AUGUSTA, Ga. — A potential tragedy was narrowly averted at the Masters on Friday as two tall pine trees fell near the 17th hole at Augusta National.
There did not appear to be any injuries, although video from television coverage showed there were patrons all around the area as the trees crashed across the front of the 17th tee box amid high winds.
Play was suspended for the second time, at 4:22 p.m. Eastern time, and the course was evacuated.
The first suspension of play came at 3:07 p.m. and lasted 21 minutes. The wind had started to pick up and storm clouds were closing in, although there was no significant rain yet. That is forecast for Saturday.
It is not unusual for foul weather to interrupt the Masters.
Heading into this year's tournament, there had been rain in 47 of the first 86 Masters, with eight days postponed. Four of those days were made up by scheduling 36 holes in one day: 1936, 1938, 1939 and 2003.
The last time the Masters spilled into a Monday was 1983.
Each of the past four years, adverse weather led to schedule adjustments.
Last year, the start of play on Thursday was delayed a half-hour. On Saturday in 2021, afternoon play was suspended for 1 1/2 hours. That's when eventual champion Hideki Matsuyama admitted that he spent part of the delay sitting in his car and playing games on his phone.
On two days during the 2020 Masters, inclement weather affected the tournament. On Thursday morning, play was suspended for three hours and play was cut short for darkness that evening. And because some of those opening rounds had to be finished on Friday, darkness again came into play that night.
And in 2019, the year Tiger Woods won his fifth green jacket, play was suspended for lightning on Friday for about a half-hour. And on Sunday, in anticipation of foul weather, Sunday rounds started earlier — the first at 7:30 — players were grouped in threesomes, and groups started on both No. 1 and 10.
