AUGUSTA, Ga. — Scottie Scheffler was on the 550-yard fifteenth gap throughout Wednesday’s observe spherical at Augusta National, having laid as much as hit his third shot from an space on the left facet of the green. For golfers who aren’t going for the inexperienced in two, it will likely be a preferred spot for a brief method as soon as the event begins on Thursday.
Scheffler hit what appeared like an excellent wedge, drawing it in from the correct and letting the slope of the inexperienced feed it towards the opening on the entrance left.
Advertisement
But the ball simply wouldn’t cease.
Little by little, it picked up pace. Suddenly, it was heading off the sting with out slowing down even slightly bit, settling proper into the pond that guards the entrance of the inexperienced.
It didn’t look like Scheffler, a two-time champion right here, had made an egregious mistake. But it did appear to be a warning for the sphere as they put together to play the driest Masters since 2011. If Augusta National is as agency and quick because it appeared Wednesday, it is going to take nice pictures — not simply good pictures — to carry a few of these greens.
“You have to be more precise when it’s firm because you’re going to really want to land in your landing spot that you plan on hitting,” Kurt Kitayama mentioned. “Just whenever it’s firm and fast makes any course difficult, and especially with how sloped the greens are, it’s going to be even more penalizing missing your spots.”
Advertisement
Despite Augusta National’s myriad changes over time to elongate the course and sustain with trendy tools adjustments, its greatest protection in opposition to an all-out birdie assault continues to be Mother Nature.
When it rains and the course will get moist and tender — notably on the greens — the most effective gamers on the planet have a greater likelihood to manage their method pictures and shoot low scores. When it’s dry, the course will get agency, the greens develop a little bit of a yellowish crust, the balls grow to be tougher to cease and the putts get lightning quick.
Scottie Scheffler seems to be on from the thirteenth inexperienced throughout a observe spherical previous to the 2026 Masters Tournament. (Photo by Hector Vivas/Getty Images)
(Hector Vivas through Getty Images)
That seems to be the place Augusta National is headed this week, with the forecast calling for sunny skies and temperatures rising from 73 on Thursday to a excessive of 86 on the weekend. After eight straight years of the successful rating being at least 10-under, is that this a 12 months that 9-under may be adequate?
Advertisement
“I always feel like it plays firm. Augusta is just different levels of firmness,” Matt Fitzpatrick mentioned. “I think mainly it’s just scoring that will change, but I think, if you look over the last five or six, I think the average winning score is like 11-under. I’m kind of looking at that target to set for the week really.”
Augusta National has by no means been overly involved about what rating wins its event. Thanks to the SubAir system beneath the greens, it additionally has the power to dry issues out rapidly if there’s rain.
But expertise can solely accomplish that a lot to manage the enjoying atmosphere. A sizzling, dry course on the weekend means the ball will roll additional off the tee, nevertheless it additionally means gamers must hit their method pictures in the correct locations to offer themselves birdie probabilities. Missing on the mistaken facet of a inexperienced might be an enormous penalty.
And if Augusta places the pins in sure locations, you’re going to see a whole lot of gamers hit balls like Scheffler at No. 15 on Wednesday with an excessive amount of spin. Even in the event you assume you hit an excellent shot, there’s no assure it’ll keep on the inexperienced.
Advertisement
The solely factor within the gamers’ favor, if the forecast holds, can be an absence of wind.
“For me, I’m hoping that the tougher the better, because it just means that you need to have everything on from tee to green,” Jason Day mentioned. “It’s always imperative that if you don’t hit the greens here, that you leave yourself in the correct locations and if you leave yourself a good up-and-down, then you’re always moving forward. It’s very easy to try and force the issue here when you know that you shouldn’t.”
One factor appears doubtless: Dustin Johnson’s document 20-under par from the COVID Masters within the fall of 2020 might be secure.
“It’s all conditions,” Johnson mentioned. “It played fairly soft and it’s a completely different course this year. Starting to bounce a little bit. Makes it a little bit more difficult.”
