AUGUSTA – Adam Svensson lined up for his second shot on the right side of the 13th fairway. The Canadian was playing solo on his first practice round of the week at the Masters.
Svensson swung his hybrid club, attempting to reach the green of the par-5 dogleg left hole in two shots. However, while he intended to bend the ball in right to left, the ball stayed right and flew into the creek that fronts the green. He tried again. This one also failed to obey, flying straight and bounding off the bank of the tributary to Rae’s Creek and also appearing destined for a watery plunge.
On a cloudy Monday of Masters week, it was a lesson learned for the first-time participant at Augusta National.
“It’s almost good to hit it in the water because then it’s like you remember stuff like that and it’s like, ‘O.K., let’s not do that again, let’s hit it a little more left,’” Svensson said.
As Svensson and others experienced Monday, the iconic hole that has historically been the easiest to score on has become a little more testy. The club moved the tee box back 35 yards placed it atop a hill, extending the hole to 545 yards and making it more difficult for players to reach the green in two shots and set up an eagle putt. It was the only significant change made to the course for this year’s playing.
“Well, if I were 30, I’d probably be excited about it,” former champion Fred Couples said. “At 63, I think it’s an incredible hole. I won’t go for it. I don’t know how I can. But it’s not about me, it’s about the best players and how far they’re hitting it. I think it’s spectacular.”
Augusta National had long considered toughening the hole, as players’ increasing length from the tee and fairway had made it easier for them to reach the green in two shots, changing the risk/reward calculus of one of the course’s most historic and iconic holes.
Players became increasingly able to reach the green with a short iron, their more lofted and better-controlled shots reducing the peril of leaving the ball in the creek as Svensson and others did Monday.
Even historically, though, the hole nicknamed Azalea for the roughly 1,600 azaleas that line the hole from tee to green has been a scoring opportunity. According to the club’s records for tournament play 1942-2022, No. 13 was the easiest on the course, averaging 4.775 strokes, a hair ahead of Nos. 2 and 15. Last year, the hole gave up six eagles and 91 birdies for a 4.852 average, third easiest.
Still, the club came to Azalea’s defense.
The hole “does not have the same challenges that it has historically,” club chairman Fred Ridley said last year. “I can just remember as a young guy watching the Masters some of the triumphs and tragedies. And while we will have those, the fact that players are hitting middle to short irons into that hole is not really how it was designed.”
After purchasing property behind the tee box from neighboring Augusta Country Club in 2017, Augusta National went ahead with the enhancement after last year’s tournament. Beyond added length, the possibility of cutting the corner of the hole that sweeps left has been greatly reduced.
“You’ve got to hit a perfect drive to have a chance now (to go for the green in two), where you could get away with more of a right shot,” said former Georgia Bulldog Kevin Kisner. “Now, if you bail out to the right, you have no chance to go for it. The longer hitters will be in the trees (right of the fairway) now.”
In keeping with the character of the hole, the green remains reachable in two. On his practice round Monday, Australian Min Woo Lee hit driver off the tee, hitting a draw that left him with a 7-iron into the green for his second shot. However, that was one of two balls that he was playing. He didn’t strike his other tee shot as cleanly and laid up short of the green on that ball.
“I imagine if I hit an actual draw when it was a shorter tee, you’d have, like, pitching wedge, 9-iron in,” he said.
For a player trying to climb the leaderboard on Sunday, the margin for error will be thinned.
“I laid up,” said Brian Harman, another former Bulldog. “I assume I’ll probably lay up most days. It’s hard even from the front of that tee box to get it around the corner where you’ve got something comfortable to come into the green.”
Scott Stallings said he had 230 yards to the green on Monday and went for the green – “it went to the right a little bit, and it was fine” – but said that, if he had the same shot once the tournament begins Thursday, he will lay up.
It speaks to the increased challenge of the hole. Stallings paid heed to the difficulty of getting to the green in two, but still knows he’s capable of it. On Sunday afternoon, players trying to move up the leaderboard may face the same internal debate.
The second shot will require more decision making, he said. Players will have less confidence in hitting a 4-iron into the green from a sloped lie than they would an 8-iron.
“The shot just plays a lot different,” he said.