AUGUSTA, Ga. — This is the other part of spring.
Easter bonnets, warm sunshine and the smell of fresh flowers gave way Saturday to ski caps, chilling winds and frequent showers as the 87th Masters tried to limp home to a Sunday finish.
Augusta National felt more like St. Andrews.
Golfers come prepared. They don’t have to like it, but into each life some rain must fall.
“I don’t particularly enjoy it,” said Shane Lowry, who won the 2019 British Open under similar conditions, “but I go out there and give it my best.”
The third round of the Masters shut down at 3:16 p.m. Saturday, when the rain fell too fast for the ground to absorb it. All 54 players remaining in the field had between 5 and 12 holes to play.
Those will get pushed to Sunday, when officials also will try to cram in the final round under slightly warmer and considerably drier conditions. Such is the reality of an outdoor sport.
Everyone was forewarned early in the week by weather forecasts. They were foreshadowed late Friday afternoon when three large trees crashed down on the course, courtesy of strong winds.
The trees fell to the left of the 17th tee and made a sound that could be heard from afar.
“We were walking up 13 fairway,” Seamus Power, a PGA Tour player from Ireland, said Saturday, “and we heard like the screams. It sounded like a grandstand to us, which was really strange.”
Fortunately, no one was injured. Witnesses said the noise could be heard before the actual crash, sort of like the tree hollering “Fore!” Patrons successfully scrambled to safety.
Lightning in the area subsequently suspended play at 4:22 p.m. Friday, requiring 39 players to return at 8 a.m. Saturday to complete the second round. That included five-time champion Tiger Woods, who was in scramble mode to…
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