AUGUSTA, Ga. — Patrons cleared their chairs. Golfers looked to the heavens. The wind gusted, swirled and howled through Amen Corner on Friday at the Masters, confounding the best golfers in the world and spoiling their scorecards.
Survival was a challenge and the goal at the par-4 11th and par-3 12th. The 89-man field combined to make 112 bogeys, 19 doubles and seven others in this terrifying corner of Augusta National Golf Club during a brutal second round where par was golden on any hole. As 30-mile per hour blasts whipped the trees, the low point of the property produced high scores.
“Yeah, you’ve just got to get through it, try to not make doubles essentially,” said Viktor Hovland, one of the few to record a pair of pars on the first two legs of the course’s famous triumvirate, although he settled for a 76 in the second round.
The tee markers were on the front of the new box on the 11th, 20 yards from the back edge. The hole measured 486 yards on Friday but was into the teeth of the fierce wind, making it play much, much longer.
“Uphill off the tee and I’m one of the longest guys out here, and I ripped 4-iron (on second shot) and barely got it just short right,” said Will Zalatoris, who will enter the weekend in the top 10 for the second consecutive year. “I had a chip that I easily could have chipped in the water.”
The fairway right of the green has been reconfigured since last year’s tournament, and the steeper slope makes the pitch more diabolical because the green runs away from the players with a pond on the other side.
“So the changes they made to 11, I love it,” Zalatoris said. “Off the tee is pretty wide, but you just barely get out of position, and you’ve got that tree in your way. You’re looking at 5 easy, maybe 6.”
There were 36 bogeys and 10 doubles or worse on 11 in the second round. It was the most difficult hole at Augusta National, playing to a 4.629 stroke average (56-over par). The hole was cut in the narrow finger, seven yards from the front, five yards from the left edge and less than 30 feet from the right side.
“I mean, you’ve got nowhere really to hit it because obviously you don’t want to go in the water,” Hovland said. “So you tend to aim it a little bit right. But you miss it right, you don’t really have an easy shot.”
For competitors named Kevin, it was an easy hole. Kevin Na made one of two birdies on the 11th. He drew an iron shot from 206 yards out, the ball careened off one of the mounds right of the green, kicked left and stopped seven feet from the hole. Kevin Kisner faced 221 yards after a well-struck drive. He hit his approach nine feet left of the front right hole location and drained the putt.
Kisner and Na were two of the 10 golfers in the 89-man field to hit the green in regulation Friday. There have been five birdies on No. 11 in the first two days of the Masters and Kisner has made two of them.
Tom Hoge was among the many to shove his approach shot deep into the bank of patrons seated right of the green. His ball landed near the grandstand railing. He hit a delightful spinning 70-yard pitch off matted down turf to within seven feet but missed the par putt.
“The second shot was brutal because you’re standing there with a 3-wood into the green from the top of the hill,” he said.
Even on a calmer day, the par-3 12th is no pushover. With its shallow green protected by deep bunkers and Rae’s Creek, it demands accurate club selection, shot trajectory and a safe starting line. The unpredictable wind tested strategy and the players’ commitment.
Jordan Spieth’s struggles at the 12th continued. Spieth, who let the 2016 green jacket slip away with a quadruple bogey on the hole, rinsed a pair of balls again Friday, made a triple bogey and ultimately missed the cut.
The field combined for 22 bogeys and six doubles or worse on 12, making it the eighth most difficult hole at Augusta National.
“I missed in the back trap on 12,” Lee Westwood said, reflecting on his bogey-double bogey trip through 11 and 12. “Where do you want to be? In the water, sure. The wind is picking up and dropping. It’s just very awkward. Very tricky. You have to have a lot of control and a little bit of luck today.”
Corey Conners missed short of the green on No. 12 with his approach, but the ball settled on a small shelf of grass and he capitalized, chipping in for one of the 15 birdies made there.
Hovland was fortunate to hit third in his pairing on the 12th, allowing him to watch the ball flight of playing partners Spieth and Xander Schauffele and adjust accordingly. He hit a boring, low-spin shot to penetrate the wind but knew an untimely gust could leave him in the back bunker.
“It’s just one of those holes,” Hovland said. “You kind of have to hit it and hope for the best.”
The 36-hole leader Scottie Scheffler and pursuer Joaquin Niemann separated themselves from the field by playing the 11th and 12th under par. Playing smart, solid shots allowed them to sustain momentum and thrive on a difficult day.
But they were the exceptions. The wind won the day.
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