Masters Round Two

What a great Day to be at the Masters. 

At one point late in the afternoon we had all 4 Aussies in the field placed within the top 8.  At the end of the day we have Jason Day leading the way at 6 under, with Marc Leishman in a tie for second at 5 under.  Adam Scott is in a tie for seventh at 3 under, and John Senden is in a tie for fourteenth at 2 under.  Great job boys.

The cut was made at 4 over.  This means that the 14 year old from China, Tianlang Guan, gets through to the weekend, even with a penalty for slow play.  That is a phenomenal effort from the young man.



14 year old phenomenon, Tianlang Guan, preparing on the range with his father.

We also saw the mandatory Tiger charge early in the afternoon, until the "rub of the green" went against him on 15.  Having laid up for his second, he hit a magnificent hard spinning wedge straight at the hole.  Instead of taking it's first hop, then grabbing the green and sitting a few inches away from the hole, the ball caught the bottom of the flagstick.  The resultant ricochet into the water changed the dynamic of the hole completely.



Tiger practicing his pitch shots on 15 on Wednesday

Now I want to talk about a few things Augusta National.  As I mentioned yesterday I was priveleged to be giving a guided tour of the clubhouse and other facilities that are off limits during the masters.




The clubhouse, with all the media crews in front.

Firstly the clubhouse.  The clubhouse is impressive, yet very understated.  Nothing gawdy or over the top. In the hallway there are pictures of all Masters winners.  As you go upstairs to the lounge area, there are glass display cabinets full of memorabilia.  Bobby Jones' clubs, the original program from the 1934 Masters, selections of various Patrons badges from over the years.  You walk out the lounge doors onto the balcony seen in the picture above.  On this level is a room that had a security guard posted on the door.  It is called the champions room.  You can only get in there if you are a Masters Champion.

The lounge also had the Masters trophy.  Yes there is a trophy, not just the green jacket.  The trophy is a sterling silver replica of the clubhouse that stands some 3 feet by 3 feet and 2 feet high.  Around the base all Masters champions names are engraved.

The room sitting on top is called the crows nest.  Tianlang Guan is staying in there this week.  What a great experience for him.

The driving range has only been located in it's current position for 4 years.  This area was previously a car park.  Completely flat, no trees and covered in gravel.  The club recognised the need to change the driving range approximately 10 years ago.  They began purchasing properties across the road.  These houses were demolished, and the area over the road is now the car park.  Car parking is free.

The new driving range

The course closes between June and October as it is too hot to play, and it is in this time that a lot of works take place.  Tony the pro said that he would come back after summer and there would be 4 massive pine trees in the middle of the car park, next year there would be 6 more.

The range has been designed to help recreate conditions on the course.  You can stand there with driver and choose to hit your shot up one of the two fairways created.  One sweeps right and the other left.  This gives you the ability to practice hitting draws and fades, with instant feedback on the success.

One of the chipping greens is the exact replica of the green on hole two.

The entire range has a heating and cooling system installed underneath it.  All greens on course have this system, but the range has it everywhere.  This enables the range to be open and unaffected if there is frost or other conditions that prevent play on the course.

The entire range was sodded when built.  Yes sodded, not seeded.

The tee markers on the range sweep across in a slight arc, this arc is designed to allows the distance to be correct at all points of the range.  This is measured by GPS and is accurate to within 1 centimetre.

The building on the right of this picture is the caddyshack.  The caddies have a full time chef, and very impressive lounge facilities.  The area that stores the players clubs is made with fireproof bricks, so in the case of a tragedy and equipment is safe.

We say goodbye to Augusta tomorrow, and make our way North to Pinehurst in North Carolina.  Lets hope one of our boys can break the Augusta curse.

I will end with a few more photos of the course.



The view into 15



The pond in front of 15 where Tiger ended up today

The first of two tough Par 3's hole 4.  This is 215 metres and the wind is really swirly.  This hole contributed greatly to the slow play dramas, there were 3 groups here for the majority of the day. 



The 6th, 160 metres downhill, but there is an elephant buried under the green.

Staring down the chute on 18.  Very very tight driving hole.