Augusta hit by storms

AUGUSTA National will be ready for the Masters, despite a major storm that dumped four centimetres of rain on the course, washed out bunkers, toppled trees and even knocked out a bathroom.

The course opened about 30 minutes late for practice rounds yesterday and conditions remained extremely wet. But crews were working around the clock, and chairman Billy Payne said he expected the course to be back in “competitive condition” in time for today’s first round.

“Clearly the golf course will not be as firm and fast as it would otherwise be,” said Fred Ridley, chairman of the Masters’ competition committee. “We are very confident that we will have comparable tournament-speed greens. Admittedly we won’t have the firmness, but we think that we have looked at a setup that takes all of that into consideration, as we always do with weather considerations, and we think it’s going to be a good set-up for tomorrow.”

Showers and thunderstorms are forecast for today, especially during the afternoon and evening, with more rain possible tomorrow morning. No rain is in the weekend forecast. The course was already soft before Tuesday’s storm.