Driver, Chip And Putt Presser: Anchoring Humor Not Welcome!

The anchoring question came up during the Monday Masters presser to announce the very exciting Drive, Chip and Putt announcement (unbylined Augusta Chronicle story here, and the Doug Ferguson AP story here).

First, the humorous question from Karen Crouse of the New York Times.

Q.  Mr. Chairman, will the children be restricted on any kind of putters that they are able to use (laughter) ?

CHAIRMAN PAYNE:  I'm not on the putting committee  (laughter).

Later on, ESPN.com's Gene Wojciechowski asked about the use of anchored putters in the Drive, Chip and Putt. I'm not sure if the USGA and PGA Presidents misunderstood the question, or were just prepared to answer an out-of-context anchoring ban feud question...

Q.  Coming back to the question about the long putter, given the USGA's stance moving forward, is there a chance kids would be banned from using a long putter in competition?

GLEN NAGER:  Let me just say, certainly I understand the reason for your question, but that issue is pending before the USGA Executive Committee, and it would be inappropriate for me to comment one way or the other on it.

What I can comment on is that this program is designed to try to interest kids' in the game, and that's what we're trying to do and what we are here to talk about today.

TED BISHOP:  I think Glen and I were really kind of hoping that we could come here this week and maybe take a week off from the anchoring discussions (laughter) and today is all about the Drive, Chip & Putt Championship, and this week is all about the first major of the year.

So anybody that is thinking they are going to ask me any questions the rest of the week, I'm not going to talk about it.  (Laughter).