Masters players expect tougher course after last year's runaway win

Jason Day doesn’t think someone will have to shoot a tournament-record tying 270 or make a record 28 birdies like Jordan Spieth did last year to win this year’s Masters Tournament.

The winning score won’t even be in the same neighborhood.

“I’m pretty sure they don’t want 18-under to win,” Day said this week of Augusta National Golf Club. “I think they’ll set the course up a lot tougher. … I think 13-under averages the win here. I think if they keep it around that it would be perfect.

“Enough to make mistakes and enough to make good shots and make birdies and keep everyone in it.”

That way, Day said, there won’t be a “runaway tournament this year,” as happened last year when Spieth won by four.

Day, the world’s top-ranked player, made his comment after playing a few rounds since last week. Spieth felt the same way after a scouting trip in December.

“It’s even in better shape this far before the event than it has been the last couple years,” he said in early March. “The greens were very, very quick and very healthy, so I’ve got a feeling that they are not going to want 18-under to win again. I’ve got a feeling it might be playing a little more challenging this year.”

The weather, not the course setup, could dim the chances of someone shooting another 270 this year.

It will be breezy with a 60 percent chance of morning showers in Thursday’s first round, then there is a 20 percent chance of isolated showers and winds of 15-25 mph out of the northwest for the second round. The northwest is the toughest wind for players because it is into their face on three of the four par-5s, making it difficult to reach the greens in two shots.

“Rain dictates a lot,” said 2007 Mas­ters champion Zach Johnson. “Wind is probably the biggest factor in all of that, whether they are gusty or whether it’s lack of wind. I mean, it depends on the situation. To me it’s conditions that aren’t controllable. The golf course is so perfect that it’s just a matter what have we got when we tee it up.

“There’s some days where you feel like you’ve got to get it,” John­son said, referring to a low score. “You’ve got a little bit of rain at night. You have maybe a half an inch to an inch. I know there’s devices to get rid of saturation, I get that, but there’s only so much you can do.”

Johnson knows about bad conditions at the Masters. He won the 2007 Masters with a 1-over-par 289 in the cold and wind. According to the Masters media guide, the temperatures in Saturday’s third round that year were in the mid-40s to low 50s with wind gusts of up to 33 mph. Johnson shot 76 that day when the average score was 77.352.

Now playing in his 12th Mas­ters, Johnson has learned how Au­gus­ta National’s greens change from practice round days to the tournament rounds.

“When it comes to Masters Week, there is a progression,” he said. “On the greens, that roll out just comes out a little bit more. And it may not be a drastic cut or roll difference, but it’s just there’s more, a couple more feet of roll out on putts. It starts kind of Satur­day, Sunday, the week before the tournament, in my opinion, and then it kind of rolls into the week.”

He noticed it during a practice round Sunday with Kevin Kisner, a Masters rookie. Kisner, who lives in nearby Aiken, has been playing the course regularly recently and thought he had figured out the speed of the greens.

“Let’s just say he was surprised about having 5 to 8 feet after his first putt on every hole,” Johnson said.

It’s not just the greens that pick up speed, Johnson said.

“You’re chipping and you’re like, man, I can get this up and down with a wedge,” he said. “Come Thursday or Friday, you’re like, I may want that putter. “