‘It’s more difficult’: McIlroy and Westwood on Augusta’s big changes
The 2022 Masters features significant changes to two holes. The par-four 11th is now 15 yards longer (is 520, was 505); and the par-five 15th is now 20 yards longer (is 550, was 530). Here Rory McIlroy and Lee Westwood give their pretournament verdict on the changes.
Rory McIlroy on the 11th hole
It’s a longer hole, but the tee shot is slightly less daunting. You don’t have that collection of trees on the righthand side. I’d say from the widest point of the left part of the fairway to the widest point of the right is 50 yards, 60 yards. It’s a very, very wide fairway. But if you go down that right half, you’re going to be stuck behind those three trees.
It’s a more generous tee shot. It was always an awkward tee shot. You had to hug that right side, and then if you just got it slightly right you were in those trees. And you had to be very fortunate to have a shot to the green unless you blew it way right into that sort of alleyway where people walk.
The second shot is basically the same. You’re maybe going to have 15 or 20 more yards into the green, but the penalty for missing the second shot is greater than it was before. You’ve got that runoff on the right. If you get to, say, pin high with the middle of the green, that drop-off on the right side is significantly deeper than it used to be. So, the miss really now is short right, sort of front edge, level with front edge of the green and just a little right, but that brings those mounds into play.
Then what people probably don’t realise is that pond on the left has been extended another 10 yards back towards the tee. So that pond used to start at the front of the green. That pond now starts 10 yards before the green. So the penalty for missing that second shot is much greater. It’s a more difficult hole than it used to be.
Lee Westwood on the 15th hole
It certainly makes you think now. Even if you hit a good drive, it’s not an immediate yes I’m going to go for it. I hit a good drive down there on Monday, it was a little bit into the breeze and I had 267 [yards to the] flag. That’s a normal three-wood for me, and the firmness that the greens are at I’m landing on that green and it’s tough to stop it. It’s going to go through 15, 20 yards long, and it’s a tough shot from back there.
It’s really a juggling act and an evaluation of whether it’s easier to hit a 100-yard pitch shot into a green that’s sloping slightly against you than it is a 20-yard through the back with it running away from you towards the water. It certainly makes you think.