Throw a few more rakes into those two cavernous fairway bunkers on the fifth hole at Augusta National Golf Club. They'll need them this year.
The bunkers, located side-by-side at the left of the dogleg-left par-4, haven't been in play for Masters Tournament participants in years, but they will be in 2003.
With the advances in golf club and ball technology, players have been flying the bunkers off the tee as if they didn't even see them.
That's why Augusta National commissioned Tom Fazio, its golf course design consultant, to bring those hazards back into play on the Magnolia hole.
Shifted the bunkers and fairway to the right, sharpening the dogleg.
The fifth hole ranked as the seventh most difficult in the 2002 Masters, playing to an average of 4.158 strokes. Since 1942, when such records began being kept, it is the fourth-toughest hole, with a cumulative average of 4.24.
"Obviously, they thought it was too easy the way it was," said Davis Love III, a two-time Masters runner-up. "I'll probably hit 5-iron into the green, which is a big change."
At 455 yards, No. 5 is now the fourth-longest of the 10 par-4s at Augusta National. It ranks behind No. 10 (495 yards), No. 11 (490), No. 18 (465) and No. 9 (460).
"It just fits with the rest of the golf course now," Charles Howell said. "It's what, 455 yards now? That's not an outrageous long par-4 nowadays."
Not by Howell's standards, anyway. The 23-year-old hit a wedge shot onto the fifth green for his second shot one day during the 2002 Masters.
The changes on No. 5 weren't an afterthought after nine holes were altered and 285 yards were added for the 2002 Masters. It was part of the plan all along.
"We didn't do it then because we didn't have time," Fazio said. "We did so much work, and there was so much going on."
The carry over the bunkers from the tee has gone from 261 yards to 315 yards, which means even Tiger Woods will have to play to the right of them. Errant shots to the left will find the sand, and trouble.
The hole now plays the way it did when co-designers Bobby Jones and Alister MacKenzie laid it out in 1931.
| |
The New No. 5
At 455 yards, No. 5 is now the fourth-longest of the 10 par-4s at Augusta National. The tee has been moved back 20 yards, and the fairway bunkers have been extended 80 yards toward the green. Chris Thelen/AugustaChronicle |
"There are only six holes where fairway bunkers come into play on that golf course," said Fazio, citing bunkers on Nos. 1, 2, 3, 5, 8 and 18. "That was the original intent of the design. That's the way it was set up.
"Bob Jones didn't want fairway bunkers; that was not his belief," Fazio said. "His belief was that he wanted a wide area to drive the ball and didn't believe in many fairway bunkers."
If a golfer did hit in one of the fairway bunkers on No. 5, Jones believed, he should pay the price.
"What was the fifth hole intended to be? A strong dogleg left par-4," Fazio said. "And if you hit it left and hit it in the bunkers, you could not get to the green and you have a very difficult shot."
"For the big hitters, because they've moved those bunkers out there, they may hit some 3-woods off the tee, just to be careful," said 1987 Masters champion Larry Mize, who has played the new fifth hole. "Because you don't want to be in those bunkers. They're real big and real deep."
Mize played Augusta National in November when he visited the course for a sneak preview of the fifth hole.
"I thought it was a good change," Mize said. "I like the fact they brought the bunkers in and made it a tougher driving hole. I thought it looked good. It's a very good visual now. The fairway is out to the right. Before, the fairway was just out there."
Because golfers won't be able to fly the bunkers and cut the corner on the dogleg, they would have had longer shots into the green even if the hole hadn't been lengthened 20 yards.
"We're just going to be hitting clubs into that green like we used to years ago," Mize said. "I think it's going to be fine."
Not everyone concurs with Mize. Their concern is how to hold the severely sloped uphill green with a middle-to-long iron shot.
"It's going to really change the hole," Love said. "That's a hard green to be hitting a long iron into. It was meant for a short or middle iron."
"I thought No. 5 was a hard enough hole as it was, especially with the green," two-time Masters champion Bernhard Langer said. "I like some of the changes they have made, but not all of them. I think some of the greens are too severe to be coming in with a longish iron.
"Obviously, I'm not hitting it as far as some of the other guys," Langer said. "The Tiger Woodses and (Phil) Mickelsons will go in with an 8-iron even though the tee is 20 yards back. I might be coming in with a 4-iron. That green is not designed for a 4-iron second shot."
Fazio disagrees. "I would say Bernhard Langer's comments are justified in one sense, but the majority of the tour players are hitting much less club than that," he said. "I respect his opinion, and it might be true for him. But you have to look at the other side."
Fazio points out that Jack Nicklaus holed two mid-iron shots for eagle on the fifth hole in the 1995 Masters.
"From talking to the old timers, I think this was the shot that was required 20 years ago," Fazio said.
"Lengthening the tee a little bit and moving the bunkers was the right thing to do," Mize said. "Some of the time, they just lengthen the hole and make the fairway bigger. That makes no sense to me. When you lengthen the hole and bring the fairway in a little bit, now you're talking."
Reach David Westin at (706) 724-0851.
Copyright 2003 The Augusta Chronicle. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
