Masters offers a locker room unlike any other with first photos of new Player Services Building :: WRAL.com
AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) — Rory McIlroy went upstairs within the Augusta National clubhouse the evening he gained the Masters, desperate to see the small locker room just for Masters champions. I’ve returned final month to search out one other locker room not practically as unique however no much less spectacular.
“They’ve created this unbelievable new Player Services Building, and that’s where the main locker room is going to be,” McIlroy stated. “I think the champions will still use the Champions Locker Room. But that new building is IN-CREDIBLE.”
He paused to smile earlier than including, “Take my word for it.”
Augusta National revealed some photos Friday on social media of the Player Services Building, created to make the gamers’ expertise unlike any other.
Typical of most new buildings at Augusta National, the three-story constructing situated simply behind the hitting space of the apply vary is tucked amongst timber and appears prefer it has been there all alongside.
Players drive down Magnolia Lane, look to the appropriate and discover a circle drive to both valet courtesy automobiles or go down a ramp, via a tunnel below Magnolia Lane and into an underground storage.
The partitions on the hall main from the storage have Alister MacKenzie’s cross part structure of each gap at Augusta National.
For being the youngest of the 4 majors, the Masters’ historical past is as wealthy as any.
The new locker room that caught McIlroy’s consideration is on the bottom flooring, however gamers could be excused for taking their time once they first arrive. The quick hallway has framed letters from Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods to the membership thanking them for his or her week. Woods’ letter is from 1997, after his record-smashing win.
The lounge simply earlier than the locker room is a tribute to co-founder Bobby Jones, and Augusta National managed to get all 4 of his trophies from his “impregnable quadrilateral” — Grand Slam — in 1930 when he gained the British Amateur, British Open, US Open and US Amateur.
Those are on mortgage from the Atlanta Athletic Club, to be returned the week after the Masters.
The outdated locker room, situated within the clubhouse and down from the grill room, was small however enough. The new one is big with 100 lockers (the Masters have had fewer than 100 gamers yearly since 1967) with nice consideration to element — a secure in every locker, a shelf to cost telephones, even the gold-plated “map-and-flag” emblem of the Masters on the deal with of every locker.
Name plates are already up in a random order, not alphabetical. McIlroy, Scottie Scheffler and Dustin Johnson have lockers, presumably out of comfort for once they go downstairs to make use of the health middle and restoration room.
The six amateurs within the subject have lockers subsequent to Masters champions. That wasn’t a coincidence.
A sitting space within the center is framed by two tables. One was created from magnolia wooden of a felled tree on Magnolia Lane throughout Hurricane Helene in September 2024 and holds a giant bowl created from the identical wooden. The others have Masters stationery, maybe if gamers get impressed from the letters they learn on the best way in.
As gamers go away for the vary or the course, there are photos of profitable moments from the final 5 Masters, ending with McIlroy on his knees after his playoff win. The membership has additionally put in a digital camera on the finish of the hallway for tv functions, just like gamers leaving the locker room on their approach to middle court docket throughout Grand Slam tennis occasions.
More historical past could be discovered even within the toilet. The membership is hanging framed letters from over time, one of them from co-founder Clifford Roberts in 1960 informing gamers the normal golf clinic on Wednesday will likely be changed by a Par 3 Tournament.
Downstairs is the state-of-the-art health middle, with a huge space within the center for stretching, cables and weights alongside the perimeter and a concrete wall at which to throw drugs balls.
This will likely be excellent news for McIlroy. When health first turned extra widespread, the Masters created a makeshift space within the cart barn. McIlroy heaved a drugs ball at — and thru — the wall, leaving a gaping gap.
“We felt the walls and I was like, ‘Yeah, this feels pretty sturdy,’” he stated. Oops.
The restoration room has three chilly plunges and one scorching tub, a sauna room and 16 tables for the bodily therapists. Leaving the health space takes gamers down one other history-filled hallway crammed with simply over 1,400 title plates for each participant to have competed within the Masters.
Convenience, luxurious and a nice view awaits on the highest flooring. That’s the Magnolia Dining Room with seating for about 150 folks and a terrace overlooking the sensible grounds for about 150 extra. There’s a menu and a buffet, a bar and ample televisions.
About the one factor missing is a cause to depart.
The Players Services Building is not for everybody, solely gamers and their fast households, coaches and caddies, trainers and other members of the assist workforce — however no public, no press, no brokers.
It’s a haven, pampering at its most interesting, which is what the Masters have strived to ship all these years whereas by no means failing to look to enhance.
“This improvement,” Masters chairman Fred Ridley stated final April, “will offer the competitors in the Masters facilities from arrival until departure unlike anything in sports.”
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AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf
