AUGUSTA, Ga. — Three towering pine trees fell near patrons when storms hit Augusta National on Friday, though nobody was hurt, but the second round of the Masters was suspended for the day as heavy wind and rain rolled through the area.
The course was cleared once for 21 minutes by an earlier band of storms. The air horns sounded again at 4:22 p.m. as another set of storms arrived, forcing the evacuation of patrons and sending players and officials searching for cover.
Play was suspended for the day 90 minutes later. The second round is scheduled to resume at 8 a.m. Saturday before the third round begins.
The host club released a statement saying: “The safety and well-being of everyone attending the Masters Tournament will always be the top priority. We will continue to closely monitor weather today and through the Tournament.”
Just before the second horn sounded, three enormous pines slowly fell next to each other near the 17th tee, sending the people below them scattering. On the nearby 16th green, 2017 Master champion Sergio Garcia stopped and stared at what seemed to be happening in slow motion; his playing partners, Kazuki Higa and Chattanooga native Keith Mitchell, watched anxiously to see if anyone was hurt.
“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 uprooted pines fell slowly, with two of them acting as support for the third, and that provided time for the patrons below to get out of the way. But the close call was evidenced by several crushed chairs beneath the fallen trees.
“I was talking to friends next to me, and all of sudden we heard a crack,” said Katie Waites of Charleston, South Carolina. “And there were three trees across the pond, and all of a sudden we saw them falling, and everybody — it was just like ants. They were like, scattering just like ants from beneath. All three fell at the same time. And then I just grabbed my friends’ hands, we were like, ‘Is everyone OK?’ And it was silent.”
Waites said she saw one woman standing between two of the fallen trees, and she heard that a man had crawled out from beneath some of the limbs. She added that it was “absolutely a miracle” that nobody was hurt.
“Then the alarms went off, and they evacuated again because of weather,” Waites said. “I called my dad. He’s a judge. And he said this time they are not going to open it back up. Get out of there now.”
Workers quickly arrived with chainsaws to begin clearing the trees away.
The storms had been expected throughout the day, and tournament officials moved all starting times up 30 minutes in the hopes of getting the second round in as scheduled. The morning dawned hot and humid with plenty of sun, but it gave way to ominous clouds churning through from the east shortly after the lunch hour.
Rain is expected to continue throughout the weekend with high temperatures plummeting into the 50s for Saturday.
“Weather can be interesting, especially when you get storms coming in,” said reigning champion Scottie Scheffler, who struggled to a 3-over 75 on Friday and was 1 under for the tournament. “So we’ll see what happens.”
Said Jordan Spieth, who won the green jacket in 2015: “You’re just going to have to manage a lot.”
Brooks Koepka was finished and leading at 12 under, three shots clear of Jon Rahm, who had nine holes still to play.
Koepka, who leading into the tournament said he was fully healthy for the first time in years, was not concerned about the weather causing any problems with his surgically repaired knee.
“It should be fine. I go through a pretty good warmup routine and Marc Wahl, my physio, gets it moving, and I’ll probably go to the gym in the morning. I’ll be fine,” Koepka said. “I’ll be loosened up, and plus, I think probably — at 2 o’clock or whenever the last tee time might be, it will definitely be a little bit warmer.”