‘The ball feels like you’re hitting concrete’: Why scores soared at the Masters

AUGUSTA, Ga. — Min Woo Lee called it a “bit of a shock.” Rory McIlroy and Lee Westwood talked hand warmers. But to best describe the conditions players faced at Augusta National, we’ll give the floor to a green jacket wearer. 

“It’s very tough out there today,” Adam Scott said. 

Fifty-two of the world’s best golfers wouldn’t argue with that. Scott, the 2013 Masters champ, shot an 80 during Saturday’s third round at the Masters. Twenty-five players shot 75 or worse. Just nine broke par, and seven of the scores in red figures were just one-under.  

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“It was tough,” said Cameron Davis, who fired a 79. “There’s not many other words for it other than just really tough.”

There’s that word again. Tough. Why was it so? For one, of course, this is Augusta and this is the Masters, and Saturday was moving day, so it’s not as if a slew of 65s were coming. But high winds, low temperatures and dried-out greens collaborated to bring the field to its knees. Lee even whispered that he thought he was in Scotland. 

What say you, Tiger Woods?

“I thought it was tough,” said the five-time Masters champ, who shot a 78. “Some of the other guys may not say that, but for me, I had a tough time.”

They were all saying it, Tiger. 

‘The ball feels like you’re hitting concrete’

On Saturday, the temperatures dipped to the low 50s, but that does more to a player than create cold hands and a runny nose. Science tells you the ball doesn’t fly as far. And Bubba Watson explained what happens when that happens at Augusta National.

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“So shots that we normally are used to hitting — like No. 1 here, into the wind and cold, I mean, that bunker — you might not be able to get to that bunker.

“Then when you try to hit — like today I hit an 8-iron out of the bunker on 1, but if it’s cold, now we’re looking at a 6-iron. A 6-iron might not be able to get over the lip. Just changes everything. It just makes the ball not go as far, and they’ve made this course longer, so that’s not good for us, I guess.”

Kevin Kisner put it another way. 

“Obviously your body doesn’t move as well, and the ball feels like you’re hitting concrete there,” he said after his 75. “You just have no feel. It’s a place you need a lot of feel around the greens. So 50, 55 and blowing 20 is not a lot of fun.”

‘It did something crazy up in the air’

While the thermometer said one thing, Saturday felt like another. It was windy. The gusts were steady at 12 mph, and consistently gusted higher than that. 

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And at Augusta, where precision is everything, that can be disastrous. 

Said Davis: “Every time I did make a good swing, I felt like I misread the wind and it did something crazy up in the air. While you’re back in the fairway just thinking what am I supposed to do?”

Said: McIlroy: “The gusts are what makes it pretty difficult at times,” McIlroy said. “The wind completely laid down on me on 12 and I hit it into that back bank like a lot of people are. But Sepp [Straka] hit just after me and the wind gets his and balloons it up clears out and clears Rae’s Creek.

“So, in the space of 30 seconds, two golf shots hit by two completely different strength of winds and two completely different results. So, it’s not just about judging the wind, but it’s also hitting the ball at the right time.”

Said Will Zalatoris, who shot a 75. “Yeah, it’s a heavy wind, so you get downwind and the ball’s not going to fly as far. It’s tough because you know you’re standing there and you’re 20 miles an hour downwind, and you’ve got to hit the same club as no wind. It’s playing hard. There’s no faking it around here.”

‘Brown and toasty’

Nowhere at Augusta felt the effects of the lower temperatures and the higher winds more than the greens. After the course saw rain throughout the week, the putting surfaces softened. When the storms went away, and Augusta got cool and breezy (and the course’s SubAir system turned on), the greens, as Collin Morikawa termed it, became “bouncy.”

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Woods four-putted a green. Kevin Na five-putted one. 

“So it was firm,” Lee said. “There are just greens out there that look completely different, kind of brown and toasty.”

“So the putt on 15 down the hill, you’ve got like 20 feet and you’ve literally got to hit a two-footer. We did, I hit it four feet past, and there are holes out there that are crazy quick.”

What was a good score on Saturday?

Par at Augusta is 72, but as noted, most were higher. Which begged the question to players: 

What was a good score, all things considered?

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“I don’t know, there’s some tough holes out there, a lot of tough holes,” Leishman said. “I mean, probably two-over would be a pretty decent score. If you shot two, you wouldn’t be too frustrated, I wouldn’t think. Anything better than that is going to probably pick up spots.

“Yeah, I think one-under should jump up a few spots throughout the day. It’s not getting any warmer or the wind’s not dropping. Having played this morning, I’m pretty happy to say that.”

Davis was asked if a 10-handicap would have broken 100?

“It depends if they’re a low ball hitter or a high ball hitter,” he said. “There’s a 20-shot difference between the two.”

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“This course is hard. It seems like you want to hit the ball high into every green and you had to hit the ball low. When the greens are firm and it’s windy, it’s kind of hard to do the low option, so you have to throw the ball up in the air and see what happens a lot of the time. It’s just hard.”

What about Sunday?

In the end, Scottie Scheffler will enter Sunday’s final round with a three-stroke lead over Cameron Smith, and a five-shot lead over Sungjae Im. More notably, Sunday is supposed to be 75 and sunny. 

Or not as tough. 

“Tomorrow will be a nice day for us,” said Tom Hoge, who shot a 75. “We’ll get some sunshine and some heat back.”

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