Finally, course will get dry run
Web posted
Monday, April 5, 2004
Will Augusta National Golf Club play firm and fast this week for tournament rounds, as club officials sincerely hope, or slow and sloppy again?
If it's the former, what kind of scores will the grand old lady surrender?
Could it be that co-designers Alister MacKenzie and Bobby Jones' 1932 masterpiece has been modernized to the point that even-par 288 might be good enough to win?
It's a question that's been asked for three years, with no definitive answer because of weather.
Rain drenched the 7,290-yard course prior to the tournament rounds the past two years, softening the greens for the rest of the week.
The wet conditions left players wondering how the course will play under firm and fast conditions, since 285 yards were added in 2002 and 20 more came in 2003.
They might find out this week if the rain predicted for Thursday's first round holds off.
"If there has been a protest against technology here by adding rough and length, we haven't been able to see who wins yet," Brad Faxon (Stats | Bio) said Sunday during a practice round.
Faxon could tell that officials want the greens to continue to pick up speed this week. He said they're keeping them as firm as possible, but still alive.
"I got a big kick when I saw them watering the bunkers," Faxon said. "They don't water the greens, but they're watering the bunkers."
Firm and fast fairways will mean more roll off the tee for the players, giving them shorter shots into the greens. That probably won't translate into hitting more greens in regulation, though.
"If it plays hard and fast, it will be tougher to get the ball closer to the hole," Masters champion Mike Weir (Stats | Bio) said last week at the BellSouth Classic. "Last year, the golf course played a lot longer, but being soft, if you hit an iron shot on line and the right distance, it would stay near the hole. If Augusta National plays firm and fast, you can hit good shots, but they peel away from the hole and catch little ridges. You can hit good shots and be 50 feet away. Last year, that wasn't the case."
"I like it hard and fast," said 1987 Masters champion Larry Mize (Stats | Bio) , who shot 285 to win that year, the highest winning score in the past 21 years. "It was hard and fast when I won. You get those greens really hard, balls are going to run off."
Forty-eight of the 93 players in the field were at Augusta National Golf Club on Sunday. Some played the course; others, such as Adam Scott (Stats | Bio) , worked on the practice range and will begin serious preparations today.
"You could hold the tournament right now, today," Faxon said. "The people here at Augusta, the members, want to see this course play hard and fast."
That's not good news for players whose games aren't in peak form. As Masters veterans know, the course changes dramatically from practice rounds to tournament rounds. When the tournament starts, the pace on the already-slick greens will speed up, and tougher pin placements will be brought out.
"It's going to be different this year - it's going to be dry," Scott said. "That will be interesting."
The fairways are so dry that Faxon, who is not one of the longer hitters on the PGA Tour, hit a drive Sunday on No. 10 that carried more than 340 yards.
Three-time Masters champion Tiger Woods (Stats | Bio) , the world's top-ranked player, hasn't arrived yet, but he has said he's "curious to see if it's actually going to be dry" because he knows that's the only way the true nature of the "new" course will be revealed.
"We have yet to play Augusta since they have lengthened the golf course and changed the different tee angles and stuff, and added trees," Woods said at the recent Players Championship. "We have not played it dry since Ollie (Jose Maria Olazabal (Stats | Bio) ) won in 1999. If it gets dry and long, it's going to be one heck of a test. I'm looking forward to seeing how it turns out."
Because of the rain the past two years, "they haven't got the greens up to speed like they'd like to," 1998 Masters champion Mark O'Meara (Stats | Bio) said. "This year, if it's dry and the wind blows a little bit, you'll see the true Augusta National come out. It will be scary; it will be very tough."
So tough that the record for highest winning score in tournament history - 289 by Jack Burke (Stats | Bio) Jr. in 1956 - could be in danger?
Fred Couples (Stats | Bio) , the 1992 champion, put it this way: "If they get that (hard and fast conditions), then they will set it up and be proud of what they've done."
"People, for some reason, think if it's wet and long, it's going to play tough," Faxon said. "But if it's firm, it will be ungodly. We haven't had it firm yet. If it stays like this, I would find it hard to believe that somebody would shoot in the double digits under par. There were some greens that we played today where the putts were unbelievable.
"I would love to have it like this," Faxon said. "You've got to play some shots; you've got to play smart."
Reach David Westin at (706) 724-081 or david.westin@augustachronicle.com.
