I enjoy Augusta. I enjoy its challenges. There’s no other golf course like this anywhere. Its greens and its challenges on and around the greens are just super, super tough. So the greens are fun to play in sort of a morbid way
I know most players do, but I always keep both eyes opened. I still do it. I see two shafts, the real one and the transparent one. I look for what’s on the inside edge of the transparent one
I have felt terribly from the beginning when I saw the problems and recognized that they would be ongoing. We were hired to put back the contours of the greens as closely as possible to George Thomas’s designs and were real proud of what we did. It’s a sad situation now.
I was horrified. Absolutely heart sick. All I could think of was that after 23 years together, I’d lost my faithful ally. I couldn’t sleep, couldn’t get the loss out of my mind. It was like discovering that someone in my family had died.
You learn to accept defeat graciously in golf. Unlike other sports, the game itself is a constant opponent. It never stops. A golfer is fortunate to win a few times. We spend our whole lives trying to conquer something, and we lose a lot more than we win.
It’s emotional for every champion who decides to step down, it’s a tough decision. It’s probably easier for some, like me. But I’m just going to try to take it in stride. It’s part of life.
This is happening all over the world. It’s not just this golf course. Hopefully, if it stays dry, it will let a few more people in (contention). If it gets wet, though, there’s only a few people where it’s attainable.