Masters Scrapbook : The Course is Tough but Not Awesome

Notes from the Masters’ scrapbook:

The velvety acres of the Augusta National Golf Club course are indeed difficult to master, but the statistics show that the travails are subtle rather than stark.

The bogeys may pile up as a player makes his way around and through the scenery, but while there are plenty of famous holes on the course there are few that act as overwhelming hurdles.

PGA Tour officials keep records each year to determine the 100 most difficult holes played on the circuit and only two from the Augusta National made the group last year.

The fifth hole, an uphill, 450-yard, par-4, tied as the 57th toughest on the tour with a stroke average of 4.322 (almost a third of a stroke over par). There were 22 birdies, 156 pars, 76 bogeys, 15 double bogeys and one triple bogey at the fifth hole last year.

The famed par-3 12th hole, with Rae’s Creek ambling by just in front of the green, was the 71st most difficult hole on the tour in 1984. There were 30 birdies there last year with 166 pars, 46 bogeys, 25 double bogeys and three triple bogeys -- coming out to an average of 3.285.

As is often the case, the most difficult hole on the tour last year was the par-3 16th at Cypress Point, which played to a stroke average of 3.588 during the Bing Crosby National Pro-Am.

Masters founder Bobby Jones created the tournament as a way to gather with his friends each spring and he, himself, took part in the reunion through the formative years of the event.

His last competitive appearance, however, came in 1942, at the age of 40. He shot a 16-over 304 and tied for last place with Charley Yates, Tommy Armour, Gene Sarazen and amateur Marvin Ward -- 24 shots behind winner Byron Nelson.

The first winner of Jones’ tournament was Horton Smith (in 1934) and part of the tradition of the Masters is that every past champion has a lifetime invitation to play in the event.

Smith availed himself of that opportunity through the last year of his life. In 1963, at the age of 54, he shot rounds of 91 and 86.

In the early days of the tournament the field was made up of no more than a handful of competitors, but shortly after World War II, the tournament began to escalate toward its current size.

The year the field began to increase in size is easy to pinpoint. There were just 23 players on hand in 1947, but the next year there were 48 and its growth was steady after that.

The title “Masters champion” is one of the most prestigious a player can carry, but the title, “leading money winner,” isn’t a bad one to have, either. A dozen times during the 48 years in which the Masters has been played a player has worn both crowns.

Smith was the first player to lead the tour in money the same year he won the Masters, doing so in 1936. Others who have done so included Jimmy Demaret (1947), Sam Snead (1949), Arnold Palmer (1958-60-62), Art Wall (1959), Gary Player (1961), Jack Nicklaus (1965-72-75) and Tom Watson (1977).