AUGUSTA, Ga. — We won’t really know until the Masters begins with Thursday’s opening round, but there’s a lot curiosity about how much differently Augusta National will play and look in November as opposed to April.
When you turn your TV sets on, there will be no azaleas brightening the TV screen. They bloom in April, not November.
Other than that, the temperatures at Augusta this week — mid- to high-70s — are comparable to April. The wild card this week will be how much rain falls, with rain in the forecast for all four days of competition.
“I can see this being quite a low scoring week, but that’s just because of the way the golf course is, it’s a little softer, it’s November,’’ Rory McIlroy said Tuesday. “It’s going to play a little differently. I still think this golf course provides enough of a challenge to challenge the best players in the world.
“I came up here like two weeks ago and the course was very soft, very long then. It’s not the same as what it is in April because it can’t be.’’
The club’s SubAir system will suck out as much moisture from the fairways as it can, but the course will surely play softer and slower than anyone prefers because of the rain.
The biggest difference players will feel this week is the lack of patrons, with no spectators allowed because of COVID-19 restrictions.
“It’s different,’’ Tony Finau said. “The golf course is still amazing. But it just looks so different. I think the last time I played a competitive round here was in the final group with Tiger in ’19. The difference between that and being out here in a practice round and getting ready is like night and day when it comes to how many people are around, the energy.
“So it’s going to be quite different. The golf course is playing a little longer, a little softer. It’s going to be an amazing test.’’
There are no ropes lining the fairways and greens, because there are no patrons on the grounds. There, of course, are no huge grandstands around greens and tee boxes.
“The first thing that stands out is just no ropes,’’ Bubba Watson said. “Normally there’s ropes and different things, and obviously people shape the hole a little bit differently.’’
Patrick Cantlay, who was in contention on Sunday in 2019, said the first thing he’s noticed is “the course is just a little softer right now, and the grass is just a little longer.’’
Former winner Jordan Spieth said the longer grass and softer conditions will prevent some tee shots from running off the fairways.
“The grass has been a little thicker and longer than we see in April,’’ Spieth said. “That would change how aggressively you could play certain approach shots if you know it’s not going to run off as much as it normally does.’’
