AUGUSTA, Ga. –
The second spherical of the Masters resumed at Augusta Nationwide on Saturday, and there was little proof that three towering pine timber had fallen close to the patrons a day earlier in the course of the storms that resulted within the suspension of play.
No one was damage by the fallen pines, although they crushed a number of chairs the place the patrons had been sitting. Three separate 10-by-10 foot areas close to the sixteenth inexperienced and seventeenth tee have been roped off Saturday with some wooden chips left from the place employees had shortly lower them up. Two of the areas have been lined with inexperienced gravel and one other with pine straw.
Sergio Garcia teed off on the seventeenth as he completed his second spherical Saturday, and the 2017 champion strained his head over patrons as he started strolling towards his shot to see the place the timber as soon as stood. A number of employees across the space have been nonetheless discussing what occurred, and one known as it “a miracle” that nobody was injured or killed.
“I used to be standing on the fitting facet, which is close to 17, proper by the again proper bunker on 16 lining up my putt,” 1987 champion Larry Mize mentioned. “Then hastily, I heard it, and I regarded round, and I noticed the timber.
“I am pondering, `Oh, my gosh, individuals, get out of there,”‘ Mize mentioned. “Thank goodness nobody was damage.”
Those that make the lower Saturday must endure the harsher climate within the third spherical. The chilly rain was anticipated to final by means of the day, and extra storms might cross by means of japanese Georgia. The forecast appears drier for Sunday.
“It’s what it’s,” mentioned 63-year-old Fred {Couples}, who completed his second spherical Saturday at 1 over, breaking Bernhard Langer’s file for oldest participant to make the lower on the Masters. “Am I going to look thrilled to play 18 holes this afternoon? No, I am a wimp. I am an outdated wimp. However I am excited to play.”
The course was cleared as soon as for 21 minutes by an early band of storms Friday. The air horns sounded once more at 4:22 pm as one other set of storms arrived, forcing the evacuation of patrons and sending gamers and officers trying to find cowl.
Play was suspended for the day 90 minutes later.
Simply earlier than the second horn sounded, the three monumental pines slowly fell close to the seventeenth tee, sending about 50 individuals beneath them scattering. On the close by sixteenth inexperienced, Harrison Crowe noticed the tree falling and began to backpedal in shock, whereas on the fifteenth inexperienced, Garcia stopped and stared at what appeared to be taking place in sluggish movement.
“We have been cresting the golf green on 15. We thought it was a scoreboard or a grandstand,” mentioned Sahith Theegala, who was taking part in in his first Masters. “We have been hoping it wasn’t one thing that hit anyone.”
The uprooted pines fell slowly with two of them performing as help for the third, and that offered time for the patrons beneath to get out of the best way. However the shut name was evidenced by a number of crushed chairs beneath the fallen timber.
“I used to be speaking to buddies subsequent to me and hastily we heard a crack,” mentioned Katie Waites, who was attending the second spherical from Charleston, South Carolina. “And there have been three timber throughout the pond, and hastily we noticed them falling and all people — it was similar to ants. They have been like, scattering similar to ants from beneath. All three fell on the identical time. After which I simply grabbed my buddies’ palms we have been like, `Is everybody OK?’ And it was silent.”
Waites mentioned he noticed one lady standing between two of the fallen timber, and she or he heard {that a} man had crawled out from beneath a number of the limbs. Like the employees Saturday, Waites known as it “completely a miracle” that no person was damage.
“The security and well-being of everybody attending the Masters Event will all the time be the highest precedence,” Augusta Nationwide mentioned in an announcement. “We’ll proceed to intently monitor the climate immediately and thru the Event.”
——
AP Sports activities Writers Doug Ferguson and Paul Newberry contributed to this report.