After being broadcast commercial free for the first time this year, the Masters will do an encore in 2004.
Tournament chairman Hootie Johnson announced Tuesday there again will be no TV sponsors on CBS and USA next year.
"There were many aspects of (the) broadcast that were favorable," Johnson said in a statement. "The response from our TV viewers about the ability to watch strictly golf was very positive."
The move, however, was not made to appease fans.
Last year, during the oft-heated debate over whether Augusta National Golf Club should be required to admit female members, Johnson took the unprecedented step of dismissing the Masters' corporate TV partners to protect them from pressure.
Citigroup, Coca-Cola and IBM were to be the only TV sponsors, but their commercials did not air and the club, with CBS and USA, forfeited the revenue from those agreements.
Augusta National, however, helped CBS and USA defray their production costs.
Apparently the lack of revenue did not hurt the tournament's ability to give money to charity.
Johnson announced the tournament was donating more than $3.2-million this year, including $1-million to the First Tee program, an initiative that helps provide affordable access to golf. Over the past six years, the club has donated almost $19-million to charity.
U.S. OPEN QUALIFYING: Billy Andrade took a risk by staying close to home, but he qualified for the PGA Tour event, earning one of two spots at a qualifier near his home in Atlanta. Andrade had rounds of 68-69 at Ansley Golf Club in Roswell, Ga. He finished one behind Luke List, an 18-year-old who will play for Vanderbilt next year. The U.S. Open is next week at Olympia Fields Country Club outside Chicago.
The biggest batch of qualifiers won't be decided until today. Most of the PGA players, including Hal Sutton and John Daly, are in Rockville, Md., and were unable to finish because of rain.
Grant Waite was among five who qualified at Orlando's Lake Nona. The medalists were Maarten Lafeber and Matt Seppanen at 5-under-par 139. Robert Floyd, son of former U.S. Open champ Raymond Floyd, was among those who failed to qualify at Lake Nona. His brother, Raymond Jr., failed to make it out of the New York qualifier.
WOODS IN BUICK CLASSIC: Tiger Woods added the Buick Classic to his schedule, committing to play in the Westchester (N.Y.) tournament after the U.S. Open. The Buick endorser last appeared in the event in 2001. Woods, expected to attract 40,000-50,000 more fans to the four-day tournament, has struggled in three starts on the hilly, tree-lined West Course. He missed the cut as an 18-year-old amateur in 1994, tied for 43rd in '97 and tied for 16th in 2001.
GREEN DIAGNOSED WITH CANCER: Hubert Green, who won the U.S. Open and PGA Championship and 17 other victories on the PGA Tour, was diagnosed with throat cancer. He will seek treatment in Birmingham, Ala., after this week's Senior PGA Championship. Green, 56, won the 1977 U.S. Open at Southern Hills despite playing the final round under a death threat. The last of his 19 wins came in 1985, when he won the PGA at Cherry Hills.
- Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.
