Masters ‘just going to play really long’
Instead of being the annual rite of spring for golf in April, the Masters will serve as an autumn awakening in November. A different version of a Fall Classic, if you will.
Because of the coronavirus pandemic, the Masters was postponed from its annual run in April to November 12-15. That seven-month alteration, in short, means it will be a Masters unlike any other when players arrive in Augusta, Georgia, in pursuit of a green jacket.
The course will play differently. There will be no patrons — or any azaleas. It’s highly likely players will layer up as cooler temperatures are expected. And you’ll be setting the DVR for altered times.
“It’s going to be unusual, but it will still be Augusta National and it will still be pure,” said 2007 Masters champion Zach Johnson, who famously didn’t go for a green in two on a par 5 once during that unusually cold week en route to his green jacket. “It will still be a major championship at Augusta National. It’s Augusta National. It’s going to be pure.”
Just a different type of pure.
A few basics: The average daily temperatures in April range from a low of 48 to a high of 77, while in November the range is from a low of 47 to a high of 69. The sun will rise about the same time (around 7 a.m.) but will set in November two hours earlier (5:30 p.m.).
Historical precipitation readings show that each month gets similar rainfall — 4.31 inches in April, 4.47 inches in November. But October averages around 6.3 inches of rain leading into November, so the course could be quite soft.
Northerly winds that are cooler are the norm in October, which means players would hit into wind streams on the first hole and on three of the four par 5s.
As for the surface of the 7,475-yard course, in April the competitors play on rye grass tee to green and putt on bent grass greens.
In September this year, rye overseed was introduced while the Bermuda grass was shaved. That means a November Masters will play on a carpet of rye and
Bermuda from tee to green.
The club’s resources, including a SubAir system that controls the temperature and moisture of all the greens and many landing areas in the fairways, will be put to use as officials try to make the course play as similarly as possible as it plays in April. But it will be a tall order.
“The greens are always pure there, so they’ll be fast and true. But there would certainly be some Bermuda grass fighting with the overseed,” former world No. 1 Luke Donald said.
“The fairways would be a little bit softer because you’re usually coming off a very warm summer in Georgia, which goes through September, so you’re just starting to cool off in October. With that heat you have to water the course a lot. I just think the course would play a bit longer.”
Kevin Kisner, who has played Augusta National nearly 10 times in November, predicts it definitely will play longer — a lot longer.
“It’s going to be so much longer and wetter. It’s going to be brutal,” Kisner said. “There’s no way you can get that rye grass to grow out and dried out in time. If they get an awesome month of weather in October, they’d have a chance to get it dry but that’s a long shot. So every year in November I hit 4-iron into No. 1 because it plays into the wind and there’s no roll. And when it’s colder in November than in April, the ball doesn’t go as far. So if I hit it 285 in April, I hit it 270 in November.
Patrick Reed, who won the 2018 Masters, said he’ll have to adjust his lines off the tee because of the weather and course conditions he expects.
“When it’s fast and firm, you can be more aggressive and try and use some of the slopes and get the ball farther down the fairways,” said Reed, who has played Augusta National many times in the fall. “But with it being colder and wetter, the ball’s just not going to go anywhere.
“That time of the year, I remember hitting hybrids consistently into 11. Not getting to any of the par 5s in two except 13, and that was with a hybrid or a 3-wood. It’s just going to play really long and it’s going to be soft and it’s going to be colder.”