On one side, he's the progressive Southern gentleman who brought the world to Atlanta in the form of the 1996 Olympics and embraced the multiculturalism that came with it. On the other, he's the traditionalist who continues to view Augusta National through the prism that existed almost 40 years ago when, as a college sophomore, he drove through the gate in a pink 1947 Chevy he shared with his sister.

Winds of change occasionally swirl and rustle more than the treetops in this state and on this golf course, but so far no gusts have been strong enough to push him too far in either direction.

You won't see Rosie O'Donnell, Katie Couric and Oprah sharing a table at next year's Champions Dinner. Hillary Clinton wasn't named an honorary starter for the 2008 Masters.

"As I've said many times, all members and membership are subject to the private deliberations of the members," said Payne, the 59-year-old former Georgia defensive end who made his fortune as a lawyer and investment banker. "And other than that, sir, I'm simply not going to talk about it."

He did, however, talk about club business that didn't pertain to Martha Burk or the bill introduced by Rep. Carolyn Maloney (N.Y.) designed to remove tax breaks for corporations that use memberships at male-only enclaves like Augusta National for business purposes.

He discussed qualification changes for the Masters, including automatic invitations for PGA Tour winners. He expounded on the tournament's willingness to embrace Information Age technology even though the club has gone to great lengths - literally and figuratively - to alleviate the technological gains made by golf equipment manufacturers.

"I think we stay current by being students of the game," Payne said. "We have determined, many of my predecessors before me, that we would do whatever it took to keep this course competitive. It's something we've done historically. I think we've done it well and we're going to continue to do it in the future."

Ah, yes, the future. That's a concept you wouldn't expect to hear from someone in Payne's position, given the fact that Burk and so many others painted previous club chairman Hootie Johnson as having just climbed down from atop a Brontosaurus.

They lengthened, tightened and toughened their course to prevent club manufacturers from transforming their tournament into a predictable exercise of drive, pitch and putt. They put webcams on Amen Corner last year and will do the same this week, providing live glimpses of every shot there.

They've also been smart enough to know what aspects of the Masters to leave alone. The price of egg salad sandwiches remains stable, as does the face value of practice round tickets and tournament badges ($36 and $176, respectively). The limited supply ensures there will always be heavy demand, as evidenced by the fact that some ticket scalpers command as much as $4,000 for a tournament badge.

"We have no thoughts about ever charging what they are worth," Payne said. "One of the great things about the Masters that distinguishes us once again above all other sporting events (is) that we want the experience to not only be the best but to be affordable."

It's interesting to consider this, of course, because the 1996 Olympics over which Payne presided represented one of the worst possible examples of bloat, excess and corporate greed. And yet, at Augusta National, there are no logos visible except for that of the Masters, the yellow map of the U.S. with the red flag sticking out of the hole stationed over Georgia.

Payne certainly doesn't deserve all the blame for what went wrong with the Atlanta Games, and he tried to deflect credit Wednesday for what Augusta National has done right. Making Arnold Palmer an honorary starter and changing the tournament's qualification standards were, in Payne's words, "in the works long before my tenure began."

At the same time, it'll be interesting to see what else changes during Payne's tenure as Augusta National chairman. Some media reports before this week labeled him the man who could bring Augusta National into the 21st Century.

"Irrelevant," Payne snapped when asked about the "progressive" characterization. "There are two personalities which will always define Augusta National - Bobby Jones and Cliff Roberts. All the rest of us just came and went, and I'm going to fall into that latter category."

Payne's deference to his predecessors follows tradition. Augusta National chairmen always stay the course, even if major changes are being contemplated on or off it.

"My biggest surprise (as chairman) would be something I learned last night at my first Champions Dinner," Payne said. "And I can't talk about it."

Automatic Masters invitations will now be extended to PGA Tour winners, beginning with the 2008 tournament. The invitations apply to all regular season and playoff events that award at least a full point allocation toward the season-ending PGA Tour Championship.

Masters invitations to the top 30 on the final PGA Tour money list rather than the top 40 and adding qualifiers from the previous year's Tour championship.

"We believe that the combination of these changes will result in a strong field, and yet permit us to continue the intimate competition envisioned by our founders, Bobby Jones and Cliff Roberts," Payne said.

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