Patrons move away from two trees that blew over on the 17th hole during the second round of the Masters golf tournament at Augusta National Golf Club. AP
Augusta: Play at the Augusta National Golf Club was affected on the second day of The Masters with severe storms in the region. Heavy wind and rain led to the second round being suspended for the day. Play had started early in anticipation of the challenging weather conditions.
On Friday, the historic golf course was cleared once for 21 minutes due to storms and the emergency air horn blared again at 4:22 PM local time. It forced the evacuation of patrons and sent players and officials searching for cover. Eventually, play was suspended for the day 90 minutes later.
“The safety and well-being of everyone attending the Masters Tournament will always be the top priority,” Augusta National said in a statement. “We will continue to closely monitor weather today and through the Tournament.”
During the severe weather conditions, three enormous pine trees fell slowly near the 17th tee box, sending about 50 people scattering. On the nearby 16th hole, Harrison Crowe started to backpedal in surprise, while on the 15th green, Sergio Garcia stopped and stared at the events unfurl.
“You could feel it down there. This little tornado whipped up,” Crowe’s caddie, John Serhan, told Australian Associated Press. “It caught those trees. You could see them start to sway. They were lucky no one got killed. Very, very lucky.”
The impact of the trees falling was seen and heard from several holes across the lush property.
“We were cresting the fairway on 15. We thought it was a scoreboard or a grandstand,” said Sahith Theegala, who is playing in his first Masters. “We were hoping it wasn’t something that hit anybody.”
The trees were cleared away swiftly by workers who arrived with chainsaws to ensure nothing untoward happened.
The second round is scheduled to resume at 8 AM EDT on Saturday before the third round begins. Brooks Koepka was in the lead when play was stopped with Jon Rahm three shots back in second but had nine holes to play.
(with inputs from The Associated Press)
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