Phil Mickelson isn’t competing within the Masters this week, however he’s pitching in with commentary. As the second spherical of the event unfolded Friday at Augusta National Golf Club, the three-time Masters champion took to X to weigh in on the motion.
Phil the Thrill was not in the slightest degree thrilled.
The supply of his displeasure? The par-5 thirteenth and fifteenth holes, which Mickelson stated have been lengthened to the purpose that they’ve misplaced their drama.
“Watching @TheMasters and seeing so few players long enough to go for 13&15 has taken away so much excitement and intrigue to the back nine,” wrote Mickelson, who’s sitting out the event resulting from a household matter. “Another example of how longer isn’t always better.”
One of his factors is indeniable. Both holes are longer than they as soon as had been, half of an evolution of a course that tipped out at its beginning in 1933 at 6,800 yards and now stretches greater than 7,500 yards from the championship tees. Some of essentially the most hanging modifications have taken place throughout Mickelson’s profession, prompted partly by the runaway win of his rival, Tiger Woods, within the 1997 Masters — a dominating exhibiting wherein Woods lowered the thirteenth and fifteenth to little greater than driver-wedge. The age of Tiger-proofing had begun.
More not too long ago, as the facility recreation has solely gained in prominence, Augusta National’s most important protection has been to tighten and lengthen. In 2023, to quote one of a number of Twenty first-century tweaks, a brand new again tee stretched the thirteenth from 510 yards to 545 yards. The 12 months earlier than, the fifteenth was pulled 30 yards again and 20 yards to the left, requiring an extended and extra exact drive to achieve the go zone.
Those are details.
Whether the holes are much less thrilling now’s a matter of opinion. Those who defend the modifications would argue that watching the world’s greatest gamers hit lofted irons into par-5s isn’t precisely scintillating, and that including size was central to restoring the type of do-or-die selections which have lengthy injected drama into the again 9.
Mickelson himself has authored some of that drama, together with a 6-iron from the pine straw between the bushes on 13 in 2010 that ranks among the many most fabled pictures in Masters historical past
Mickelson additionally is true that the eagles haven’t precisely been touchdown in bunches this week. On Thursday, 4 had been made on 13 and one on 15. On Friday, these tallies fell to only one on every gap. But distance is just one of the elements that form a participant’s decision-making. Weather and course circumstances are also essential elements. So far this week, swirling winds and agency circumstances have made going for the thirteenth and fifteenth in two particularly daring. Hole areas additionally matter. Traditionally on the Masters, weekend pins on the par-5s are sometimes meant to be temptations. If historic patterns maintain, the eagle roars ought to improve on Saturday and Sunday.
Whatever occurs, continued change is inevitable in years to come back at a event whose organizers are intent on defending the course. At his annual pre-Masters tackle, Augusta National chairman Fred Ridley spoke of the pressing must roll again the golf ball. That’s going to occur. In his previous remarks, Mickelson has not sounded happy about that prospect both.
