Masters: Sergio Garcia reveals 4 most weather-impacted holes at Augusta National

Sergio Garcia knows his stuff about Augusta National.

He won the 2017 Masters Tournament in a playoff against Justin Rose and has three other top-10 finishes.

This year, the start of the first round was delayed by two and a half hours due to bad weather, which was much later than originally expected. But knowing that severe storms would be blowing through Augusta early Thursday morning, Garcia revealed which holes at Augusta National would be most affected by the weather.

“It’s going to affect every hole, but obviously if you think about holes like No. 5, 10, 11, 18, they’re long holes, tough holes where you can’t get a run, and they’re very tricky. It’s going to be something,”’ Garcia said Wednesday.

“We will watch the weather and deal with it.”

Magnolia has become one of the most challenging holes on the course since the club extended the par-4 No. 5 to 495 yards in 2019. There are two deep fairway bunkers uphill on this left dogleg that players must avoid to the left. Players cannot carry bunkers in wet conditions.

Tiger Woods bogeyed this hole all four days in 2019 en route to his fifth Masters victory. The fifth hole ranked as the most difficult hole in 2023, with a 0.329 shot over par.

Garcia then mentioned the 10th and 11th holes, which are downhill par-4s.

The 495-yard No. 10 is a big left dogleg. Its steep slope is reminiscent of a ski mountain, but the wet, soft conditions don’t allow players to get the roll they normally would on a sunny day. This makes the 10th hole play longer and more difficult.

On the other hand, the 11th hole is 525 yards and is downhill from the approach shot. As with the other holes, the golf course is longer in soft conditions, so the second shot to the green protected by water on the left is longer. Heavy rain creates more mud, and when players get mud on their golf balls, unpredictable things happen. Maybe some mud balls will fall into that pond on Thursday.

Photo credit: David Cannon/Getty Images

Finally, Garcia mentioned the uphill par-4 18th hole, one of the best finishing holes in golf history. Augusta’s final hole is listed as 465 yards, but conditions will make it play much longer than that.

Overall, the course will play much differently on Thursday than the past three days, when abundant sunshine created solid conditions for practice rounds. So players will have to adapt, but softening the greens is likely to create better scoring opportunities.

“We talk about it a little bit and there are some things we can do here and there, but at the end of the day it comes down to making shots,” Garcia added.

“It seems easy but it’s difficult. So you have to do your best there.”

But another challenge facing everyone is the wind, which could gust up to 40 mph at times on Thursday and Friday. It can cause headaches for many people in this field.

“When the pine trees are this high, it’s hard to know exactly where the wind is blowing,” Garcia added.

“I would guess that if you blow a little harder, it’s not actually easier, but it’s a little bit better because it’s more consistent. If you’re constantly switching, it’s a little harder. But if you blow in one direction all the time, If you’re playing in winds of that strength, at least you know more or less what it’s doing. Then it becomes very difficult.”

The 88th Masters offers challenges that will not disappoint the players.

Jack Mirko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through.Be sure to check it out @_PlayingThrough Cover more golf. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko In the same way.