A Real Mover And Shaker

Know this about new Augusta National boss Billy Payne, the driving force behind the '96 Olympics: He is unafraid of change

Payne became the club's sixth chairman less than 10 years after becoming a member.

By Ron Sirak

Photo By Gregory Heisler

March 30, 2007

Among the many misconceptions of Augusta National GC is that it resists change. Actually, the club constantly evolves albeit, like the massive live oak behind the clubhouse and the ancient wisteria vine that snarls through it, slowly and on its own terms. But as a new generation takes over, none more prominently than Billy Payne, who last May succeeded Hootie Johnson as club chairman, the pace may quicken. Indications that Payne will usher in a more open era at Augusta National are subtle but noticeable. Even in private conversations, club employees always referred to Johnson as "The Chairman" or "Mr. Johnson." But Payne is simply "Billy." At a place where language matters—spectators are "patrons" and rough is "the second cut"—such informality is directed from the top. And at a club where all decisions are carefully made, and one that has been slapped around at times by the fourth estate, it is significant the new chairman used to run the Masters media committee.

Augusta National has a Baby Boomer at the helm, its first chairman born after World War II and a leader who won the 1996 Olympic Games for Atlanta by leaning heavily on businessmen who made that city the beacon of the South during the 1960s civil rights movement. While few things result from the effort of one person, Atlanta never would have gotten the Games were it not for Payne. Brilliant at one-on-one politicking, he triumphed by glad-handing International Olympic Committee delegates in the halls of IOC headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland, and in Tokyo, where the final decision was made, all the while sporting an immodest button declaring, "HI, I'M BILLY PAYNE." Not bad for a guy who had never been abroad. That energy is now engaged at one of golf's most prestigious events and most private clubs.

On a warm January day, with the buzz of the buildup to his first Masters as chairman filling the air, Payne walks around his desk and takes a seat within arm's length of the couch across from it. Motivated by two triple-bypass heart surgeries and a history of early death in his family, Payne works out daily, and the former All-SEC defensive end fills out his member's green jacket with a muscular 205 pounds stretched over a 6-foot-2 frame. The same charm that won the Atlanta Olympics no doubt helped Payne become chairman, even though he had been a member for less than 10 years. But just as important was a keen intellect and relentless determination. Payne sits tall in his chair and is always one beat ahead of the conversation, beginning answers before questions are finished—verification of his high-octane reputation.

Payne was a $250,000-a-year real-estate lawyer before beginning his Olympic bid in 1987 and now is a wealthy man with multiple country-club memberships, having parlayed the Games into an extremely successful career. A lawyer with Gleacher Partners LLC in Atlanta, Payne secures investment-banking opportunities for the New York-based company in the Southeast. While being the first club chairman who didn't know Bobby Jones and Clifford Roberts, Payne is, unlike any of the previous five chairmen, a lifelong Georgian born ironically in Athens, the city named for the Greek capital that hosted the first modern Olympic Games in 1896 and from which Payne snatched the centennial Games. Payne, who once said, "If you keep score, you have to be the best," shifts forward in his chair when asked what criteria will be used to evaluate his performance as chairman.

"It's funny, I've thought about that," he says. "First, you would have to put, above all else, a mandate to preserve the tradition, reputation and contribution the Masters makes to the game of golf. And, if you are lucky enough, perhaps through some initiative or innovation, you may be able to advance it just a little bit. If I am able to preserve the traditions of Bob Jones and Clifford Roberts and those who followed them, then I'll be perfectly satisfied."

All the right words were said: Tradition, reputation, mandate, Masters, Jones and Roberts. But the key phrase is the one parenthetically slipped in: "You may be able to advance it just a little bit." Payne is all about advancing things, all about leaving his mark. He will listen to the members, but he also will have things to say. Part of his talent, according to those who know him, is an ability to lead people to feel that his ideas are in their best interest.

"Billy is not the kind of person who sits back and lets things happen," says Bill Dahlberg, the former chairman of Southern Company and one of those people Payne enlisted in his Olympic bid. "He makes things happen. I know he will respect the traditions and heritage of Augusta and the Masters, but I think over time he'll certainly put his fingerprints on it. He'll do those things that he thinks are progressive and need to be done. He has a great skill at bringing people into the fold."