ESPN.com - Golf Online - Masters 2000 - Accuracy carried Singh to green jacket

By Thomas O'Toole
Scripps Howard News Service
Tuesday, April 11

AUGUSTA, Ga. -- Change comes slowly to Augusta National. Azaleas, magnolias, green jackets and male-only membership are all pretty much as they have been for decades. Even the playing field remains familiar since champions earn lifetime invitations.


	Vijay Singh hit more than 80 percent of the greens in regulation, the best figure in the field.

The fairways and greens seem pretty much the same as well -- at least to those who don't play here. But those who do play the course have a different perspective. They say change is constant, and the tinkering done over the years means this is not the Augusta National it used to be.

Six-time winner Jack Nicklaus, for one, says this is a different course after six fairways were tightened this year and the rough grown even longer.

"I've been coming here 18 years," says former winner Bernhard Langer, "and I have memories of certain shots, and then it does the opposite."

The changes, most agree, benefit strength and reward accuracy. Iron play becomes particularly important because second shots are tougher and the areas around the greens more difficult.

And that is where Vijay Singh won the 64th Masters, largely with his irons. His distance and accuracy off the tee -- he ranked 12th and tied for 14th, respectively -- were critical. But it's no coincidence he led the field in reaching greens in regulation at 80.6 percent. Time after time he came through with an approach shot to give the native of Fiji his second major, adding a green jacket to his 1998 PGA Championship.

"If you look at tee to green, I'm a good candidate to win this," said Singh, who said he watched The Masters on video as a teen because there was no live TV in his native Fiji. "I drive the ball well, and I hit my irons high. It helped that it rained this week. That made the greens better."

This was a Masters that challenged the field to make spectacular shots. Tricky winds on Thursday and downright nasty winds on Saturday, combined with a tougher track, kept all but 10 players from finishing under par for the tournament.

"The changes have made the course harder," said Langer. "The fairways are half as wide as they were two years ago. It definitely makes it harder to control the flight of the ball and the distance.

"But many of the greens are the same, and experience is still important."

The changes helped Loren Roberts, one of the shortest hitters on the tour.

"I think this is more a striker's course," said Roberts, who tied for third. "You have to get the ball in place. I think it's more of a ball-striker's course than a putter's course."

That played to Singh's strength with his driver and irons. He tied for 45th in putting.

More than once the course was compared with a U.S. Open course, known for its thick rough.

"Pars are good here," said Tom Lehman, who finished sixth. "You'd take a whole boatload of pars and sneak in a couple of birdies. It's like an Open course."

Local lore says the most significant changes began after Tiger Woods blistered the course with a record score of 18-under 270 in 1997. Augusta officials were accused of "Tiger-proofing."

"They've made it more difficult," Woods said. "It's a tough test now. I'm not saying it wasn't tough back then, but it's tougher now because obviously you have to drive the ball better and still be precise with irons playing out of the rough.

"They've kept the scores down, that's for sure. The tougher they make it, the better it is for the longer hitters. Just look at the leaderboard."

The leaderboard Sunday showed eight of the top 12 drivers finishing in the top 11 of the tournament.

Augusta officials no doubt will do more modifying next year. Club chairman Hootie Johnson insists they are merely changing with the times, reacting to the length of modern-day players. He says the course wants to reward accuracy.

"If you hit it a long ways, it's helpful, but you got to hit it straight," said Dennis Paulson, the first-day leader and the 1985 national long-driving champ who finished tied for 14th. "I think it's fair. You're not supposed to just bombs away."

Despite whatever grumbling there may be, this is the tournament most players want to win, the place they most want to play. Paulson knows the feeling. When he was still on the Nike Tour, he and his caddie, Andrew Pfannkuche, drove to Augusta on their way to a tournament. They stopped at the entrance to Magnolia Lane and just gawked.

"This is where we want to be," Paulson told Pfannkuche. "This is what it's all about."


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