Friday At The Masters
Friday At The Masters
Brooks Koepka surges to -12, Bennett shines, huge pines fall during play and the round is suspended with 39 players on the course. Also, invoking the front and back nines as only they can in Augusta.
Play suspensions due to inclement weather: 2
Players still on the course when play suspended: 39
Projected cut at time of suspension: +2, 146
Round Two Scoring When Play Suspended: 72.681
Weather: Play suspended at 3:07 p.m. EDT and grounds evacuated only to have play resume at 3:28 p.m — Play suspended again at 4:22 p.m. — The day was called at 5:45 p.m. with an 8 a.m. restart Saturday.
Headlines — Koepka leads by four after 67 and is subjected to another video review of first round advice incident — Amateur Bennett on historic pace — Rahm three back with nine to play in round two — Woods 23-straight Masters cuts in jeopardy — McIlroy shoots 77 and will miss the cut — Three pines fall during play
Good Friday at The Masters always highlights the coming of spring and the pull of Golf’s vaunted Gods. We’ll give them a mixed report card after a lovely morning afforded players a ripe scoring opportunity, followed by the predicted afternoon storms where three pines fell during the resumption of play. Mercifully, no one was injured but soon after the round was suspended as storms moved in and sent the 2023 Masters into chaos.
With more rain and cold forecast Saturday, the possibility of the first Monday finish since 1983 has become possible. Get to work Gods!
Before items on Koepka’s epic start and thin explanation of a possible rules violation in round one, a viewing note: ESPN will resume coverage Saturday at 8am ET and will stay through conclusion of second round. CBS’s scheduled 3 p.m. EDT remains in place, with Masters.com streaming feeds continuing coverage of action in between. Fingers crossed that’s a possibility.
Now, onto the topic every patron I chatted with today wanted to hear more about: what happened Thursday between Brooks Koepka, Ricky Elliott and Gary Woodland’s caddie.
Koepka Posts 67, Undergoes Another Video Review
The golf? Vintage 2018 Brooks Koepka.
His latest explanation for what looked to be advice handed to Gary Woodland’s caddie?
Smells about as kosher as a year-old pimento cheese sandwich.
Koepka opened with 65-67 to take a four-stroke lead before play was suspended.
Koepka’s 132 total was just two strokes off Jordan Spieth’s 2015 record 36-hole total.
“He drove it well, hit his irons well, chipped it well, and putted it well,” said playing partner Gary Woodland. “It was a clinic for 36 holes.”
Koepka hit 81% of his greens compared to a Masters career 66% rate. Off the tee, he’s hit 89% of his fairways in contrast to his career Masters rate of 67%. Combine that with 28 and 29 putts the first two days with a very serviceable short game, and he’s resembling the healthier player who captured four majors between 2017-2019.
“The feeling is probably pretty similar,” he said regarding his career peak. “I like the way I'm swinging the golf club, putting it, chipping it, driving it, iron play is solid. It feels really similar.”
A knee repaired by noted orthopedic surgeon Neal El Attrache and rehabbed with the help of a new physio has allowed Koepka to recapture his swing.
“When the knee was messed up I was afraid to get back on it to load it, my right side,” he said after making three birdies and an eagle Friday. “It was more of a Stack and Tilt. I was just getting the left side and then back up out of it. The awkward lies were not fun. But now it's so much easier to be able to load, get that full turn or rotation going back.”
Koepka also admitted that severing ties with swing coach Claude Harmon III was a mistake.
“I think I got probably to the low point when we were at [Donald] Trump's place in Bedminster,” a reference to the LIV event played at the New Jerseuy club last August. “Walked in the locker room, and I think my physio Marc Wahl was waiting for that true low point to hit. I said, ‘I think I need to go back to Claude and start working with Claude again.’ Doing it on my own wasn't working for me.”
Koepka made clear that his singular focus is the career Grand Slam. He currently holds two portions with his U.S. Open and PGA Championship wins.
“The whole goal is to win the Grand Slam,” he said in the Masters interview room. “I feel like all the greats have won here and they have all won British Opens as well. Look, I guess it's one more box for me to tick to truly feel like I've done what I should have accomplished in this game.”
The 32-year-old’s brilliant start has been tainted by a problematic first round moment when Koepka appeared to signify five fingers toward playing partner Gary Woodland’s caddie, Brennan “Butchie” Little. That signal was quickly followed by his caddie Ricky Elliott mouthing the word “five” twice.
Koepka approached the 15th green with a five-iron and Little is clearly seen looking back at the two players.
Koepka initially reviewed the incident with rules officials following round one and suggested Elliott was possibly communicating his club selection to a spotter.
“I think what they said was they were signaling to somebody else or he was signaling to somebody of what it was,” Koepka said Friday. “It wasn't Butchie. Because they asked us what we hit walking down the fairway, so they had no idea.”
As longtime fans of the Masters know, the only people inside the ropes are players, caddies, television camera operators and sound gatherers.
I followed the Koepka-Woodland-Willett group today and never could identify television spotters covering the Featured Group that were reportedly the target of Thursday’s five sign.
As Koepka played Friday’s second round, social media observers seized on Koepka’s glove hand, which pauses with fingers fully extended as Little is staring back.
Following the second round, Koepka revealed that he was asked to review the footage again.
“I’m taking my glove off,” he said. “The last thing I'm going to do is give it to Gary Woodland, the U.S. Open champ. And the funny part about it is I think if he would have known we were hitting five, he would have hit six because I don't think Gary is that short and he's 10 in front of me, 12 in front of me?”
Woodland offered a version that attempted to reinforce a lack of nefarious information sharing in violation of Rule 10-2. Yet he also suggested his iron distances are a match with Koepka’s, meaning they can learn a lot from each other when making club selections.
“Brooks and I, we hit it the same distance,” he said before offering a claim that his caddie saw nothing despite turning back toward the two and seeing Elliott barking out “five” twice.
“I asked Butchie if he saw what he hit,” Woodland said. “He said no. Luckily for us because Brooks ended up hitting 5-iron. I hit 5-iron. I asked Butchie what the club was, and he said it's a choked-up perfect 5. I hit my shot. When we were walking down, I asked Brooks what he hit, and he said 5.
“If I would have known that, I probably would have hit 6-iron, and I would have hit 6-iron in the middle of the water. Luckily for me, I didn't know what he hit. That's the end of it.”
At best, it’s an awful look, at worst a strange slip-up that warranted the reviews and a two-stroke penalty on Koepka.
More incredibly, one scribe asked Woodland if 10-2 was “a necessary rule in your opinion?”
“When he's 15 yards behind me and we hit it the same distance, I ended up hitting the same club. I wouldn't have hit the same club if I knew he hit 5-iron.”
While that’s certainly a viable claim, the appearance and footage contradicts the idea that Woodland’s caddie had no idea what club was used.
The longer video clip of Koepka’s 15th hole play had been viewable Thursday at the Masters.com leaderboard. It has since been truncated to eliminate the moment of advice sharing put under review by the Championship Committee.
Either way, as Koepka pursues his fifth major, it won’t be the only five on some minds heading into the weekend. Or whenever the tournament concludes.
Yikes Tree
