Players Puzzled by Augusta National's 'Softened' Greens

Players were preparing for fast and firm putting surfaces, but didn't get what they expected in Round 2 of the Masters.

Scottie Scheffler was baffled by what he termed as "softened" putting surfaces. | Erick W. Rasco/Sports Illustrated

AUGUSTA — The forecast called for the first dry Masters in 15 years. And on Thursday, with the course turning colors and the ground getting firm, players were preparing for a brute. 

“I think this could be the toughest Masters we’ve played in a while,” Shane Lowry said. 

“You might get a yellow jacket if you win,” Justin Rose said. 

However, in the second round, players were a tad perplexed, despite the temperature being higher than the day before. 

That included world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler. 

“I was surprised at the greens,” he said after a second-round 74. “I felt like the greens would get firmer as the week went on, but I think they may have saw how difficult it was late in the day yesterday that they—it felt like they softened them up a bit today.”

Andrew Novak echoed that sentiment. He was asked after a Friday 76 if he believed the greens were watered, and Novak said his putts were not rolling as expected. 

“I three-putted four times early today because I was not prepared at all for how slow the greens were,” said Novak, who missed the cut. “Just on the putting green and stuff, they were still rolling fast. I didn’t realize how much slower they were going to be this morning, and, yeah, it took me a little too long to adjust to that.”

The scoring average for the field in Round 1 was 74.648, 2.648 strokes over par. On Day 2, it was 72.846. 

During Sky Sport’s second-round coverage, the broadcast showed greenskeepers hosing down the par-3 12th’s putting surface on Friday morning. Perhaps that explains the disparity in scores from Round 1 to Round 2. 

The temperature will continue to rise over the weekend and the sun will continue to beam. 

And maybe that brings the volatility players initally thought they’d see. 

“I couldn’t imagine them [softening the greens] the rest of the weekend,” Scheffler said. 

---