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Nicklaus might be wrong Sunday, May 18, 2008 By Harry King LITTLE ROCK - The Helen Thomas thing didn't work out so well when Jack Nicklaus was in town. Nicklaus hit some, talked some, posed some, and then made his way down a slight hill to the media. He had referenced The Masters more than once during the morning and that was the intro for asking how he would go about re-creating roars on the back nine at Augusta. The question was phrased imprecisely and when he asked for an explanation, Nicklaus was told there were some who missed the Sunday sounds that come from birdies or better. The Masters participants, he said, "should have played better." Pressing on, he was told that Brian Hewitt had talked with Augusta members who had broached the subject of intermediate tees. Nicklaus said he wasn't familiar with Hewitt and when told he was with The Golf Channel, Nicklaus said for the second time that there would not be any changes at Augusta. Nicklaus is all-everything in my book, and just last week he received the PGA Tour's lifetime achievement award. Despite that thing about tugging on Superman's cape, I think he's wrong. There will be some changes at Augusta, nothing too dramatic, but some. Just this year, the first tee was extended 10 yards toward the hole and the front of the tee box was used when the wind was blowing green to tee. Such minor alterations would provide some room for maneuvering when needed. Often generated by Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer, the back-nine roars identified The Masters and separated the year's first major from the survival test that is the U.S. Open. "The way the golf course plays now, you don't really shoot low rounds here anymore," Tiger Woods said this year after failing to break 70 in the first round for the 12th straight year. "You've just got to plod along. It's playing more of a U.S. Open that it is a Masters. There was really one roar I heard all day." From the pines between No. 2 and No. 3, the sound rolled over us from the right - maybe 6, 15, or 16. Turned out, Ian Poulter had made an ace on No. 16, eliciting the reaction from the 2,000 or so occupying a popular new hillside seating area. There would have been roars aplenty on Sunday if Woods had putted decently. On the back nine alone, he failed on short birdie putts on No. 13 and No. 16, three-putted No. 14, and didn't birdie No. 15 despite clearing the water with his second shot. In response to technology, more than 500 yards have been added to Augusta National in the past 10 years, and that's OK. The biggest detriment to birdies galore is the addition of trees that discourage recovery shots. Bobby Jones, who helped found Augusta National, once wrote that he never intended the course to be punishing. Trees were added both left and right of the fairway on No. 7 in 2006, and to the right and left of No. 15 in 1999. There is a precedent for the removal of trees. Several of the three dozen added to the right of No. 11 in 2004 were removed this year and the fairway was widened. Ironically, one of the most famous birdies in Masters history would be nigh onto impossible today. When Nicklaus won in 1986 at the age of 46, a three on No. 17 ended an eagle-birdie-birdie splurge. The putt on the 71st hole that Verne Lundquist punctuated with "Yes, sir," was set up by Nicklaus' approach from just beyond the bunker on No. 7. Today, that drive would be in the trees. ---- Harry King is sports columnist for Stephens Media's Arkansas News Bureau. His e-mail address is hking@arkansasnews.com. |
