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The golfer Brendon Todd takes consolation within the reminiscences of apply rounds he performed at Augusta Nationwide Golf Membership with José Maria Olazábal, who received the Masters Event in 1994 and 1999.
The course was shorter when Olazábal was dominant, and the distinction between the longest hitters and everybody else wasn’t that giant, Todd mentioned Olazábal instructed him.
“He mentioned everybody hit the ball the identical distance, and it was shorter again then,” mentioned Todd, who has performed in three Masters tournaments. “It was about accuracy. It was a second-shot golf course. That’s nonetheless the case at the moment.”
However there’s a giant distinction: The course is about 600 yards longer than it was 30 years in the past and is now at 7,545 yards. And the massive hitters completely bomb the ball at the moment, which has america Golf Affiliation contemplating altering how far golf balls fly. Todd, who ranks 203rd on driving distance on the PGA Tour this season, just isn’t considered one of them.
“On the toughest holes — 1, 5, 17, 18 — the massive hitters hit driver and 8-iron,” Todd mentioned. “I hit driver and a 5- or 6-iron. That’s not coming down tender sufficient on the greens.”
The Masters lives in our imaginations as the one main venue that by no means adjustments. It’s an annual ceremony of spring to see azaleas bloom and pimento-cheese sandwiches in patrons’ arms, and anybody fortunate sufficient to be invited to play — and even rating a badge to look at — treats their time going round Augusta Nationwide with reverence.
That is the course that Dr. Alister MacKenzie, among the many finest Golden Age architects, and Bobby Jones, the good newbie champion, created to host an invitational event that will carry collectively the most effective golfers.
All of that’s true, however the course itself is sort of a dwelling entity, rising, shifting and altering repeatedly. It seems little at the moment prefer it did when the primary event was performed in 1934.
No fewer than 10 architects have made adjustments to the course, and much more gamers and designers have consulted on modifications. These have included Perry Maxwell, credited with vital early adjustments; Jack Nicklaus, the six-time champion; and Tom Fazio, the present architect.
This 12 months, all eyes are on the 35-yard-longer thirteenth gap, which over time has had daring Sunday costs, like Phil Mickelson threading a shot by a stand of pine timber and on to the inexperienced as he mounted a cost to win his third Masters in 2010, in addition to loads of ignominious failures as balls dropped into Rae’s Creek in entrance of the inexperienced.
The par-5 gap could also be too lengthy for such pleasure this 12 months, not less than for a majority of the sector, which doesn’t drive the ball as far and precisely as Rory McIlroy.
“The size is a giant factor,” mentioned Matthew McClean, who obtained an invite to play the Masters as a result of he received the 2022 United States Mid-Beginner Golf Championship. “It’s lengthy. Probably the most underestimated factor about Augusta is how exhausting it’s off the tee.”
McClean, an achieved participant from Northern Eire, mentioned he hit his drives round 290 to 300 yards on common. And that isn’t sufficient. “There’s a delusion you can simply hammer a driver across the course,” he mentioned. “That’s not true. It’s as demanding a golf course as I’ve performed wherever.”
The thirteenth gap has been lengthened to 545 yards. (It was 480 yards within the first taking part in of the event.) That doesn’t appear that lengthy for the most effective gamers on this planet, however it’s the angle of the outlet that’s tough. It bends round to the left with hazard for the participant who hits it too far to that aspect, however there may be additionally bother too far proper.
That angle and the added distance this 12 months might have gamers going for one thing lower than the heroic shot that Mickelson made in 2010, preferring as an alternative to hit one thing wanting the well-known creek after which pitching it over.
That’s strategic golf, and the way Zach Johnson performed Augusta’s par 5s en path to his Masters victory in 2007. His technique was to hit wedges into each par 5 on the course. It was ok for a two-shot victory over Tiger Woods, however it wasn’t essentially the most thrilling event in reminiscence.
“I don’t assume it’s higher for the event,” mentioned Jose Campra, a veteran caddie who has labored on the Masters for Ángel Cabrera, a previous champion, and twice for Emiliano Grillo.
“We’re going to see solely 5 p.c of the gamers going for the inexperienced on 13. The remaining are going to put up,” he mentioned, that means they may have the ball land wanting the creek to allow them to hit over it with their subsequent shot.
Which may be sensible taking part in, however there’s additionally a sense that it may cut back the joy. Sundays on the Masters are recognized, in any case, for the roars that ripple throughout the course, with each cost or failure.
“There’s going to be much less risk-reward,” Campra mentioned. “Earlier than, we’d see a number of guys hit it into the water on 13. That was pleasure on Sunday. You used to have a number of guys take it over the timber on 13 and go for it in two. However not quite a bit anymore as a result of they’ll’t cowl the space.”
Bernhard Langer, a two-time Masters champion, referred to as it his favourite gap.
“One among my luckiest golf pictures in my profession was on 13,” he mentioned. “It was Saturday in 1985, and I used to be attempting to hook my tee shot across the nook. It went form of straight and ended up on the correct fringe of the golf green. I didn’t have lie. However I used to be 6 behind. I requested my caddie, ‘What do you assume?’ He mentioned 3-wood, however have a look at that lie. I mentioned I do know it’s not straightforward to get a 3-wood up and over Rae’s Creek.”
However Langer gave it a attempt. It didn’t look promising at first. “I hit it a bit of skinny. It by no means obtained greater than 4 toes off the bottom. I mentioned, no approach it’s getting over. Again then, there was a bit of mound. It bounced over the creek onto the inexperienced. I made a couple of 60-footer for an eagle. I birdied the following gap and 15. I used to be solely 2 behind going into Sunday.”
That might be Langer’s first Masters victory. However one factor he additionally recalled: He was by no means overpowering the course.
“When I was paired with Tiger, individuals mentioned Tiger is intimidating, however I by no means felt that,” he mentioned. “He was taking part in his recreation. I used to be taking part in my recreation. He out drove me by an enormous quantity. I do know I can’t hit it 325 yards.”
Many shorter hitters this week know that taking part in their very own recreation is the important thing.
“Our recreation is our recreation, and our strengths are our strengths,” mentioned Todd, who didn’t make it into this 12 months’s event.
In 2021, when he made the reduce and completed tied for forty sixth, he mentioned he caught to his strengths.
“I hit extra fairways,” Todd mentioned. “I put my lengthy golf equipment within the heart of the greens. I performed the par 5s properly with my wedges and made some birdies.”
“Once we’re lucky to play a course like Augusta, its apply and expertise,” he added. “On the Masters, there are 20 to 25 guys who’ve performed the final eight to 10 majors, and so they have an skilled edge on you. That’s why you see the identical class of gamers who do properly.”
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