Non Sequiturs From Day One at Augusta

↵↵The course setup at Augusta National has undergone major changes in the 11 years since Tiger Woods obliterated the decades-old scoring records. One of the changes was the inclusion of rough, or “second cut” as Augusta prefers. Augusta has special names for just about everything, but we’ll get to that at a later date. During my first trip to Augusta in 2000, some players complained about the second cut. ↵

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↵↵This picture was taken Wednesday and is basically the same length rough that existed in 2000. As you can see it’s shorter than the width of an average pen. There is no such thing as a bad lie at this place.↵

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↵--------------------------↵↵This is Larry, he’s from Idaho. He comes into Augusta for one week every year to work security at the Masters, then he travels to South Carolina to work at PGA Tour stop at Hilton Head. During the same period his wife goes to Utah to visit their grandkids. I have no specific reason for showcasing Larry, other than the fact that the course was closed and I told him I’d put his picture on this blog if he gave me a ride from Amen Corner (the farthest point from the main gate) to the entrance.↵

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↵↵This is the sign hanging next to the ice machine outside of my hotel. I asked the desk clerk if people actually steal ice on a regular basis but could only make out the words “very” and then some derivation of “yes.”↵

↵↵What could the punishment possibly be for stealing ice? I asked a local policeman working outside the course and he thought I was joking. To ascertain how large of an issue we’re talking about, I googled “ice theft,” “stolen ice,” and “stealing ice” but most of the returned searches involved the former lead singer of Body Count.↵

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