Masters 1999: Changes make Augusta even harder

Tuesday, Apr. 6 6:49pm ET
Changes make Augusta even harder
By John Marvel
ESPN Golf Online
AUGUSTA, Ga. -- Participants in the 63rd Masters have been wandering around Augusta National Golf Club for several days now, and one common theme seems to be developing after bearing witness to both the changes in the golf course and the new rough off the fairways.
"Wow," Rocco Mediate said.

Fred Couples
Fred Couples expects to see a lot of higher scores thanks to the changes.
Added 1992 champion Fred Couples: "They've made changes and the scores will be higher. There's no way they're going to be lower."
Bobby Jones and Alister Mackenzie plowed up the old Fruitlands Nurseries to build the perfect golf course. But the vision of Augusta National Golf Club born in the early 1930s doesn't jive with the professional golfer of 1999. The players are stronger and technology allows them to do things that couldn't be done more than six decades ago. Case in point is Tiger Woods' stunning 18-under navigation in 1997, a record-setting performance that spoke volumes to the proud members of one of the game's most exclusive enclaves.
So in an effort to make Augusta National "Tiger-proof," the green coats have fired back. The club hired noted architect Tom Fazio to make alterations, with hopes of making the par-72 layout more difficult. Although only four holes were changed, the moves are significant:

The tee at No. 2 was moved back 20 yards, making it a 575-yard par-5. A bunker in the fairway was reshaped and moved toward the right, an attempt to discourage the long hitter off the tee.

The green at the 455-yard par-4 11th was raised two feet, while the adjacent pond was raised a foot. Rae's Creek was widened by approximately one-half and the two bunkers behind the green were replaced by one bigger bunker.

Fairway mounds at the 500-yard 15th were nearly eliminated and 20 pine trees were added on the right side landing area of the par-5. The mound on the right side of the green was removed and more pine trees added.

The tee at No. 17 was moved back 25 yards, making it a 425-yard par-4. Pine trees were added to the right side of the anticipated landing area, another deterrent to the long hitter. Anyone wishing to draw it into more favorable position will still have to deal with Ike's Tree, the legendary pine that stands in the left-center of the fairway.
"I think the changes have kind of balanced it out, because I think the second hole now has been made into pretty much a three-shot hole for most everybody," David Duval said on Tuesday. "So I think that brings the shorter hitter into it and gives him more help. But I think the 17th hole has been made tougher for the shorter hitter because they have to work it around the tree now."
While the change at No. 17 was made with the long hitter in mind, most players believe it still favors the guys who can crush the ball off the tee.
"Backing that tee up can only help the longer hitters because we still don't have to worry about that tree and the other guys have to figure out a way around it," Davis Love III said.
Woods agreed.
"I think all of the changes are beneficial to all of the long hitters," he said. "There's no doubt about it. They've made the par 5s longer, which means (Nos.) 2 and 15 are going to be more difficult to hit in two, which helps out the long hitters. Some of the short hitters, who could use the mounds on the 15th, well, they're now not there. They'll be hitting 3-woods or 4-woods or long irons in there. Two is playing extremely long. (No. 17) is a huge advantage for a long hitter. I never thought about that Eisenhower Tree and the shorter hitters now have to hit around it. That's a tough shot."
Couples believes the 15th will see plenty excitement, good and bad.
"I really think you'll see a lot of high scores there," he said. "More people will lay up there, and it's just a tough third shot. ... If you come up short, it goes into the hazard. And if you go long, if you one-hop it 10 yards over that green, you're left with one of the hardest shots you'll ever have."
If the hole changes weren't enough, the rough might be. A second cut next to the fairway has been added for the first time since the 1960s. Although Jones wasn't an advocate of using rough to toughen the course, the National didn't hesitate to grow the grass for the last Masters of the 20th Century. Players won't need a weed eater as they do when dealing with the six-inch jungles favored by the USGA during U.S. Opens, but the addition of between 5/8 of an inch to 1 3/8 inches will clearly have an effect.
"I think what it's going to do here is make it a little more difficult to control balls coming into the greens, assuming the greens are prepared how they would wish, which is hard and fast," Duval said. "You'll get that extra little spin and you'll have to be very, very careful and precise in how you aim the ball going to the green."
But, as Couples indicated, it could possibly work both ways.
"It's not like real rough, but it's not going to go as far (as it used to)," he said. "Everything was manicured here like a fairway before, so if you're left or right, it would keep rolling. Now if you hit that little rough, you're not going to be anywhere near where you would be in the past. A longer hitter that normally hits an 8-iron, will now get hooked up in that and will be using a 4- or 5-iron.
"It helps, too. It's easy to get a club to the green out of that grass. But it will be difficult judging that second shot. So there's no doubt that if you're 160 (yards out) and you're hitting a 7- or 8-iron and you get a little bit to where the ball might go five yards further, it's probably going to go over the green. And what do you do at Augusta? You want to keep the ball below the hole."
The hole changes and the rough have generally been well received. Several players believe the course is even better than it was, which is like saying someone could improve on the Sistine Chapel. But not everyone is happy.
"It's not the same golf course that was designed back in the good old days," Greg Norman said. "I'm a nostalgia freak. I'd like to go play the same shot as (Sam) Snead or (Byron) Nelson played. I've seen golf courses change their characteristics with just subtle changes...
"But we'll see. The final test would be on hard, fast conditions. Then you'll find out whether they're tough or fair or if they were the right ones to make."