What's so hard about the 10th hole? | 2022 Masters
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Posted April 10, 2011, 12:00 am
BY
Joe VanHoose
|
Morris News Service

What's so hard about the 10th hole?

  • Article Photos
    What's so hard about the 10th hole?
    Photos description
    No player in the final five groups Saturday made a putt longer than 6 feet. No one in those pairings made a birdie.

 

For 75 Masters Tournaments, the 10th hole -- named Camellia for the bushes around the green -- has played as the toughest hole at Augusta National Golf Club.

This Masters is no exception. The 495-yard par 4 ranks fifth this week in difficulty. On Saturday, it ranked second and gave leader Rory McIlroy his only bogey on the back nine.

FRED COUPLES AND RICKIE FOWLER

Couples pushed his tee shot just into the right-side rough, but Fowler's drive landed 20 yards right of that. Fowler's punch shot from the pine straw caught a tree and landed well short of the green.

Couples' approach flew over the flag and landed 10 feet from the hole, but his birdie putt came up short and right. Fowler's third shot also flew over the hole, but it bounced hard and came to rest about 25 feet from the pin. Couples tapped in for par, and Fowler two-putted for bogey.

Y.E. YANG AND RICKY BARNES

Both Yang and Barnes knocked their drives down the middle of the fairway. Yang's approach fell off the left side of the green, but he was able to chip up and make a 5-foot putt for par. Barnes nearly flew his second shot into the hole, but the ball bounced and rolled just off the back of the green. He nestled a putt from the fringe close and tapped in for par.

To find the fairway, which was sand-capped this year to improve playability in the low-lying area, players work their tee shots right to left. The balls that the tall pines lining the fairway don't grab end up on sidehill lies, leaving players an uphill approach shot to a two-tiered green. (Michael Holahan/Staff)

GEOFF OGILVY AND ALVARO QUIROS

Ogilvy and Quiros landed their drives in the center of the fairway, and both hit their approach shots within 15 feet of the hole. Both players came up short on their birdie putts -- Quiros putting from above the hole and Ogilvy from below it -- and made pars.

TIGER WOODS AND K.J. CHOI

Choi drove his ball down the middle of the fairway, while Woods pulled his into the left side of the short grass. Woods' approach caught the left edge of the green and stayed on, but Choi's shot hit the left side and rolled off. Choi pitched to about 4 feet, about as close as Woods' lag putt from 40 feet away. Both made their pars.

RORY MCIlroy and Jason Day

McIlroy and Day ended up in the fairway off the tee. Day's approach checked up on the left side of the green. He just missed his long birdie putt and tapped in for par. McIlroy missed the green to the left on his approach and chipped to about 5 feet short of the pin. His par-saving attempt slid past the hole, leaving him with a bogey.

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