have been involved in growing this organization over the years, I think it's evolved, I think us matured, and I'm very proud of what we have and what we are doing. And I can tell you that that this issue is paramount is it is at the forefront of our thinking, not only what we're doing in the community, but how we're hiring, how we're promoting. And like a lot of organizations, we have a long way to go. But the important thing is that we're thinking about it, we're trying and we are going to make a difference.

David Novak 42:21

Well, it's clear to me that Fred understands what Augusta National Golf Club needs. He's making sure they look to the future while embracing the tradition, unlike any other that makes them so special. I just love how Fred has stepped right into this role, which is incredibly high profile. And he's finding his own footing and doing some incredible things to move the organization forward and enrich the community. And hey, here's some good news. We're going to dig a whole lot deeper into how he does that in the second part of this episode. And actually, that makes my job pretty easy this week when it comes to giving you some coaching. This week, as part of your weekly personal development plan is simple. Just tune in to part two of my interview with Fred Ridley, we go into more detail on what it looks like to preserve tradition and drive innovation. Plus, of course, you know, he's got some epic stories from Augusta National. You don't want to miss it. So do you want to know how leaders lead what we learned today is that great leaders preserve tradition and drive innovation. Thanks again for tuning in to another episode of how leaders lead where every Thursday you get to listen in while I interview some of the very best leaders in the world. I make it a point to give you something simple on each episode that you can apply to your business so that you will become the best leader you can be

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