Sports

Golf

Masters adds length, riles some

It's 155 yards longer with more trees; Jack Nicklaus and others say that's bad.

By BOB HARIG
Published April 6, 2006

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AUGUSTA, Ga. - Just outside the old manor clubhouse, on top of the hill that overlooks what once was a nursery, stands a tall, thick oak tree that is, presumably, older than anything around Augusta National.

The tree is so big that it can comfortably offer shade to hundreds milling about.

So wide is the trunk and so expansive the limbs that it once kept many behind it from seeing the first tee.

That no longer is a concern.

The tree is still here in all its glory, but the first tee is nowhere near it.

Now, to find the opening hole of the Masters you make a sharp left from that tree and keep walking. And walking. And walking.

, But that and other changes made to Augusta National since Tiger Woods walked off the 18th green a year ago as champion for the fourth time look as if they have been here forever.

You'd never imagine that bulldozers were here last summer, that 155 yards had been added to the storied course, that new trees were planted, and that one green was shaved down.

But the players know.

And they have been quite vocal about what it will mean as the 70th Masters begins today.

"Where it used to be the most fun of all the majors, it's becoming the hardest one now," Ernie Els, playing in his 13th consecutive Masters, said.

The par-72 course measures 7,445 yards, making it the second-longest in major championship history (behind 7,545-yard Whistling Straits at the 2004 PGA). Six holes - the first, fourth, seventh, 11th, 15th and 17th - were lengthened.

None other than former Masters champions Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer, both Augusta National members and golf course designers, weighed in, questioning the wisdom of such a decision.

Nicklaus said the changes appear to have been made "by somebody who doesn't know how to play golf." And he wondered if the setup doesn't play more into the hands of those who hit the ball the farthest.

"When they take the golf course and limit the number of people that have the ability to win ... I think their intention is not to do that, but they've done exactly that," Nicklaus said of the work done by another noted architect, Tom Fazio.

"A Ben Crenshaw couldn't win here anymore," said Scott Verplank, in his 11th Masters. "A Bernhard Langer couldn't either. Mike Weir probably still can, but he's going to have a tough time. The mastery of getting the ball around the golf course is not there anymore. That's a shame."

The first hole has a significant change. "My God," was Charles Howell's reaction upon seeing it for the first time last fall when the Augusta native visited.

The 20 extra yards puts the tee box almost up against the practice putting green, meaning there is no longer room for spectators to walk behind.

"It's the first hole of the Masters, and it would be a hard hole if it were a 100-yard par 3 because of the nerves," Howell, in his second Masters, said. "I remember in 2004 hitting a wedge into that (first) green and thinking it was a tough starting hole then. Now we've got 300 yards to reach the (fairway) bunker. So it comes right at you."

The par-3 fourth hole is also an eye-opener. The tee used to be right behind the third green. Now players take a right turn and keep walking. It has been stretched to 240 yards, and if tournament officials are so inclined, they could put it at 260.

And that's for a hole that played as the third-hardest last year.

Els said he put a 5-wood in his bag just for that hole. When was the last time he used a 5-wood in competition? "I'm thinking it was in junior golf," he said.

Woods also has a 5-wood to use at No. 4. "I've never hit lumber into No. 4," he said. "(Monday) I hit 3-wood. My buddy, (Mark) O'Meara, hit driver. That's a tough hole now. Like it wasn't an easy hole before. Now it's even harder."

Another controversial change is at the par-4 seventh. It has always been a driver, 9-iron or wedge hole. Sometimes a 3-wood off the tee. The green is tiny, requiring a short-iron approach.

But now that it has been stretched to 450 yards with trees added along the fairway, precision is even more important. And those short pitch shots are a thing of the past.

"There's more nerve in a half swing than there is in a full swing," three-time Masters champion Nick Faldo said. "All the great holes in the world are the twitchy ones."

Perhaps the most stunning change is at the par-4 11th. It measures 505 yards, nearly as long as the par-5 13th. The tee has been moved so far back into the woods you'd think it was off the property. And with several pine trees added to the right side, the tee shot must be straight.

A few years ago, Phil Mickelson bombed a tee shot down the hill at 11 and had just a pitching wedge left to the green. He joked that he picked the wrong time to do so, because Masters chairman Hootie Johnson happened to be watching. And Johnson did not think it was funny.

"It had a big effect on me and I recall the moment," Johnson said Wednesday during his annual pretournament briefing. "I went under the ropes and I looked at the yardage marker, and he was 94 yards in front of the green. ... That's when we started talking about 11.

"The hole was intended to be played, according to Bobby Jones, with a 3-iron or stronger club. I believe (Ben) Hogan was quoted as saying, "If you ever see me on that green, you know I've missed my shot.' Well, if Hogan was hitting a damn pitching wedge, he wouldn't have been to the right of the green; he'd have been within 3 feet of the cup."

Johnson often invokes the name of the club's founder, Jones, when stating the reasons for change. The idea is to try to bring the course back to the way it was originally played.

But until Jones' death in 1971, the course saw length added just three times. Two tees were actually moved forward. There have been three significant course lengthenings since 1997 totaling 520 yards. Two par 4s measure at least 490 yards and just one is under 440.

Not everyone has a problem with the layout.

"I think the changes are fantastic," Howell said. "I totally understand what they're trying to do. You never want to see the seventh hole become a 3-wood and an L-wedge. You don't ever want to see No. 11 become a driver and a 9-iron. That's not what that hole was intended to be."

The questions that linger concern whether the course's magic has been compromised. Can a charge similar to Nicklaus' in 1986, when the Golden Bear shot 30 on the back nine, be duplicated? Could Mickelson's effort from two years ago, when he birdied five of the last seven holes, be matched?

We'll see, starting today.

70th MASTERS

WHEN/WHERE: Today-Sunday; Augusta National, Georgia.

TV: 4-7 p.m. today-Friday, USA; 3:30-7 p.m. Saturday and 2:30-7 p.m. Sunday, Ch. 10.

[Last modified April 6, 2006, 01:59:19]

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