USGA leader talks Drive, Chip and Putt

UNDER THE OAK TREE

Thomas O’Toole, 56, is in his first year as president of the U.S. Golf Association. A native of St. Louis, O’Toole has been involved with the USGA since 1988. He has served as a rules official at more than 135 USGA championships, including every U.S. Open since 1990, and served on the rules committee at this year’s Masters. The Masters Tour­nament Foundation, USGA and PGA of America created the Drive, Chip and Putt Championship, with the finals held at Augusta National.

Q: What were your impressions of the inaugural event?

A: I think if we could have written a favorable script which we hoped would have identified some success in the initiative, this result would have blown it out of the water. Just the Au­gus­ta National treatment of these kids, the aura around being here and the intrigue of that, it was really one of the special moments I’ve had in the game, frankly. And just to see where that initiative could go, it could explode moving forward. With all the allied organizations, it’s something special. It was a great kickoff to the 2014 Masters.

Q: Does that success bode well for the future?

A: It does. Those kids played pretty well, but that was the top 88. We had about 17,000 entries. We’re already at that number for next year, and we expect to blow by that. You have people in that group who are newer to the game. So that’s the key, if we can attract people to the game through this method, my hat’s off to Billy Payne and the members of Augusta National. They made this possible, and it was a home run.

Q: What are you looking to achieve in your term as president of the USGA?

A: We’ll continue to focus on our governance responsibilities and rule makings, which would be championships and all the rules making we oversee, and continue to do those with great conviction and diligence. But then try to service the game in areas like Drive, Chip and Putt, where we can impact those that are being welcomed into the game and, hopefully, play the game faster. It’s kind of a balance between the governance part and what we’re trying to do to affect the game’s health and sustain itself. That’s going to be a major focus of our associations.

Q: This year both the men’s and women’s U.S. Open championships will be held at Pinehurst.

A: It’s brought a lot of attention to the media because of the women’s perspective about whether they were going to go first or second. We’re focusing on the positive part of this. You can have a discussion about the Masters being the No. 1 major or the U.S. Open. There’s no discussion on the women’s side. The No. 1 championship in women’s golf is the United States Women’s Open. To play that on the heels of where the men played, this is a celebration of women’s golf. That’s what we’re looking at, and we’re excited and, when I think we get through two weeks at Pinehurst, the sky’s the limit.

ALL ABOUT ARNIE

The Masters considers wire-to-wire champions to be players who held the lead alone in all four rounds.

Arnold Palmer is one of four men to achieve that feat, and he did it in 1960. Craig Wood (1941), Jack Nicklaus (1972) and Raymond Floyd (1976) were the other wire-to-wire winners.

MASTERS SPEAK

The on-course cottages at Augusta National are called cabins.

There are 10 cabins in all, and the white structures provide lodging for club members and their guests.

Seven of the cabins form a semicircle and are left of the 10th tee. The Eisenhower, Butler and Roberts cabins stand alone.

The Eisenhower Cabin was built in 1953 and was used by President Eisenhower and his family when they visited the club.

The Butler Cabin was built in 1964 and has been used as a television studio for the broadcast.

– John Boyette, sports editor