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Cowlishaw: Advantage, Tiger Course changes won't handicap Woods 04/06/2001
AUGUSTA, Ga. – They don't add floors atop the Empire State Building just to keep it in the record book. They don't shove fences back 30 feet just because home runs come easier these days.
Why tinker with Augusta National? Why artificially and unnecessarily manipulate the nation's most storied golf course, the one that has stood the test of time better than any other?
And if the changes that tournament officials have discussed for 2002 are meant to Tiger-proof the course, beware. When Tiger Woods extends his streak of major victories to four here Sunday afternoon, it will only mark the beginning of a streak that will erase all the records the first 64 Masters have produced.
Masters chairman William "Hootie" Johnson announced that significant changes will be made to lengthen four or five par-4 holes before next year's tournament. Traditionally, alterations here are not made public ahead of schedule.
Asked for a ballpark figure on how much the par 4s would be increased, Johnson said, "Probably all we can."
Johnson said that upgrades in equipment and in particular the longer-distance balls being manufactured mandate the changes. But you have to wonder how much this course truly needs to be redesigned.
Lloyd Mangrum set the course record here in 1940 with a 64. It was 46 years before Nick Price shot 63, the modern mark that has been matched by Greg Norman.
Jack Nicklaus, in his prime, fired a 271 to win the 1965 Masters. It was a figure that held for 36 years until a 21-year-old Tiger Woods beat it by one stroke in 1997.
Sure, changes have been made since the days of Mangrum's 64, but they have been introduced gradually and, for the most part, modestly. The course, listed at 6,925 yards in Mangrum's day, plays a tighter 6,985 yards today.
Nicklaus, whose record of six green jackets figures to last until Woods puts a half dozen in his closet around 2010, views the coming changes with a skeptical eye and places the blame squarely on the ball manufacturers.
"Pretty soon, we'll be teeing off [from] downtown somewhere," said Nicklaus. "I mean, the golf ball I was playing last year isn't even considered a long ball any more. It was the longest ball by the USGA's standards two years ago, which was a revolution.
"There is nothing wrong with Augusta National. It's one of our great golf courses in the world. To have it diminished by a golf ball because the manufacturers can't stand to have their golf ball go shorter, and because the USGA can't stand up because they are afraid of being sued to death, the game gets ruined."
And the result of all the changes being made here and elsewhere?
Advantage, Woods.
If the perceived problem is that Woods is hitting a wedge to par 4s and his competitors are hitting 7-irons, lengthening a hole 40 yards just means Woods hits a 7 and the other players hit 4-irons. That hardly robs Woods of his considerable distance advantage, which is overrated to begin with when he's playing against the likes of Phil Mickleson, Ernie Els or Vijay Singh.
Mickelson, who shot 67 Thursday, said "it's very possible" the changes would come to his aid along with Woods. "If you add a lot of length to 5 and 14 where the greens are very undulated, all of a sudden [players] are hitting a 4- or 5-iron. I think there is a big advantage [for us] hitting a 7- or 8-iron, no question," Mickelson said.
It's the shorter, tighter layouts like Colonial, which Woods annually skips for a variety of reasons, that are more difficult for him to dominate.
In Thursday's opening round, Woods failed to arrive with his putter blazing and settled for a 70, five shots back of leader Chris DiMarco.
"It was my goal to shoot under par," said Woods. "Any time you're in the red on the first day of a major championship, you are all right."
Working on a concession speech would be premature for Woods.
In 1997, he also shot 70 and trailed first-round leader John Huston by three. Woods won the tournament by 12 strokes.
This place still feels as if it was built with his marvelous game in mind. Like it or not, it's headed that direction more than ever starting in 2002.
Tim Cowlishaw can be reached at 214-977-8446 or .
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