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A peek at revamped Augusta National
Updated: Tuesday October 30, 2001 4:01 PM
We have a verdict. The new, longer Augusta National Golf Club is going to be a bitch during next year's Masters Tournament. Before last week's Buick Challenge at Callaway Gardens in Pine Mountain, Ga., Masters champions Mark O'Meara and Tiger Woods visited Augusta and played a round last Tuesday on the revised track. O'Meara found the changes to be dramatic.
Augusta National has been lengthened by more than 285 yards. Ever since Woods set the Masters scoring record at 18-under par in his 1997 victory, tournament officials have looked at ways to make the venerable track more resistant to low totals. They've tried tricks such as mowing the fairways from the greens back toward the tees, so the grass' grain reduces the amount of roll on tee shots. They added a cut of rough in 1999, along with several new and diabolical pin placements. With the recent surge in distance that players are getting from trampoline-effect drivers and two-piece balls that fly greater distances but spin to a stop on greens, Masters officials made the controversial decision to continue to alter their masterpiece. "Everybody has been picking away at Augusta National, saying they shouldn't make changes," O'Meara said. "I don't see any harm in what they've done, especially with the direction the game is going, with the power of the young players. [Masters committee members] don't want to see sand wedges to every par-4. "I don't have a problem with courses getting longer. Certainly, it doesn't help me. I understand they want to make the course challenging. It's been getting more and more vulnerable. I think they're trying to get it back to the way it played in the mid-'70s and '80s. Anytime you make a course longer, it plays into [Woods' capabilities]. He likes a tough course. Golf is always going to favor a powerful player as long as he's straight." The course was wet when O'Meara and Woods played so it may have played longer than it will next April. They are believed to be the first tour pros to tee it up at the course since the renovations were made over the summer, when Augusta National is closed to member play. "The overall changes have been pretty good -- that's my first impression," O'Meara said. "They've done a wonderful job maintaining the integrity of the course. It looks like nothing has been done, that it's been there a while. We played the tees most of the way back. They can move the tees up if conditions are wet, and that's a nice option." Several changes have been made to the Augusta National golf course over the years. Some significant dates: 1935: Front and back nines are reversed. 1937: Green on 10th hole relocated from bottom of fairway to current location. 1947: Pond built on 16th hole; green shifted to right and tee moved to left. 1967: Double bunker constructed on left side of landing area in 18th fairway. 1981: Greens converted to bentgrass. 1999: Second cut of fairway rough increased; tees extended on Nos. 2 and 17; green, pond and bunker complex adjusted on No. 11; and trees added between Nos. 15 and 17. Here is O'Meara's hole-by-hole description of the major alterations: No. 1, par-4, 435 yards (410 previous length): "It's going to have to be ideal conditions for the longer hitters to carry the bunkers. I think it's now a 305-yard carry. They've flattened the fairway a bit, to where an average hitter like myself will still be able to see the green with his second shot." (O'Meara hit driver, 3-iron; he thinks Woods hit 6-iron in). No. 7, par-4, 410 yards (365): "Long players used to hit long iron off the tee and maybe a wedge. Now they're forced to hit 3-wood or driver. I hit driver, 7-iron. Normally I could hit 2-iron, 7-iron." No. 8, par-5, 570 yards (550): "The longer players can probably still get there in two but it's going to be no 4-, 5- or 6-iron. It's going to be driver, 2-iron or 3-wood." No. 9, par-4, 460 yards (430): "I hit a pretty good drive and a 4-iron. Now down the right-hand side, they've incorporated some new trees. It used to open up the further you went down there. That's not the case now. Three yards off the fairway, you've got pine needless and trees 18- to 20-feet high. That hole is much harder." (He thinks Woods hit 6-iron to the green.) No. 11, par-4, 490 yards (455): "A huge change. The tee has been pushed back 35 yards minimum, back up the hillside and a little bit more to the right. They've modified the fairway. It doesn't have as much pitch running toward the green. You're not going to be able to hit a draw. You're going to have to hit a straight ball or a cut. I hit a pretty good drive and a 2-iron. I think Tiger hit driver, 5-iron." No. 13, par-5, 510 yards (485). "It's going to be harder to sling [the drive] around the corner and hit 9-iron into the green. The longer players, if conditions are right, will hit driver now, where before they hit 3-wood. If it's playing fast, they'll probably still hit 3-wood." No. 14, par-4, 440 yards (405): "Before, you could hit 3-wood and possibly sand wedge. Now it's a good drive just to get to the corner. I hit driver, 4-iron." (He thinks Tiger hit 6-iron.) No. 18, par-4, 465 yards (405). "It's 305 yards now from the back part of the tee just to get to the first bunker. I hit a pretty good drive and had 205 to the front, and hit 4-wood. Tiger hit a pretty good drive and I think 6-iron. That's a little different than a 90-yard pitch shot." The 2002 Masters apparently will be a little different, too. Fine and dandyDon't look for Jonathan Kaye on tour early next year. Kaye has appealed a suspension handed down by the PGA Tour for a confrontation he had with a security officer at the Michelob Championship in Williamsburg, Va., the first week of October. The length of Kaye's suspension is believed to be four to six weeks and would apparently begin at the start of the 2002 season. The PGA Tour does not comment on player fines and suspensions. Kaye was asked at the Buick Challenge when he expected a decision on his appeal and said, "I have no idea." Kaye, 31, has played the tour for five years, finishing 40th on the money list in 2000, his best season. The incident at Kingsmill reportedly involved a run-in with a police officer. Kaye tried to enter the course without identification and was asked by the officer to produce some form of ID. Kaye reportedly retrieved it from the trunk of his car, but a heated confrontation ensued. This isn't Kaye's first problem with tour regulations. He is believed to have been fined for his actions at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am this year. He finished the tournament with a bogey on the 18th hole, then slammed his putter into his bag. According to one witness, a fan heckled him by saying, "That's real professional. You should be playing hockey." Kaye reacted by turning, grabbing his own crotch and giving the fan a one-finger gesture. Kaye, who finished 23rd in the tournament, was serenaded by the crowd as he walked away. "I got booed off Pebble Beach. Unbelievable," Kaye later told local media. "I don't care what they think of me, to be honest. I can't control what other people think. Things happen all the time to people; it was just unfortunate that this was on a public stage. But it's not like I got into a fight and beat up one of my fellow competitors. I should've acted more professional. I wish it didn't happen." Several years earlier, he was removed from the gallery at an LPGA tournament in the Phoenix area for disorderly behavior. Kaye, who lives in Phoenix, recently became engaged to his longtime girlfriend, Jennifer Sweeney, who sometimes caddies for him. He is 75th on the money list this year. Sports Illustrated senior writer Gary Van Sickle writes the weekly Golf Plus: Notebook and is a regular contributor to CNNSI.com. Click here to send him a question or comment.
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