No. 15 wreaks havoc on first round scorecards

The easiest hole at Augusta National Golf Club exacted its revenge Thursday.

No. 15, a par-5 better known for yielding birdies and eagles, wreaked havoc on scorecards in the first round of the Masters Tournament.

The hole played to an average of 5.215 and ranked ninth in difficulty. That’s a far cry from its cumulative average of 4.78, which makes it the least difficult in tournament history.

Exhibit A was Jordan Spieth, who took a 9 at Firethorn. He hit it in the water on his third shot, then hit it over the green. Four shots later, he had a quadruple bogey.

“I was stuck in the 15-is-a-birdie-hole mentality, and it kind of bit me a little bit,” Spieth said.

The 2015 Masters champion was hardly alone. With windy conditions, those who laid up faced a difficult pitch to the hole location cut on the left side of the green.

Take Billy Hurley III. The Masters rookie came to the 15th hole at 2-under-par. He left at 1-over-par after a triple-bogey 8. A gust of wind came up for his third shot, and he found the pond fronting the green. He pitched long, then took three more to get his ball into the cup.

“You certainly wish you would never hit it in the water,” Hurley said. “But I didn’t feel like I hit that bad of a shot, just kind of definitely caught a gust there.”

The site of so much drama in Masters history – Gene Sarazen made his double eagle there in 1935, and it’s ordinarily a birdie hole for Masters contenders – didn’t allow any eagles and saw just 14 birdies Thursday. There were 57 pars, 15 bogeys, three double bogeys and four scores of 8 or worse.

Not everyone struggled on the 15th. Leader Charley Hoffman laid up, played his approach to 24 feet and sank the putt for birdie.

For the day, all of the par-5s played harder than usual because of the gusty conditions. Only three eagles were made.

The par-5 13th, traditionally the second easiest hole, played under par and was the easiest. Several players hit balls in the tributary of Rae’s Creek that guards the green, like Hoffman did. But the leader was able to get it up and down for par after taking a penalty drop.

The par-5s on the front nine, Nos. 2 and 8, were the second and third easiest holes.