Augusta National has troubles with tee times
Updated: April 9, 2005, 5:20 PM ET
Associated Press
AUGUSTA, Ga. -- Just when the Masters appeared to get back on schedule after two days of rain, the third round was thrown into more chaos Saturday afternoon when players were not told their tee times.
"This is like the dark ages," two-time champion Bernhard Langer said. "How difficult can it be to get 50 players back on the course?"
Fifty players made the cut at 4-over 148, and Augusta National officials decided to send them off in twosomes from both tees with hopes of playing as many holes before dark.
But the club never posted tee times.
Three club members were on the putting green, studying 36-hole scores and trying to group players accordingly. Retief Goosen and Shingo Katayama were the first to tee off on No. 1, but they should not have been paired together, and both should have started on the 10th tee.
Five players went off with the wrong partner, according to the scores posted from the second round.
One club member was heard saying there was a computer glitch, and that one name came up twice.
Some players appeared confused and annoyed; others made jokes about the confusion on the driving range.
Chris DiMarco, who shot 67 in the morning and had a four-shot lead, stuck his head out the clubhouse door and asked his caddie if he had heard the tee times. The caddie shook his head.
Langer was on the green waiting for a rules official to approve a new putter he was using, and had a look of disbelief as he spoke to an official.
"I told them I have seen amateur events better organized," he said. "And I still don't know when I'm playing."
Caddies leaned on a bench near the water cooler, all of them amazed. Steve Williams, the caddie for Tiger Woods, was asked if he had seen tee times.
"It's a shotgun," Williams said jokingly. "Just put a ball in the rack."
By the time half the field was on the course, tee times finally were distributed.
DiMarco and Thomas Bjorn were in the final group at 5:45 p.m., meaning they likely would finish only nine holes.
Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press
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