The Masters has been cancelled!

Jason Day has taken the news pretty hard

Yes, we know it’s 1 April, but this is no April Fools’.

But, if you’re breaking down in tears as your dreams of spending four days glued to the action from Augusta National disappear in a blur of azaleas and pine straw, don’t panic. 

It’s the Australian Masters that has been cancelled. 

The event has been on the calendar since 1979, but will not be played in 2016.

“As part of IMG’s ongoing evolution of its golf events business, the company is in the process of reimagining its Australian Masters event to ensure the delivery of a world-class experience,” said David Rollo, vice president and director of golf for IMG Australia and New Zealand.

“To best execute a change of this scale, IMG today announced that the Australian Masters will not be played in 2016. IMG will unveil its new plans for the event in the coming months.”

So it may not be the last we hear of the Australian Masters, but the organisers will be hoping that the event, if and when it is reintroduced, is able to attract a stronger field than in recent years.  

The cancellation of the Australian Masters is a blow for Australian golf, which has been enjoying its day in the sun of late. First, Adam Scott won two events in a row – the Honda Classic at the end of February and the WGC-Cadillac Championship in early March – before Jason Day achieved the same back-to-back feat in the last two events, winning the Arnold Palmer Invitational and then the WGC-Dell Match Play. Those wins saw Day ascend to world number one for the second time in his career and made him the outright favourite for the Masters (the real one). 

NEXT: Is Jason Day going to win the Masters?