If Augusta National’s officials truly want to toughen the famed course, they should put a dome over the place.
The only way to stop the best players in the world is to keep the conditions as dry as a desert. After midweek rain, the tournament began under overcast skies with dampness in the air.
The 285 yards added by course architect Tom Fazio didn’t contain the world’s best players on a perfect day for scoring. When the greens are soft and the wind calm, you can push the tees back to South Carolina, and it wouldn’t make a difference.
The new-look Augusta National still yielded some familiar numbers during the first round of the Masters. Davis Love III led with a 5-under 67, followed closely by Sergio Garcia and Angel Cabrera at 4 under.
Phil Mickelson, Retief Goosen and Padraig Harrington formed the trio at 3 under. The group at 2 under was a who’s who of golf, featuring Tiger Woods, Ernie Els, Jose Maria Olazabal, Nick Price, Jesper Parnevik and Vijay Singh.
The key statistic was that the scoring average on Day 1 was 74.118. That was up almost a stroke from 2001, when the field posted a first-round 73.151. But last year’s first-day conditions were even more ideal than Thursday’s. A more telling figure is the five-year first-round average of 74.946, almost a stroke more than Thursday’s average.
The bottom line: A little length is more like a speed bump, not a stop sign.
“It’s longer,” Love said. “Atlanta Athletic Club (for the PGA Championship) was longer, and everybody came in, swung hard, and the long hitters played well, as they normally do on a long golf course. The longer its gets, the longer we are going to try to hit it.”
The length, though, did affect the way the players approached the game. For all the talk of scores, Augusta National’s intent was to stop players from using wedges or 9-irons into the par 4s.
Greg Norman said he found himself using some of the same clubs he pulled in the 1980s, long before the equipment revolution. Many of the players had to reintroduce themselves to their 5-iron.
“It’s a factor instead of hitting sand wedges and lob wedges to 18, you are using 6-irons and 7-irons,” Garcia said. “You know some of the pins you cannot attack with those clubs.”
Normally that’s the case, but not on a day when the greens were accepting midiron second shots like a sponge. Nobody did it better than Love.
Love actually sneaked up on everybody Thursday. There hadn’t been much talk about him, considering he has yet to post a top-10 finish this year.
Walking up the 16th hole, Love told his caddie, “They missed out on a lot of guys this week, didn’t they? He said, `Yeah, you included.'”
Love still is battling the lingering effects of neck and back problems. He felt like he had been making some strides of late even though he missed the last two cuts.
“Last week I made 11 birdies, but I had four `others,'” said Love of his triple bogeys or worse. “I just haven’t taken the bad shot very well. I promised myself this week that no matter where I hit it, I was going to try to hit the next one better, be patient with myself and enjoy the game.”
Garcia also had fun in breaking 70 for the first time in the Masters. Because he is long and accurate off the tee, he should be a factor if he can make some putts.
“Unfortunately, I haven’t contended really in this tournament yet,” Garcia said. “If my putter behaves a little, I should have a good chance the way I’m hitting the ball.”
There are plenty of players who still feel like they have a chance after Thursday. While the longer hitters have the advantage, the leaderboard featured several finesse players such as Justin Leonard (70), Scott Verplank (70) and Brad Faxon (71).
Early indications are that the new setup will keep more players in the hunt.
“My feeling is that it is going to be very bunched up,” Parnevik said. “It’s very hard to shoot a very low score. Given the distance, a lot of guys are going to play a little bit safer, and they are going to bunch the field up more than in the past. It’s going to be tougher for guys like Greg Norman to go out there and shoot a 63.”
Indeed, under the old layout, Augusta National might have yielded a 65 Thursday. The field still could feel the wrath of the changes if the course dries out.
“Mother Nature is going to be the be-all and the end-all this week,” Norman said. “As the golf course is now, I think it’s very [fair] because the majority of the guys hit the ball between 280 and 290 yards. They are very much in the thick of things this week. That wasn’t the case last year. So they have balanced it out very well.”
If that makes for a better tournament, then the changes will have done their job.
Hole of the day
9
PAR 4, 460 YARDS
Augusta National got its wish, as the hole played much tougher than usual. The added distance meant players weren’t able to knock the ball down the hill. Instead, the drives stayed up, forcing players to use midirons.
EAGLES: 0; BIRDIES: 12; PARS: 43; BOGEYS: 25; WORSE: 8; AVERAGE: 4.340; RANKING: 1st (toughest)
