Flowers making appearance at golf course

Delayed bloom could be spectacular

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Azaleas above the 16th green are starting to take on the radiant color that Masters visitors have come to expect.
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Azaleas at Augusta National Golf Club are expected to reach their full glory this week.
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Wisteria bloom near the 14th tee box during Tuesday's practice round at the Masters.
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Azaleas are seen near the Clubhouse during practice for the Masters Tournament at Augusta National Golf Club.
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Azaleas are seen near the par-3 course during practice for the Masters Tournament at Augusta National Golf Club.

The pinks, purples and fuchsias that form a vibrant backdrop at Augusta National Golf Club are emerging just in time for the tournament.

Delayed 10 to 14 days by a winter storm, the later-blooming azaleas that flood the course with color have the potential for a picture-perfect finish, said Sid Mullis, county extension agent.

To patrons who attended Tuesday’s practice round, the course still was breathtaking.
“It’s magnificent,” said Tom Boyle, who had filled his camera with shots of azaleas and dogwoods for his wife in Aberdeen, Scotland.

“You watch it on TV since you were a kid, until you get here, and it’s real,” he said.

Boyle contrasted the azaleas with the thorny yellow gorse that blooms on Scottish golf courses in early spring.

“That’s just one color; it’s not the kaleidoscope you get here,” he said.

Said Dave Zurbuch, a Chapel Hill, N.C., contractor mesmerized by the landscaped elevations: “It’s breathtaking. You see the azaleas in large clusters, and that tells me this course has a lot of history to it. If these trees, or bushes, could only speak.”
Jill Gainer, of Aiken, took in the shrubbery flanking Amen Corner and bemoaned the fact she won’t be here when they’re in full bloom.

“They look lovely and need just a couple days of more sun and more warm weather,” she said. “Wish they were here for the practice rounds.”