GIVING TIGER PAUSE

AUGUSTA, Ga. -- Tiger-proofing Augusta National Golf Club, they didn’t really do that, did they?

It’s been told often enough, though the story’s probably apocryphal. Seven years ago, when Augusta National employed noted course designer Tom Fazio to lengthen the legendary Masters layout, then-chairman Hootie Johnson asked Fazio how long the course could stretch if every bit of available real estate was used.

More than 8,000 yards, Fazio told Johnson.

Augusta National isn’t there yet, but at 7,445 yards, it’s getting closer. At its present length, it is one of the longest courses used for major championships.

Torrey Pines South will measure 7,643 yards for the U.S. Open in June -- the longest course in major-championship history. The others in the top four are 7,561-yard Medinah Country Club at the 2006 PGA Championship, 7,514-yard Whistling Straits at the 2004 PGA and Augusta National.

Results indicate that Tiger-proofing, if that’s what some major venues are doing these days, may not be all it’s cracked up to be.

Woods has won the regular-season tournament at Torrey Pines four years in a row since designer Rees Jones lengthened it, the last time by a record eight shots in January. Woods also won that 2006 PGA Championship at Medinah by five shots and he’s won the Masters four times, twice since the major lengthening and toughening in 2002.

The solemn club members in the green jackets at Augusta National didn’t necessarily beef up the course because of Woods’ one-man wrecking job in 1997, when he shot 18 under par and won by 12 shots for his first Masters title, but if ever there was a signal something had to be done, then it’s probably fine to blame it on Woods.

When Zach Johnson won last year, his one-over 289 matched the highest winning score in Masters history. Score one for the course, with an assist from cold and windy weather.

But the notion of combating advancements in the technology of golf equipment had long been discussed in the wood-paneled second-floor offices occupied by the power brokers of Augusta National.

Something as meaningful as altering the course that was created and designed by Bobby Jones and Alister MacKenzie was taken seriously, and slowly, by members who had grown tired of seeing players needing nothing more than a driver and pitching wedge to reach the 18th green.

Regardless of the motivation behind building a meaner Augusta National, Woods’ length off the tee, his ability to spin the ball out of the first cut, his short game and his tournament success rate mean he’s probably as well prepared as anyone to take on the challenge.

Still, Woods knows there is plenty of trouble at Augusta National, and you don’t have to go very far to find it.

“You’ve got to fight through every hole,” he said. “It’s just the nature of that golf course. I’ve played some interesting clubs off of some holes. For instance, [No.] 12, I’ve hit as little as a wedge and as much as a four-iron.

“It’s hard to describe. People don’t realize how difficult that place is until you actually get there and you see. Any hole can get you there, so it’s not just one hole.”

Not that it’s any indication of how Woods will fare this week at the Masters, but he comes in as the hottest player on the PGA Tour. His worldwide winning streak of seven tournaments, including the Target World Challenge and the Dubai Desert Classic, ended when he was fifth at Doral in the CA Championship two weeks ago.

Such a streak resembles the roll he enjoyed at the end of 1999, when he won five of his last seven official events, and the start of 2000 with victories at Kapalua, Pebble Beach and Bay Hill and a second-place finish at the Players Championship just before he came to the Masters.

But Woods was fifth at Augusta National in 2000, never able to make up for an opening-round 75. Vijay Singh won at 10-under 278.

While the current Augusta National may be more difficult, Woods said there have been some accommodations made in comparison with how it played before 2002.

“It wasn’t difficult off the tee, but it was still pretty difficult into the greens. They’ve softened some of the pins over the years, because with the longer clubs . . . they haven’t put the pins as close to the edges as they normally do.

“They used to be just right on the edge. A lot of times, from six feet from No. 6 up on the top shelf, you’d hit it a foot or two past the hole and it was going to go off the green. They really haven’t done that because we’re hitting more club.”

Since the Masters began keeping hole statistics in 1942, the toughest hole on the course has been the 495-yard par-four 10th, with the 505-yard par-four 11th the fourth-most difficult and the 155-yard par-three 12th over Rae’s Creek the second-toughest hole.

But those figures may be skewed and the 11th actually might be the toughest hole because of its recent remodeling.

In 2002, the 11th tee was moved back 35 yards and five yards to the golfer’s right and a portion of the landing area was regraded. In 2004, 36 pine trees were added to the right side of the fairway. And then in 2006, the tee was moved back another 15 yards, more trees were added to the right side of the fairway, and the fairway was shifted more to the left.

It certainly has caught Woods’ attention.

“Eleven has become by far the hardest hole. They put those trees in there, and the angle of the tee shot [is tougher].

“They’ve raised the green up on the right so that you can’t play -- Larry Mize’s shot, that shot doesn’t exist anymore,” Woods said, referencing Mize’s 140-foot chip-in at No. 11 in 1987. “They’ve made that hole so much more difficult.”

None of them are easy, but that’s the style at the Masters, and when you drive down Magnolia Lane and your name is Woods, you know it better than anyone.

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thomas.bonk@latimes.com