The policy, first announced last Thursday and effective in 2004, had said Masters champions could continue to compete until they were 65, but only if they played 15 official tournaments in the preceding calendar year.
That would have eliminated six-time Masters champion Jack Nicklaus, who has played only 15 tournaments a year three times since 1986.
Augusta National chairman Hootie Johnson revised that criteria to ten tournaments.
Johnson said, ``The fact of the matter is we were not thorough with our research and we made a mistake. Therefore, we are making this change.''
While Nicklaus was not cited as the reason for the revised policy, it appears to suit his schedule. Except for 1999, when Nicklaus was recovering from hip replacement surgery, he has played at least ten tournaments worldwide.
Even with a bad back that forced him out of tournament golf in late July, Nicklaus played 12 tournaments last year on the PGA Tour, PGA Senior Tour and European tour.
The revision came after several publications criticized Augusta National for ending its tradition of allowing past champions a lifetime exemption and making them beef up their schedule just to get into the Masters.
http://accesswdun.com/article/2002/5/195225