THE MASTERS : Notebook : O’Grady Turns Southpaw in Par-3 Event

Mac O’Grady, who usually hits his drives and irons right-handed and putts left-handed, switched Wednesday in the par-3 tournament here at Augusta National Golf Club.

He hit his drives left-handed and his putts right-handed until the fifth hole, when he resumed putting left-handed because the greens were so fast that he couldn’t control the ball’s speed. But he continued driving and chipping left-handed throughout his round.

O’Grady played in the same threesome with San Diego’s Ernie Gonzalez, the only legitimate left-hander in this year’s Masters. O’Grady used clubs out of Gonzalez’ bag and shot a two-over-par 29 for the nine-hole tournament.

“There must have been somebody who shot higher than I did,” O’Grady said. “When I find out who it was, I’m going to needle ‘em.”

Ben Crenshaw won the par-3 tournament with a five-under 22.

“What are you doing, son?” his father, Charlie, asked him before the final hole. “Don’t you know no one has ever won the par-3 tournament and then went on to win the big tournament.”

Crenshaw, a golf historian, said he knew that.

“Then hit it in the water,” his father said.

Crenshaw didn’t.

Augusta National hired a new greenskeeper from Oakmont Country Club in Pittsburgh. As a result of his handiwork, the greens are firmer than they have been in most of the players’ memories.

Crenshaw Wednesday called the greens terrifying. “The scores are going to go up,” he said.

Asked if the greens are scary, Mark McCumber said: “No, they’re eerie. You hit the ball and say, ‘It’s going in the hole. . . . No, it’s going past the hole. . . . It’s going off the green. . . . It’s going in the lake!’ ”

George Burns said: “This is like the U.S. Open without rough. If there was rough here, we’d never finish a round.”

Augusta National is famous for its azaleas and pink and white dogwoods, but they’re nowhere to be seen this year.

“The buds are still there, but they’re late blooming because of the cold and cloudy spring we’ve had,” groundskeeper Thomas Crenshaw said. “We think they’ll pop out before the week is over.”