AUGUSTA, Ga. – To score at Augusta National Golf Club, one must take care of the par-5s.
Firethorn, though, has been a little pesky lately.
The 15th hole, a year after it played to a record-high scoring average of 5.137 in the second round, was only slightly easier in Thursday’s opening round of this Masters, yielding a 5.121 clip. Three quadruple bogeys were recorded on the hole, too, the first time that’s happened since 1998; that edition produced a 5.097 average for the week, the highest in tournament history.
“I’m sure you saw some carnage on that hole today,” said Scottie Scheffler, who played in the second-to-last group and managed to escape with par.
Well, now that you mention it. As Scheffler was coming down the 10th fairway, Fred Couples was teeing off on the adjacent Firethorn. The 66-year-old Couples was 2 under, and after smoothing a tight draw down the fairway, a couple 20-somethings had strayed from their boys following the world No. 1 to catch a glimpse.
“That was sick, dude,” one of them said.
Luckily, they didn’t stay with Couples, who proceeded to lay up to 88 yards and hit two wedges into the water short of the green. He would card the second ‘9’ on No. 15 in three groups, following Danny Willett, who put two wedges in the pond. Robert MacIntyre was the third quad-father, playing alongside Scheffler and rinsing his second shot while going for the green before depositing a wedge as well.
Couples went 9-5-6 (the area code for McAllen, Texas) on Nos. 15-17 en route to a deflating, 6-over 78. His fellow past champion Jose Maria Olazabal only dropped two shots on Firethorn, though it, too, derailed what could’ve been an under-par round.
“I had seen a couple other guys – not in my group – but skip it over that green,” Couples said. “I just felt like, you know, it was a shot I can handle. I just kind of skinned it off the downhill lie and didn’t carry far enough. Then I did the same thing. Never hit a 90-yard shot in the water and then followed up with another one. I’ve played 41 years here. I’ve never done that.
“It was kind of like a shot I can handle, but I wasn’t even trying to handle it. I was just trying to hit it 30 feet right. No one is going to hit it in there five feet I don’t think.
“The greens are like concrete.”
Firethorn played as the toughest par-5 on Thursday. It played more over par than the par-4 third, too. Just one player made eagle there in the first round while 21 birdies, 48 pars, 14 bogeys and four doubles were also carded.
“With that hole playing a little bit downwind, even though it wasn’t much wind, you had to land it a pace or two on the green at the most if you wanted to hold it with your second shot,” Scheffler added. “Hitting a wedge, you basically only had the same amount of room. You saw what happened to Bob in my group there. It’s just stuff can happen quick around this place, and it’s really hard. Even like Gary [Woodland] and I both hit pretty good shots in there. His ball lands on the back fringe. He’s almost in the water long. You can just as easily chip-skip that ball in the water.”
Scheffler was pleased with his opening round, a 2-under 70 that left him three off the lead shared by buddy Sam Burns and defending champion Rory McIlroy. He just wished he’d taken better advantage of the par-5s after his eagle at No. 2.
On No. 15, Scheffler hit what he believed to be three good shots and a putt.
“It just didn’t go in,” he said.
Dang Firethorn.