It’s changed how much shadows are cast. Certain- ly, it can affect the way wind circulates. From the drive zone on No 5, you now can see across the par- 3 sixth hole, No 16 and up the hill on No 15. With the azaleas blooming, it’s just a bath of colour and more beautiful than ever, the rolling land similar to the way Bobby Jones first saw it in 1930. Even announcers can choke, or struggle to de- scribe what they’ve just witnessed. When Rory hit his third shot at the par-5 13th into a tributary of Rae’s Creek, I was speechless for a moment. He’d played the hole brilliantly, 3-wood off the tee and then a 7-iron layup to his pet distance of roughly 80 yards. I had my eyes trained on a window I ex- pected the ball to be projected into. I know Rory’s launch angles well. But then the ball didn’t appear. Instead, it fluttered and then tumbled into the wa- ter. At that moment I had one job: Explain what just happened. Even with my 50 years of experi- ence as a player and 22 more as an analyst, I didn’t know what the heck happened. There was some deceleration, for sure, but what else? An imper- ceptible mini-shank, maybe? A horrible push? A weak mis-hit off the toe? A complete breakdown of timing and rhythm? It didn’t come to me, and I don’t think it came to my colleague Ian Baker- Finch either, and he also had a good view from the tower at No 13. After some hesitation I said, sim- ply, “That’s inexplicable.” I can live with that line because even after watching the rerun umpteen times, I’m still not sure what caused it. On No 14 Rory’s tee shot over-cut to the right into pine straw. I got there and saw a window – a low one. It was obvious he was going to punch it
low because the terrain will feed the ball towards the green. Instead he hit it high, a towering shot that stopped just short of the green, with a huge mound between him and the hole. It was a truly great, near-impossible shot, and had it clipped a tree, it could have been game over right then. As it was, he made bogey but survived it. It sure was a chaotic and bizarre 15 minutes. I WON’T LIE – PHYSICALLY THIS MASTERS WAS a workout. I don’t wear a fitness tracker, but be- tween following groups in early coverage and the
SPACE AFTER A MISTAKE Caddie Harry
Diamond trails Rory after he hit a lob wedge into the water from 82 yards at No. 13.
GOLF DIGEST SOUTH AFRICA 51
MAY 2025
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