It is the most beautiful hole in Augusta. And kills golfers

“Sometimes I get there and my hands scroll only”.

If there is a quotation that is better captured the fascinating terror of the twelfth hole of the Augusta National Golf Field – the seat of the Masters of the United States – has not yet been pronounced.

The man who delivered the line is no other Jack Nicklaus, who is probably the greatest golf player ever playing. The “Golden Bear” won 117 tournaments in his career, including a record of 18 major.

Heck, Nicklaus won an unparalleled titles of six unparalleled masters – and he too is afraid of the twelfth stop on a course that has most often tamed of anyone else in history.

So why is a postcard rather par-three in the farthest corner of the most famous route of the golf, sitting on the edge of Raes Creek and framed by pink azaleas and cornolo trees, arouses this fear, also for Nicklaus?

It is not just that Nicklaus could have had a green jacket for each day of the week if it hadn’t been double n. 12 in 1981.

It is the fact that Nicklaus is only a famous name on a very long List of star golfers, who extend for 88 years, who have also had their chances of victory blew up a disastrous visit to the shortest hole in Augusta National.

It is such a long list that the best option is to start with legends and infer the rest: luminaries such as Greg Norman, Arnold Palmer, Gene Sarazen, Payne Stewart, Gary Player and even Tiger Woods.

More recently Jordan Spieth’s The entire tournament implored at number 12And Rory Mciroy and Cam Smith have also sunk. And while the Masters of the United States take place this week, the safest bet you can do is that the hole will claim the most victims – and probably also the possibilities of a prominent contender on Sunday.

“It’s the most difficult hole in the tournament golf,” said Nicklaus.

Amen corner

The curious part of the murderous nature of 12 is how innocent it is.

From the tee to the front of the green is 130 random meters, and while it was a longer iron shot on Nicklaus, modern players usually can hit a green from that distance with a wedge guided by the laser.

So far, so good.

But the hole is as insidious as it is beautiful. He is Mata Hari of Golf.

The twelfth hole is cut by Raes Creek and to safely land on the green, the players must bring the water and a bunker sitting on the front edge.

The next layer of difficulty is the size and shape of the green, designed in 1934 by Bobby Jones and Alistair Mackenzie (the latter a famous courses designer who also built Royal Melbourne).

The green is not only angled from the shirt, it is particularly narrow – about 10 meters wide – and obtaining a ball to stop us requires a perfectly chosen club and a perfectly affected shot.

Hitting too long is also bad news, with thick shrubs and slopes of descent out of the back.

But even if you hit your shot in Tee in a clear way, the third layer of difficulty is the unpredictability of the wind in the southern pocket of the route, which was nicknamed “Amen Corner” in the 1950s by the wind of Herbert Warren.

In a mathematical precision sport and certainty, this is a corner in which prayer is also embraced because the wind is often impossible to take into account. The professionals say the gusts of wind and the spirals in diabolical ways, in particular above the line of trees.

“They made us studies and it’s called” Eddy Effect “,” said Bubba Watson in 2020.

“If you get a burst, in reality the speed doubles but you simply don’t know. That’s why you see some balls short and you are like” That boy really only developed two clubs? “.”.

After putting a ball in the drink in the last round of 2019, Brooks Koepka said: “Once above those trees, it’s a game of hypothesis”.

Local knowledge helps and there are many Caddy’s advice and stories about how to evaluate the wind. Many of the old legends attested that the flags on the eleventh green, to the left of the twelfth tee, blowing underground before they hit. Others waited for the tops of the trees to the right of the twelfth green to sway in a certain way.

But prayer is good a strategy like any. In 2013, Watson returned as a reigning champion and hit a 10 to 12th. And the hole is easier for maniscalli.

If you land in the water, the fourth layer of hell is the fall area is the backup of the fairway, which requires an uncomfortable loft chip that has yet to free the water and stop on a penny. But do not dare turn the ball too much, because once a ball starts rolling along the slope of 1.2 meters towards the stream, you are cooked – again.

“The very simple answer on the reason is so difficult is that there is no good lack, there is no rescue,” said the former open champion, transformed into the head of golf commentator, Ian Baker-Finch.

“You must have the correct club. Most holes, most of the vegetables, most of the three are an option. When the green is so tight – from memory it is 14 steps from the front to the rear, in the center of the green – you just have to have the right club. You can’t get away without having the right club.

“So there is a lot of pressure. Then you have to decide on the direction of the wind, and even in a calm day there is always something that is happening over there in the corner below

“You know it will be difficult, you know you must be precise. You know it’s a double bogey if you lose yourself. So all those things add up and add to the tension.

“And pairing it with the fact that it is also just a beautiful short birth. When you look at it, it is only sitting over there, on the other side of the water, the azaleas and dogs dogs in the background. It is one of the most, if not THE The most beautiful holes in the world of golf.

“But it’s also a beast. You arrive at the shirt and you have to do a deep breath.”

The Guai area

Only the best of the best get invitations to the masters, but the unfortunate victims have still piled up over the years. The floor of the stream is all of mud and white dimples.

“It is a hole that plays with an iron iron, a sand wedge and eight weeks of underwater lessons,” wrote Rick Reilly in Sports Illustrated.

In 1980, Tom Weiskopf – No Slouch as a former open champion and four times ranked Masters – made a record of 13 shots to finish the twelfth. In 1952, Sarazen took an eight and came out promptly from the disgusted route.

‘I struck him straight in the piss. A club that should have come there, but did not do it. “

Peter Lonard

The hole played on average 3.29 and an ESPN statistics published in 2020 said about all the golfers who played five or more master’s tournaments, the average of the worst scores is 3.9.

That “honor” belongs to Australia Peter Lonard.

“It could be right, I never played well there,” said Lonard.

“Usually I was upset when I got to that hole. I don’t know how many times I hit the water … but I know that drop and pitch, they are not even fun, it’s ugly.”

Lonard, a two -time Australian Open champion who won in the PGA Tour and played in the Presidential Cup, never made a cut in five Masters appearances, between 2003 and 2008.

“The entire course, when you really play for the first time, games with guys who played before and hit him in a certain direction and are thinking:” Why are they hitting him there? “” Said Lonard.

“When you arrive for the first time (at n. 12), you are thinking: ‘Oh, I will hit him straight, it’s just a 7 or an iron 8 or other.

“I remember if it was windy, the flags out of 11, 12 and 13 would have blown into different directions, which I never understood. And even the differences in temperature and the time of the day were difficult.

“I remember that once we had a delay in the rain and we had to have exhausted the light, so I had to return and that was my first blow of the day.

“I struck him straight in the piss. A club that should have come there, but simply did not do it.”

The assassin trap

The most famous collapses in the corner arrived in the fourth round, with the victory at stake. More leaders have made the dream of sliding in a green jacket that clashes in the hole.

And there is a crazy reason in a crazy way of the reason.

As indicated in an excellent Digest from golf videoThe twelfth hole sets a trap with the positioning of the Sunday pivot in the right corner of the greenery.

Far from the bunker – average, it is extremely tempting for professionals – in particular the steed that make the ball vanish from left to right – to attack the pin.

But as Admiral Ackbar warned, it’s a trap. The safe distance of the “transport” is not only elongated to the point of difficulty, but the safe landing area narrows further, up to about eight meters.

And how Digest from golf He explains, the “dispersion model” of most golfers – the inevitable diffusion of where the balls will land from ten strokes to an established target – can lead to a third of those shots aimed at landing on the nearby Sunday’s brooch – or in The Creek.

Whether it’s a flared shot on the right, a licking ball hit by the winds or applying too much rotation, more and more stars in dispute ended up sunk in the water.

The Australians were among them. Norman’s Infame Meltdown in 1986 It was underway when he arrived at n. 12 But a ball in the water seized the disappearance. In 2022, Smith had closed within three of the possible winner Scottie Scheffler, but then Kerplunk had triggered the Tee at n. 12 and had taken a six, six, put an end to its possibilities.

In 2019, four of the last six golfers on the field found the water n. 12, including the then leader Francesco Molinari, Koepka and Tony Finau.

But Tiger Woods, who religiously religiously in the center of the twelfth green regardless of the day, landed in the middle, has hired a tie and won another green jacket.

(The following year? Woods took ten at n. 12, his highest score in a hole in his career in Pga Tour).

In 2016, Spieth was trying to become the rare group to publish back-to-back victories and seemed imperious with an advantage of five shots that went to nine rear on Sunday.

But he stumbled on 10 and 11, and when he reached the 12th, Spieth was trying to attack. Attracted by the song of the siren of the right pin, it flared and put two balls in the water. He loaded a quadruple Bogey Seven, gave up command and in the end he lost Danny Willett against English.

The only person to survive the disaster at n. 12 was Fred Couples in 1992, when his ball was headed towards the water somehow stopped on the slope. The couples won, with Baker-Finch came to sixth place.

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This week, most of the Masters players will arrive at the 12th and try to emerge unknown.

They will calm their stringent hands, they will try to pull the right club and read the wind, then avoid temptations and traps when choosing a target.

And then, down to Amen Corner, they will pray.