Augusta Dragon just pussy cat for first round
AUGUSTA, Ga. – Much has been made of the silence that had fallen over the new, improved, tougher and nastier Augusta National. No longer the queen of the south, but the dragon. She was never a pushover, but a little convincing could go a long way. Until the brass of Augusta National decided to Tiger-proof her, or armor-proof or laugh-proof. The U.S. Open often is played in comparative silence. Decent people don’t cheer for suffering. The good old Masters, on the other hand, often rocked with the roars of birdies and eagles being taken out of her verdant hide. But after all that proofing of recent years, there wasn’t much to roar about, and even Tiger Woods, who stood to benefit from the difficulties because of his length and accuracy, said he missed roars. And then 96 chosen ones arrived from around the world for the 2009 Masters, and in the cold and windy practice rounds earlier this week, they suffered from more than near hyperthermia. But they didn’t suffer in silence. The fun had gone out of the Masters, was the refrain, even from the mighty Tiger Woods.
At which Masters Chairman (meaning Numero Uno) Billy Payne could merely grin a bit. “I’ll keep blaming the weather,” he said.
And just went the chorus was about to rise again, maybe like the final act of Aida,=2
0the Masters opened Thursday to a wash of red numbers. Red being the color of under par. Fully 38 of the 96 starts broke par, led by Chad Campbell and his 7-under 65, down to a whole bunch at 1-under 71. The Irish whiz kid, Rory McIlroy, needed just a final birdie at the 18th to make it 39. But he parred, leading the Teen Patrol with his par 72. Japan’s Ryo Ishikawa shot 73 and New Zealand’s Danny Lee at 74. When you have three teen-age first-timers treating the old dragon like a house pet, then something is very wrong. Or else very right.
“We’re hearing some good roars,” said Scotland’s Sandy Lyle, the 1988 champion, now 51, after opening with a par 72. “Obviously, with Tim Clark [68], and Ross Fisher [69] behind us knocking the pins out … yeah, it’s been good to hear some noises again. The colors are good, too.” (The reference to color meaning red.)
It should be noted that this Masters opened under calm, blue skies, and the soft warm hand of a favorable goddess lying on the land. Could Billy Payne be right? Or perhaps he’d just set up the course to let the guys get their digs in, after which he would slap them down again later.
“The greens are nice a juicy, you know,” said Spain’s Miguel Angel Jimenez. “You can stop the ball. You can play more aggressive than in some other years. But I
believe that things will change in the next two days.”
“There were some low pins, which are pins you can get to,” said Phil Mickelson. “I don’t want to say it was easy to score low, but if you played well, you could shoot a low number today.” But he didn’t do either.
Someone noted that some tees had been moved up five or six yards, and why was this piddling amount such an advantage?
“I don’t think it’s the five or six yards,” Mickelson said. “I think we have warmer weather than we had last year, and I think the greens are softer, so we can hit shots that will stay around the greens.”
Not that anyone wanted Billy Payne to hear, but some were speaking of the course being easy. All things being relative, to be sure.
“I would think it would be,” Mickelson said. “I think the club wants to see some excitement on Sunday. I think that we might have some good scoring opportunities on Sunday as well.”
Even Tiger Woods was taken by surprise, a four-time winner who’s never started better than 70, which he did Thursday. “I didn’t expect [scores] to be that low,” he said. “We thought probably 5 [under] would be leading by the end of the day. But then, the greens are fast, but they’re soft. That’s a combo we don’t really find out here20very often.”
Woods broadened his assessment.
“Well, the tees were up,” he said. “Pins were probably maybe a yard easier than they normally are. Same sections [of the green], just maybe a yard easier. But overall, when you get warm conditions like this, the ball is flying, the guys can get it down there. The greens are fast, but they’re soft, so you can go ahead and be somewhere aggressive.”
The answers are many and sometimes simple and sometimes complex, but this much was certain. For this one day, at least.
It was spring at Augusta National, and the cry of the gaga fan had returned to the land.
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