"The answer is they were smothered by Johnson's cack-handed alterations."

Lawrence Donegan seems pretty confident that Billy Payne and Tom Fazio will restore Augusta National to its former glory, prior to Hootie Johnson and Tom Fazio making a mess of it.

The answer is they were smothered by Johnson's cack-handed alterations. He lengthened the course, he planted trees, he narrowed the fairways, he grew a "second cut" (rough) – in other words he did his best to turn a unique course into just another US Open course. He did not quite succeed but he did turn the Masters tournament into a glorified US Open, which is to say it has become devoid of much of the excitement that made it such a global institution.

The next seven days will be about restoring the excitement, although Johnson's successor, Billy Payne, will never, ever concede this point. Yet it has already begun, with a couple of holes being shortened and some greens being rebuilt. There will be further changes in the years to come – trees will be removed, and the strategic element of the course restored.