Posted 4/14/03 9:57 am ET

Rain leads to double trouble

Bob Estes' caddie, Chuck Mohr, helps him stay dry while he practices on the putting green. Andrew Davis Tucker/AugustaChronicle

By David Westin
The Augusta Chronicle

The 67th Masters Tournament was put on hold Thursday, forcing a 36-hole double round today as the first major championship of the year attempts to get back on schedule.

For the second time in four days, there was no golf at waterlogged Augusta National Golf Club, but this was different than Monday's practice round cancellation. That didn't put a Sunday finish in danger; Thursday's first-round washout did.

With the course saturated with almost 4 inches of rain since Sunday, the club's competition committee postponed Thursday's first round before anyone teed off. It was the first Thursday postponement since 1939.

Thursday's first starting time was scheduled for 8:40 a.m., but was moved back to 11 a.m. Just before 11, the round was postponed.

The 93-player field will begin the first round this morning at 7:30, going off both sides of the course. Gates will open at 7:15.

The second round will start at approximately 1:30 p.m., with the same pairings and the same order of play. The only difference will be that players who started the first round on No. 1 will move to No. 10 for the second round, and vice versa.

Today's weather forecast calls for mostly cloudy conditions in the morning and partly sunny in the afternoon with northwesterly winds at 10-20 mph. No rain is expected.

"If the weather is as good as they say it is, we have an outside chance of completing 36 holes," said Will Nicholson, chairman of the club's competition committee. "I think it's more probable that we'll have three or four groups on each side still on the golf course."

If that happens, tournament favorite Tiger Woods won't finish his second round, and neither will Ernie Els or Davis Love III. Those three are among the final four groups of the day, though they are not paired together.

Woods, who is seeking to become the first player to win three straight Masters titles, never came to the course Thursday after learning tee times had been pushed back before the round was postponed.

"Evidently, they felt it was unplayable," Woods said in a posting on his Web site, tigerwoods.com. "I feel bad for the fans, but given how wet the course was, I'm sure tournament officials did the right thing."

Woods is now scheduled to tee off at 9:50 a.m. in the first round today.

There hasn't been a Monday finish in the Masters since 1983, and the club doesn't want to have another one this year.

"If at all possible, we'll finish on Sunday," Nicholson said.

The decision to call off the round caught a number of players by surprise.

"Scott Verplank walked in the locker room and we were having lunch," Tom Lehman said. "He said, 'We're not playing today.' We hadn't heard a word, and nobody had told us. We said, 'It's not April Fool's Day; you've got to be kidding, thank you."'

Verplank went on to tell the group that a tournament official had told him there would be no play, but Lehman and the others still didn't believe Verplank.

Workers vacuum muddy water squeegeed from the ground at the main entrance to Augusta National. Heavy rains canceled Thursday's round, so a double round will be played today. Andrew Davis Tucker/AugustaChronicle

"We said we'll believe it when we see it," Lehman said. "He said, 'I'll bet you guys 10 million bucks we're not playing today.' Wow, if he'd bet us 100 bucks, we would have taken it and he could have made some money. Ten million bucks put me out of the league there, so we said we're not going to bet you on that, I guess we're not playing."

Lehman still wasn't totally convinced.

"It was quarter to 11; I said I'll believe it at 11:01 when no one is walking off that first tee," Lehman said. "We could see the crowd waiting, and they had their chairs in place. I thought there was no way they were going to postpone this round. We've played in some pretty nasty stuff here in the past."

Not this day, but then again, most of the players can't remember four straight days of such horrid weather. The weather was rainy in 2002, but there were more breaks between showers than this year.

"I told friends last year, 'I've never seen it like this; you'll never see it like this again,"' Lee Janzen said. "I was wrong. It's worse this year."

"I've never seen weather like this in a major," said Ernie Els, a three-time major championship winner.

Nicholson said the fairways on some holes were so saturated that, had play started and more rain fell, players would have had difficulty finding relief from casual water. The greens, which are kept dry by an air suction system under them, are fine, Nicholson said.

"They needed to get this course drier, and with more rain coming, they had no chance to do that," Jerry Kelly said. "They haven't been able to cut the way they want to cut their golf course. It's not Augusta to them right now. It's Augusta to us, but it's not Augusta to the powers to be. And they want it to be Augusta when we play it. I think the course has sort of superseded the players right now, which is fine."

"They want the course to play like they want it to," Jonathan Byrd said. "If it's not ready, it's not ready."

Scott Hoch called the conditions on the course "slop," but still thought play would go on Thursday.

"I was happy to see this decision, even though I didn't think it was going to come," Hoch said. "I thought we were going to get out there and then they'd call it. My hat's off to them. I think they made a good call.

"I was probably one of the last ones out there playing Wednesday, and it was tough, and I know they got a lot more rain after I got off the course," Hoch said.

Nicholson said the field will not play under lift, clean and place rules. to clean mud off their ball and improve their lies.

"We believe that's the traditional way to play the game, and that's the way we intend to play the game," Nicholson said of playing the ball as the player finds it.

"The best champion is meant to be tested on being able to overcome obstacles," said Padraig Harrington, who supports Augusta National's decision.

Today's double round could produce an unheralded leader.

"A guy who might not be one of the favorites might have a good day and all of a sudden, he's right there," Hoch said. "He's halfway through the tournament and he's in good shape.

"It's a double-edged sword," Hoch said. "It could also hurt the favorite if he has a bad day and can't figure it out. A lot of times, a good player can have a good day and figure it out the next day. When you're playing 36 holes at one time, they may not be able to figure out what they're doing."

 

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