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Saturday, April 8, 2006
Weather planning sub-par
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Jeff Schultz
Augusta — Rain interrupted the Masters Tournament for the fifth straight year Saturday. Even Augusta National can’t control these and other acts of God, which at least partly explains why Moses was given the Ten Commandments but never a green jacket.
But couldn’t things have been handled just a little bit better Saturday?
Rain had been in Saturday’s forecast for days. Unlike many forecasts, this one didn’t implode. By the time the last golfer had finished his second round Friday, it was a foregone conclusion that the next 18 holes were going to be wet, with the possibility of scattered thunderstorms all day. (The AJC found this tidbit important enough that we ran it in the sports section, and normally spring football takes up the entire news hole.)
But Masters officials didn’t adjust.
They didn’t start the field early.
They didn’t split the field and start half on the back nine.
They looked at the same weather map as everybody else. And did nothing.
Jim Furyk teed off first at 10:40 a.m. Too late. When lightning came and the sirens went off and play was halted just after 1 p.m. for nearly 4 1/2 hours because of lightning, 20 of 47 golfers had not yet make it to the first tee.
The day’s final pairing, Chad Campbell and Rocco Mediate, were not expected to get more than two holes in before nightfall. That would mean each would have to play 34 holes today. Older golfers (like Ben Crenshaw and Fred Couples) and others with lingering ailments (like Mediate and his problematic back) could struggle with long afternoons. Good luck with that.
Crenshaw stood on the covered porch of the clubhouse during the rain delay. This year’s Masters has represented an implausible return to the leaderboard and is one of the feel-good stories of the season. He made the cut and was 1-under through two rounds.
Crenshaw actually tried to downplay the effects of a long day for him. But when asked later if the tournament could have been better served if officials had altered the scheduled, he said: “Probably so. Nobody likes to go through something like this. I don’t know if they expected this to happen or not, or if there was a chance this could’ve been prevented. It’s all conjecture. But I wish we could’ve avoided this difficulty.”
A tournament spokesman quoted Will Nicholson, chairman of the competition committee, as saying they were aware that rain was a possibility. But he admitted officials were caught off guard by a 3 1/2 hours of lightning, which forced the stoppage of play.
Given the circumstances, wouldn’t it have been better to err to the side of caution? More golfers would have been able to get more rounds in, which would have been more fair for everybody.
The irony is that the Masters has been flexible in this area in the past. Twice in the last four years, the start of play for Sunday’s final round was moved up an hour. The weather turned out to be fine and play finished early. But nobody is ever going to complain about that.
That wasn’t the case last August in the PGA Championship at Baltusrol. Despite a forecast for heavy rain, lightning and wind, tournament officials did not move up the start of Sunday’s round — even after being urged to do so by Phil Mickelson. Play was suspended for the final group on the 14th green. Had play began an estimated 90 minutes earlier, they would not have had to finish the tournament on Monday.
There is still a chance a Monday finish can be avoided here. But it would be a better Sunday with the scramble.
“They don’t mess around and make a lot of mistakes around here,” Mediate said. “Maybe they didn’t see this coming.”
Maybe they should have.
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A lovable long shot
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Furman Bisher
Augusta — The last time Ben Crenshaw won a tournament it was the Masters in 1995. Now, deliver me from being a cynical old crock, but if Gentle Ben should win the Masters this year, it might be the biggest upset since the Boston Braves beat the Philadelphia Athletics in 1914, or when Upset, the horse, beat Man o’ War in 1919.
You see, Crenshaw is in red letters here. He made the cut for the first time since 1997. He’s the talk of all the old school golf blokes lingering around the grand old oak tree on the clubhouse lawn. “Can you imagine,” one of them said, “what a story it would be if Ben Crenshaw should win this Masters? There’s been nothing bigger in sports since, uh, since, uh…”
“Since Jack Fleck beat Ben Hogan and won the U.S. Open?” added a fellow good at applying finishing touches for groping historians.
Crenshaw had won his first Masters in 1984, and that one was memorable for a reason of weather, just as afflicted as this one. A storm struck Friday afternoon, a fierce storm that virtually wiped out some of the holes along Rae’s Creek, and yet, they were able to resume on Saturday and continue on schedule. As I remember, before he picked up and left the course after the warning siren, he persisted in putting out and sank about a 40-footer.
But, enough of the weather. We turn here to the course of Ben’s game since that highly-charged Sunday in 1995, when he birdied the 16th and 17th holes, made his par on the 18th and broke down in a flood of tears. It was the week in which he had been a pallbearer in the funeral of his old coach, Harvey Penick, and it all was just too much for him. And there’s the picture of his kindly caddie, Carl Jackson, leaning over, consoling him.
As fate would have it, not to coin a phrase, Jackson is on his bag again this year, for about the umpeenth time. And here they are, the old tried and true team, 1-under par while the rain pounds away after two gloriously sunny Richmond County days. To give you a fix on just where Crenshaw stood heading into the third round:
He was tied with Tiger Woods, defending champion.
He was tied with Retief Goosen, twice U.S. Open champion.
He was tied with Billy Mayfair, Padraig Harrington of Ireland, Nick O’Hern of Australia — who once beat Woods in World Match Play. I mean, this is a five-star level.
Ben has been kind of shy and publicly unimpressed by it all. He already has a green jacket and he’s hardly preparing for another outfitting, but, as he said, “I suppose I still have some game left.” On the other hand, he said something earlier with less optimism.
“I’ve had my time here,” he’s said, speaking of his championships. And, “I’ve had six not-so-good years around here.”
Ben hasn’t been spending a lot of time in winner’s circles since he transferred to the Champions Tour. “I’ve had a wonderful time playing there. We have a great time out there.”
A great time and a lot of old friends, but frankly, Ben’s game has about fallen off the board. He hasn’t won a tournament and his highest rank in his four years has been 58th. Then he shows up at his favorite golf course in the whole wide world, playing with Trevor Immelman of South Africa and Clay Ogden, the Public Links Champion — he beat the celebrated Michelle Wie on the way — and he breaks par.
He makes the cut. He plays the weekend. He’s in the red. He is beloved. The truth is, he’s a longer shot than a horse named One-Eyed Sam running in the Kentucky Derby. But don’t be selling Ben Crenshaw short when heart and soul and Augusta National are in the mix. Forgive me, though, Ben, much as I love you, I won’t be getting any money down.
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Playing in the rain
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Ronnie Ramos
It’s raning on and off here, but there’s no lightning so play started shortly before 11 a.m.
Leaders don’t tee off until 2 p.m. and the weather is supposed to be worse by then.
The good news? It’s supposed sunny and cool on Sunday.
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