CHRIS WOOD has played Augusta six times — and is yet to break par, something the English ace is determined to put right this year.
Here he talks to SunSport’s golf expert DAVID FACEY about three of the holes he must play better this year to achieve that ambition.
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Chris Wood’s three holes to beware:
HOLE 3, PAR 4, 350 YARDS, FLOWERING PEACH
Easily the shortest par four on the course — none of the others are less than 440 yards — but it causes me all sorts of headaches.
I ran up a seven there in the final round last year, which says it all.
You’ve got two options as I see it. One is to take a four iron off the tee, leaving yourself something like a nine iron to the green, or to hit driver and lob wedge.
I’ll try both approaches, depending on where the flag is. I actually went through my yardage book with
Nick Faldo before last year’s Masters. We were talking about how tough holding the green is if you pull your drive a bit to the left.
But that’s exactly what I did in the last round.
The severely sloping green is the hole’s protection, and we reckon my 52-degree wedge shot was a couple of feet from being perfect.
Instead it took a big hop, ran through the green, and with a front left pin position you’re dead back there.
HOLE 13, PAR 5, 510 YARDS AZALEA
I reckon you need to make 20 birdies to have a chance of winning The Masters, and this is one of the holes you have to take advantage of.
I envy Bubba Watson, who smashed his right-to-left tee shot over the trees a couple of years ago and left himself a sand wedge to the green.
I hit a fade, which is the wrong shape to leave a really short shot in, unless you flirt with the trees down the right.
Me and my caddie, Punk, reckon it’s too risky going for the green with anything more than five iron — Rae’s Creek is always in your mind, and if you miss it left you’re chipping from the shrubbery.
But I’m probably going to have to be more aggressive, because if you don’t play this hole in three under par you’re losing shots to Bubba, Rory, Dustin Johnson and the rest.
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15, PAR 5, 530 YARDS, FIRETHORN
One of my most vivid memories of this hole is Tiger Woods hitting a five iron stiff from the top of the hill to make eagle on the way to one of his four victories.
I dream of pulling off a shot like that. But you have to hit a perfect tee shot, because there are trees down both sides. So you have to lay up if you are even slightly wide of the mark. And that’s no picnic.
Most times you want to lay up on the right, but the ground slopes so much you almost always have the ball well below your feet.
It’s flatter over on the left, but it’s a poor angle to come in from.
You’ve also got water behind the green as well as in front of it, so it’s a great risk-reward hole.
One of the things on my bucket list is to win a set of crystal goblets for making an eagle at Augusta. This hole and 13 offer the best chance to do that.
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