The par-five hole at Augusta National has a new tee to stop players cutting corners but not everyone is happy
Rory McIlroy’s is 4.52. Tiger Woods’s sits at 4.38. Phil Mickelson’s is lower still, 4.26. The figures in question? Average scores at Augusta National’s par-five 13th hole when playing the Masters.
There is an argument that par is merely a scoring tool, that it should not be taken seriously into account when course setup is considered. Yet in this corner of Georgia, it has long been assumed the custodians of the Masters do not take kindly to a hole being butchered by competitors in the style which has transpired at “Azalea” where from tee to green, there are approximately 1,600 of the flowers.