Rain shouldn’t slow down this year’s Masters Tournament, at least not at the start.
According to the long-range weather forecast, isolated thunderstorms might develop later in the day for Thursday’s first round of the 85th Masters.
That’s in contrast to the heavy rain that greeted the field on Day 1 of the 84th Masters, better known as “the November Masters.”
Only a handful of groups started the first round five months ago (off both the front- and back nines) before play was suspended at 7:35 a.m. It resumed at 10:38, but the rain altered the trajectory of the event in two ways.
First, the delay set back the tournament, with only 48 of the 92 players in the field completing their round because of the 5:30 p.m. fall sunset. The field didn’t get back on track until after Saturday’s third round, when everyone had completed 54 holes.
Second, that rain, combined with already-soft fall course conditions, set in motion a record, low-scoring tournament. The greens could never pick up their normal firmness which helped Dustin Johnson break the tournament scoring record by two shots (he shot 20-under 268) and field set the overall scoring record (71.752).
After Thursday, the only weather challenge the field faced in November was a brisk wind that picked up late in the day of the final round.
Johnson, off in the final group of the day with a four-shot lead, felt the brunt of the wind on the back nine. He still shot 3-under-par 33 to finish with 4-under 68.
“I controlled the golf ball very well in difficult conditions,” Johnson said after the round. “I felt like the wind was really tricky. The course, the greens were a little bit faster. Felt like you really had to be careful around here today.”
Should we expect rain at the 2021 Masters?
The conditions for the practice rounds on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday should be perfect, with highs in the upper 70s and low 80s, light wind and no rain.
That changes somewhat for the tournament rounds, starting Thursday.
The chances of rain on Thursday, Friday and Saturday range from 25 to 40 percent each day. An afternoon thunderstorm could happen Thursday.
If there are delays, there’s more of a chance for the round to be completed this time around; daylight savings time gives the field a little more sunlight late in the day.
Wind will be steady for Masters week
Double-digit winds could be a factor from the beginning of this year’s Masters, though the temperatures will be ideal (at least 76 degrees each day, much like in November).
If the weather forecast holds, the wind will be 13 mph on Thursday, 14 mph on Friday, 11 mph on Saturday and 10 mph for Sunday’s final round.
The final round is the only one where the wind will come out of the northwest, the most challenging wind to score at Augusta National. It makes three of the par-5 holes (No. 2 is the exception) play into the wind, making it tougher for players to reach those holes in two shots.
from Golfweek https://ift.tt/3rPha4q
from Golfweek https://ift.tt/3rPha4q