Tea Olive, the first hole at Augusta National, may have its name changed to Poison Ivy after the first two rounds of the Masters.
No one wants to get near it, and by the time you are finished you feel like one big rash.
“That may be one of the hardest starting holes in golf,” said William McGirt, who bogeyed it Friday. “Especially with any kind of west or northwest wind.”
The hole played historically more difficult Friday than ever with an average score of 4.720. That shattered the previous high of 4.474, set in the second round in 2007. Historically, it is the sixth-toughest Masters hole, with an average score of 4.24. It has never yielded an average score of less than par in Masters held from 1942-2016.
Naturally, after two rounds it also is the hardest of the 18 at Augusta National heading into Saturday’s third round, with an average score of 4.634. The 445-yard par 4 has given up just three birdies and 86 pars. The butcher’s bill reads 80 bogeys, 11 double bogeys and six others.
It had a higher score Friday than two par 5s: No. 2 (4.613 average score) and No. 13 (4.634).
One of those others was carded by Danny Willett, who was 1 over heading into the second round of the Masters.
The defending champ was in a good spot to at least give himself a chance to become the first player to repeat at Augusta National since Tiger Woods did so in 2001 and ’02.
And then he carded an 8, going from 1 over to 5 over — and seemingly out of the tournament — before most patrons had eaten their first egg-salad sandwich.
The snowman started with Willett’s first shot. His 284-yard drive sailed up up the right, coming to rest in the grass, but very close to the right edge of a bunker. Willett was left without much of a stance. He stood on his toes in an attempt to get some of the club on the 154-yard approach. Instead, the ball flew off the hosel (where the club head and the shaft are joined) and into the patrons lining the right.
“If it goes in the bunker, it’s not good,” he said. “It’s not too bad. If it goes a foot right, you can get stung. Where it finishes wasn’t great.”
Left 40 yards from the pin and standing in pine straw with his head obscured by shrubbery, Willett punched his third shot between two pine trees, across the green and into the patrons on the left.
With fast greens and a stiff wind, he duffed his fourth and his chipped fifth shot rolled across the green and into the fairway. Three shots later, he could finally head to No. 2, Pink Dogwood.
“That was my own fault, it was a missed putt there,” he said.
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