John Huggan: Georgia on my mind

Published on Saturday 4 April 2009 19:53

IF TIMING really is everything, then the Masters has it made. Chronologically the first of golf's four most important events and a full eight months removed from the previous leg of the game's mythical Grand Slam, America's so-called "rite of spring" is the bright green rainbow at the end of every long winter. With northern hemisphere golfers all but gagging for something truly meaningful to watch and talk about, the Augusta National "toonamint" is the perfect antidot

This week the 73rd Masters tees off with an even more compelling than usual list of sub-plots. There's the return of Tiger Woods, the world No.1 having missed the last two Grand Slam events through injury. There's Open and USPGA champion Padraig Harrington going for his third major title in succession. And there is the intriguing prospect of three-time Masters runner-up, 54-year old Greg Norman, competing for the first time since 2002.

So there's a lot going on. Which is perhaps just as well, given the brace of bore-fests that have been the last two Masters. Shackled by ill-advised course changes – more trees, more length, more rough – that have all but eliminated the strategic genius of the place, the elite field has been reduced to a procession of tedium, every competitor playing every hole in pretty much the same way. Sadly, "go for it" has been largely replaced by "lay up short".

Never mind, this is still the Masters and Augusta National we're talking about. No other tournament has the same ability to energise professional golfers (the other three majors are championships). Over the past few weeks, almost every one of the main contenders has made his way to the north-east corner of Georgia for a sneak preview of the course. Every year, by tradition, at least subtle alterations are made.

So, what can we expect this year?

"After playing Augusta National a few times, I know it fairly well, but it is still almost the ultimate 'local knowledge' course," says world No.4 Geoff Ogilvy, who played there last Sunday, right behind a group containing two-time Masters champion Ben Crenshaw. "Every time you play it you are better off next time. Every time you play it, you find one place you've never been before, a spot that is either really good or really bad."

Unfortunately for Ogilvy – who merited a personal greeting from club chairman Billy Payne in the middle of the 7th fairway – his visit came just after more than two inches of rain had soaked the course, leaving the greens as slow as his local caddie had ever seen them and the uncut fairways hardly representative of what he will be asked to play from this coming week, especially with improved weather. Still, it was worth the trip.

"Every year, the course changes," confirms the 31-year-old Australian. "They re-build a lot of greens in little ways. It's never identical to the previous year. I'm sure a veteran like Fred Couples has played from every conceivable spot on the course by now, but a couple of times in every round I'm in spots I haven't seen before. That's how you find out how to play holes and how not to play them.

"Part of going early, however, is that Augusta National is such a cool place. Every tournament lets us play practice rounds well before the event, but this is the only one where the pros actually take up that offer."

OK, some specifics. As usual at Augusta, everything begins not on the tees but the greens.

"Some spots look bad at Augusta, but only when you are actually there do you realise that they may not be quite so awful," contends Ogilvy. "That's the genius of the greens. Certain spots look wrong but are actually right. And on every hole there is a spot off the green that is better than a bad spot on the green.

"Professionals spend their whole lives trying not to 'short side' themselves with their approach shots. But, at Augusta, that is sometimes the thing to do. Take the par-3 6th. If the hole is cut on the top tier to the back right, you are much better off missing on that side. Just off the green to the right is way better than on the green but down the bottom of the slope. The 7th green is similar. If the pin is on the left side, you are better to miss the green on that side than be on the green and right of the cup. You can easily putt off the green from there. And the 8th is the same. If the pin is back and left, missing the green long and left is a good spot to be in."

Which brings us to the short 12th hole. Legend has it that the swirling winds in the heart of "Amen Corner" play havoc with club selection, the unpredictable air currents leading to shots landing either short in the water or halfway up the bank behind the green.

"I started off hitting an 8-iron," shudders Ogilvy. "When we got to the tee it was semi-downwind and my caddie was happy with that choice. But, by the time I hit the shot, the wind had switched. The ball ballooned up and finished in the water.

"So I tried again. I hit it harder and the ball ballooned up even more and finished even shorter, again in the water. Then I switched to a 7-iron and came up short again. Then I went to a 6-iron and, although the shot finished up wet again, it did manage to fly the creek before dribbling back down the bank.

"All four were struck solidly. It is so deceiving down in that corner. The wind whistles across from the right (down the 13th fairway] and screws up every calculation. I'm just glad I wasn't adding up my score. It would have been astonishing for people to watch the Masters field go through there in those conditions; it would have been a massacre."

Speaking of the par-5 13th hole, it is disappointing to note that what was once the most exciting hole in all of golf has been reduced to what is, in effect, a somewhat pedestrian 100-yard par-3.

Indeed, just about the most dangerous aspect of the hole nowadays is the possible presence of water-mocassin snakes in the creek up the left side of the fairway.

The problem is that moving the tee back has almost eliminated the possibility of going sensibly for the green in two shots.

As Ogilvy said: "I'm not capable of hitting a drive that goes straight for 270 yards then turns sharply to the left."

So it is that, for the vast majority, a perfect drive now finishes on a pronounced slope, the ball well above the player's feet. Such a stance encourages a right-to-left draw to a green that naturally accepts a left-to-right fade, a scenario that, understandably, leads to most laying up short of the creek and the putting surface. Anything else is just too risky.

Of course, potential trouble lingers everywhere at Augusta, even for players with long experience of the place. Only a few weeks ago, Jack Nicklaus pulled his tee-shot into the pond left of the 16th green. Turning to his companions, the Golden Bear announced that he could count on one finger the number of times he had done just that.

In other words, this was the first time Nicklaus had ever hit such a shot. Never mind that he has six green jackets, given that the 69-year-old played in the Masters for almost half a century and is a regular on the course at other times of the year, that is a seriously impressive statistic.

Another recent visitor was Norman. At the par-4 9th, the Great White Shark hit an enormous drive into almost exactly the same spot from where he had come up disastrously short during his catastrophic final round loss to Nick Faldo in 1996. And what happened? Sure enough, Norman's approach pitched on the front edge of the steeply sloping green and slowly rolled all the way back down the hill.

Hey, despite what you may have heard, some things at Augusta never change.