Back in its familiar April environment at Augusta National, the 85th Masters has been hugely enhanced by famous greens more fearsome than ever. Which is entirely appropriate, given that this happens to be the 40th anniversary of arguably the most dramatic change in the history of those notoriously difficult surfaces.
ost of the players are relishing the challenge. “Oh my God, I have never seen it play like this,” enthused Shane Lowry. “It’s the way I have always wanted to play Augusta in the Masters — firm and fast with putts getting away from you.”
Though missing the cut, Ian Woosnam, the 1991 champion, enjoyed it so much that he strained his right hip attempting to squeeze a few extra yards out of his 63-year-old frame. “With the greens like glass, I was so pleased with my 76 on Thursday,” he said. “Delighted.”
Indeed, Tommy Fleetwood seemed to capture the mood for most of his rivals when he said: “It’s a great set-up, exciting for everyone.”
Overcast skies rendered the greens a little less firm on Friday, but they still managed to take a significant toll on wayward approach play and tentative control of the blade. And Rory McIlroy was among those who suffered grievously when rounds of 76 and 74 caused him to miss the cut for the first time since 2010.
Mind you, he was in elevated company, which included defending champion and world number one Dustin Johnson, along with the 2017 champion Sergio Garcia, Brooks Koepka and the highly regarded Patrick Cantlay. Those dreaded greens did it for Johnson, who had six three-putts over the two rounds.
For his part, McIlroy, who declined to comment before departing the scene, managed only four birdies in his 36 holes, all of them at the vulnerable par-fives. And in the revealing statistic of scrambling, he was tied 50th, throwing seriously into question the wisdom of seeking remedial help from coach Pete Cowen so close to a Major test.
Clearly, he could have used an infusion of some of the confidence oozing from Bryson DeChambeau, who followed a dispiriting 76 with a sparkling 67. “It was awesome,” said the US Open champion, as if referring to a third party.
Meanwhile, Jordan Spieth faced the weekend wondering how much credence to place in a potentially disturbing statistic. Having taken a seven on the ninth on Thursday, he is attempting to become the first Masters winner since Craig Stadler in 1982 to have survived a triple-bogey.
One of the most enduring features of Augusta National is the emphasis it has always placed on putting, right from its inception. When Horton Smith triumphed in the inaugural, 1934 Masters and again in 1936, he felt moved to remark that it “is one of the few courses that presents two games on every hole”.
He explained: “There’s a game to reach the greens and another to figure out the ever-challenging contours after reaching them.”
Averaging 6,000 square feet in size, they are not especially large. But they are surrounded by extensive chipping areas which add significantly to the short-game examination, as Lowry discovered on Thursday at the treacherous 15th. That was where his delicate chip from off the back of the green appeared to stop twice before eventually trundling on and over the front edge en route to a watery grave.
Having decided that putting would be a key element of the Masters, club officials monitored closely the speed of their greens from year to year, especially after the introduction of the Stimpmeter more than 70 years ago. Which led to a conclusion in the 1970s that the Bermuda surfaces were neither firm nor fast enough to match their requirements.
On consulting experts, they learned that Greenville Country Club, designed by Robert Trent Jones in South Carolina, was the only course in America’s south with fine, bentgrass greens. Though it made for a superior putting surface, bent didn’t always thrive in the heat of that region.
So it was that under the direction of club chairman, Hord Hardin, Augusta National experimented for three years with bent on their charming par-three course. When they had seen enough, they made their move after the completion of the Masters in 1980. “It was probably the most revolutionary and dangerous decision I have ever made,” Hordin admitted.
Augusta has, quite correctly, come in for some severe criticism over the years for the club’s policies towards women and minorities. Where agronomy is concerned, however, they cannot be faulted, as American critics have discovered.
Like the occasion when a skulking scribe from Golf Digest attempted to discover whether a price was being paid, ecologically, for such cultivated splendour. And he proceeded to test the waters, so to speak, by having a sample from one of the ponds analysed. That’s when he discovered the extent of on-course security.
Luck was on his side, however, in that he was drawn for a Monday morning tee-time in the annual media lottery after the Masters. So, the dastardly deed was done. As he walked across the Sarazen Bridge at the 15th green, he submerged a bottle into the pond and secreted it in his golf bag when the caddie wasn’t looking.
The result of his labours? After the water had been scientifically tested for 285 pesticides and industrial chemicals, it was established that the only thing tainted about the entire exercise was the man who took the sample. Another triumph for the green jackets!
In the event, new bentgrass greens came into play for the 1981 Masters when Tom Watson won for a second time on a relaid sandy base, so becoming the first player to triumph on both the old and new surfaces. A further refinement that year was a heating and cooling system installed for the green on the short, tantalising 12th, where sunshine and air circulation is limited by the towering pines of Amen Corner.
This was followed in 2001 by a SubAir system on the 13th green, followed by all of the greens on the course. Its efficiency can be gauged from the greens at Adare Manor, which is the only Irish course with such a facility.
Where appropriate, SubAir is used to pull water off greens while additional pumps and drainage mechanisms can draw water further away from areas of play. When in pressure mode, the system forces air through pipes up into the soil and the root systems of the grass, which can help control the temperature of the greens without interrupting play.
Though Peter Alliss suffered the indignity of five-putting in 1966, it was only with the change to bentgrass that the surfaces became seriously quick. And the impact on scoring was revealing.
Where Seve Ballesteros compiled an aggregate of 275 — 13 under par — when victorious in 1980, only one other winner managed double-figures under par for the remainder of that decade. This was Ben Crenshaw, widely acknowledged as the best putter of his time, who carded an aggregate of 11 under when winning his first Masters in 1984.
In fact, green-speeds became so slippery that several surfaces had to be rebuilt to reduce the severity of their slopes.
Stimpmeter readings continue to monitor an entirely manageable defence of this iconic layout. On the evidence of play so far this weekend, it is clear that Augusta chairman Fred Ridley and his tournament committee decided there wouldn’t be a repeat of the record 20-under-par aggregate which Johnson returned last November.
Indeed they must have been stunned by Thursday’s 65 from Justin Rose, given the scoring overall. But exceptions are permitted, even in golf’s holy of holies.
The 40-year-old Englishman launched his first serious challenge in the Masters in 2007. That was when he and Pádraig Harrington, in the second-last pairing of the final round, turned to each other on the first tee as golfing friends.
Rose later recalled: “Appreciating the draw, we offered to jockey each other along until the 15th or 16th hole and if we were both going for it at that stage, then obviously it would get serious.”
As things turned out, the serious duel they had hoped for never materialised. By his own admission, Harrington’s Masters had finished when he bogeyed his nemesis, the long 15th, while Rose scuppered his own chance with a double-bogey on the 17th to slip into a tie for fifth, behind Zach Johnson.
Ironically, their better ball for the last four holes would have earned a play-off. But tournament golf doesn’t work that way.
