AUGUSTA, Ga. — A hole-by-hole look at Augusta National, site of the 90th Masters to be played April 9-12, with famous shots played at each, the average score and where each hole ranks in difficulty over the years:
No. 1, 445 yards, par 4 (Tea Olive)
This slight dogleg right plays uphill and has a deep bunker requiring a 317-yard carry off the tee. The bunker has a tongue in the left side, so anything that enters the front of the bunker might be blocked by the lip. A bunker is left of the green, which falls off sharply at the back and to the right.
Masters memory: Charl Schwartzel used a 6-iron to pitch a low-running shot from the right mounds across the green and holed the shot for birdie to begin the final round of his 2011 victory.
Average score: 4.236
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Rank: 6
No. 2, 585 yards, par 5 (Pink Dogwood)
The dogleg left can be reached in two with a good drive. A fairway bunker on the right comes into play. A drive kept down the left side shortens the hole, but leaves a downhill lie to a green guarded by two deep bunkers in the front.
Masters memory: Louis Oosthuizen hit a 4-iron from 253 yards in the final round of 2012 that landed on the front of the green and rolled some 90 feet into the cup for the first albatross at this hole in Masters history.
Average score: 4.770
Rank: 18
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No. 3, 350 yards, par 4 (Flowering Peach)
One of the best short par 4s in golf, this hole hasn’t been changed since 1982. Big hitters can drive near the green, and more are trying. But there are difficult short-game shots surrounding the L-shaped green that slopes sharply from right to left. Some players still hit iron off the tee to stay short of four bunkers on the left side.
Masters memory: Scottie Scheffler’s three-shot lead was down to one in the final round of 2022 when he drove left and came up short. He chipped in for birdie and restored his lead to three shots when Cameron Smith made bogey.
Average score: 4.071
Rank: 14
AUGUSTA, GEORGIA – APRIL 13: Tyrrell Hatton of England and Tiger Woods of the United States walk across the fourth hole during the third round of the 2024 Masters Tournament at Augusta National Golf Club on April 13, 2024 in Augusta, Georgia. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)
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No. 4, 240 yards, par 3 (Flowering Crab Apple)
This usually is long iron or maybe fairway metal for shorter hitters. A deep bunker protects the right side of the green, with another bunker to the left. The green slopes to the front. This hole features the only palm tree on the course.
Masters memory: Phil Mickelson was one shot out of the lead in the final round in 2012 when his tee shot hit the grandstand and went into the woods. Lefty played two right-handed shots to get it out, hit his fourth into the bunker and got up-and-down for a triple bogey. He finished two shots behind.
Average score: 3.282
Rank: 3
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No. 5, 495 yards, par 4 (Magnolia)
The Masters tee was moved back 40 yards in 2019. It now requires a 313-yard carry over the bunkers on the left of this uphill, slight dogleg to the left. The green slopes severely from back to front, and a small bunker catches anything long. If an approach is long and misses the bunker, it could roll down the slope and into the Magnolia trees. The back left green has been softened to allow for a pin position.
Masters memory: Jack Nicklaus made two eagles in the 1995 Masters, with a 5-iron from 180 yards in the first round and with a 7-iron from 163 yards in the third round.
Average score: 4.267
Rank: 5
No. 6, 180 yards, par 3 (Juniper)
An elevated tee to a large green with three tiers, with significant slopes marking the three levels. Getting close to the hole is a challenge. The easiest pin might be front left. The hole has not been changed since 1975.
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Masters memory: Billy Joe Patton, trying to become the first amateur to win the Masters, made a hole-in-one with a 5-iron from 190 yards in the final round in 1954. He missed the playoff between Ben Hogan and Sam Snead by one shot.
Average score: 3.135
Rank: 12
AUGUSTA, GEORGIA – APRIL 09: Viktor Hovland of Norway plays his tee shot on the seventh hole during the final round of the 2023 Masters Tournament at Augusta National Golf Club on April 09, 2023 in Augusta, Georgia. (Photo by David Cannon/Getty Images)
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No. 7, 450 yards, par 4 (Pampas)
This hole literally has come a long way, from 320 yards to 450 yards. The tee shot is through a chute of Georgia pines, played to the left-center of the fairway into a slight slope. The green is surrounded by five bunkers, the most around any green.
Masters memory: Byron Nelson drove the green in the 1937 Masters for a two-putt birdie when it played at 320 yards. That inspired Augusta National to alter the hole, moving the green back 20 yards and to the right to make it an elevated green with three bunkers in the front and two in the back.
Average score: 4.156
Rank: 10
No. 8, 570 yards, par 5 (Yellow Jasmine)
An accurate drive is important to avoid the fairway bunker on the right side. The hole is uphill and features trouble left of the green. There are no bunkers around the green, just severe mounding.
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Masters memory: Tom Kite and Seve Ballesteros were paired together in the final round in 1986, both in contention. Kite hit a sand wedge from 80 yards that bounced twice and dropped in for his first eagle to get within two shots of the lead. Ballesteros, not the least bit bothered, played a pitch-and-run from 40 yards short of the green and matched his eagle to take the lead.
Average score: 4.813
Rank: 15
No. 9, 460 yards, par 4 (Carolina Cherry)
The tee shot should be aimed down the right side for a good angle into the green, which features two large bunkers to the left. Any approach that is short could spin some 25 yards back into the fairway.
Masters memory: Jack Nicklaus hit 9-iron into 12 feet in 1986 and was ready to putt when he heard back-to-back cheers from behind him on the eighth green. “Why don’t we try to make some noise ourselves?” he said to the gallery. He made the birdie putt, and so began his charge to his sixth green jacket.
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Average score: 4.133
Rank: 13
AUGUSTA, GA – APRIL 02: Bubba Watson of the United States prepares to play his third shot on the tenth hole during a practice round prior to the start of the 2018 Masters Tournament at Augusta National Golf Club on April 2, 2018 in Augusta, Georgia. (Photo by Andrew Redington/Getty Images)
No. 10, 495 yards, par 4 (Camellia)
A long hole that can play shorter if the drive catches the slope in the fairway. It is difficult to save par from the bunker right of the green. The putting surface slopes from right to left.
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Masters memory: Bubba Watson was deep in the trees to the right of the fairway, 155 yards away, when he played a 40-yard hook with a wedge that landed about 10 feet beneath the hole. He two-putted for par to win the 2012 Masters.
Average score: 4.296
Rank: 2
No. 11, 520 yards, par 4 (White Dogwood)
Amen Corner starts here. A big tee shot — and a straight one — is required to get to the crest of the hill. A pond guards the green to the left and a bunker is to the back right. The safe shot is to bail out short and to the right, but it leaves a difficult pitch.
Masters memory: Larry Mize was in a sudden-death playoff with Greg Norman in 1987 when he missed the green to the right. Mize’s 140-foot chip was gaining steam when it dropped in for birdie, giving him the green jacket and dealing another blow to Norman’s hopes of winning the Masters.
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Average score: 4.303
Rank: 1
No. 12, 155 yards, par 3 (Golden Bell)
This is among the most famous par 3s in golf and the shortest hole at Augusta National. Club selection can range from a 6-iron to a 9-iron, but it’s difficult to gauge the wind. Rae’s Creek is in front of the shallow green, with two bunkers behind it and one in front.
Masters memory: Jordan Spieth hit two balls into Rae’s Creek and made a quadruple-bogey 7. He started the back nine Sunday in 2016 with a five-shot lead. Walking to the 13th tee, he was three shots behind.
Average score: 3.267
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Rank: 4
AUGUSTA, GEORGIA – APRIL 09: Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland and Ludvig Aberg of Sweden walk off the 13th tee during a practice round prior to the 2024 Masters Tournament at Augusta National Golf Club on April 09, 2024 in Augusta, Georgia. (Photo by David Cannon/Getty Images)
No. 13, 545 yards, par 5 (Azalea)
The tee was moved back 35 yards in 2023. It still requires an accurate tee shot to the center of the fairway to set up players to go for the green, but they have a mid-iron at best. A tributary to Rae’s Creek winds in front of the green, and four bunkers are behind the putting surface. From tee to green, there are about 1,600 azaleas.
Masters memory: With a two-shot lead in the final round in 2010, Phil Mickelson was in the pine straw behind a pair of trees . He hit 6-iron through a small gap in the pines and over the creek to about 4 feet. He missed the eagle putt but kept his lead and went on to win.
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Average score: 4.775
Rank: 17
No. 14, 440 yards, par 4 (Chinese Fir)
This is the only hole on the course without a bunker. Even if the drive avoids trees on both sides of the fairway, the green has severe contours that feed the ball to the right.
Masters memory: Phil Mickelson holed out for eagle during an eagle-eagle-birdie stretch on Saturday in 2010 that helped him get into the final group. He won his third green jacket the next day.
Average score: 4.162
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Rank: 8
No. 15, 550 yards, par 5 (Firethorn)
A cluster of pines is starting to mature on the right side of the fairway, making it critical to be straight off the tee. The green can be reached in two with a good drive, but a pond guards the front and there is a bunker to the right. Even for those laying up, the third shot requires a precise wedge from a severe downhill lie.
Masters memory: Gene Sarazen was three shots behind when he hit the “shot heard ’round the world” in 1935. His 4-wood from 235 yards went into the hole for an albatross. He tied Craig Wood and defeated him the next day in a playoff.
Average score: 4.781
Rank: 16
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AUGUSTA, GEORGIA – APRIL 12: Jon Rahm of Spain makes a putt on the 16th green during the second round of Masters Tournament at Augusta National Golf Club on April 12, 2024 in Augusta, Georgia. (Photo by Ben Jared/PGA TOUR via Getty Images)
No. 16, 170 yards, par 3 (Redbud)
The hole is played entirely over water and eventually bends to the left. Two bunkers guard the right side, and the green slopes significantly from right to left. The Sunday pin typically is back and on the lower shelf, and pars from the top shelf that day are rare.
Masters memory: Tiger Woods had a one-shot lead over Chris DiMarco when he missed the green long in 2005. He chipped away from the hole up the slope, watched it make a U-turn at the top and roll back toward the hole, pausing for a full second before dropping for birdie.
Average score: 3.138
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Rank: 11
No. 17, 440 yards, par 4 (Nandina)
The Eisenhower Tree to the left of the fairway about 210 yards from the tee could not be saved from an ice storm in February 2014. That has made the tee shot much easier, especially for those with a lower, left-to-right ball flight. The green is protected by two bunkers in the front.
Masters memory: Jack Nicklaus made his final birdie in 1986 with a 12-foot putt that sent him to a 30 on the back nine and a 65, giving him a one-shot win and his sixth Masters.
Average score: 4.164
Rank: 9
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No. 18, 465 yards, par 4 (Holly)
Now among the most demanding finishing holes in golf, this uphill dogleg right is protected off the tee by two deep bunkers at the left elbow — the only bunkers in play off the tee on the back nine (except for par 3s). Trees get in the way of a drive that strays to the right. Bunkers grab any shot to the left and right.
Masters memory: Sandy Lyle was tied for the lead with Mark Calcavecchia in 1988 when he hit 1-iron in the first of two bunkers down the left side of the fairway. Not thinking he could get on the green, Lyle hit 7-iron over the tall lip and behind the flag, and it rolled back to 10 feet. He holed the putt for birdie to win.
AUGUSTA, Ga. — When Gary Woodland last played the Masters in 2024, he was months removed from surgery to remove a brain tumor.
At that point, it may have appeared to outsiders that he’d finished his fight. Woodland, though, said he “didn’t know what the future held.”
Woodland, now 41, revealed in a Golf Channel sit-down last month he was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder in the wake of the surgery. The tumor, which was not fully removed in surgery, was located near his amygdala, the part of the brain that controls fear and anxiety.
Not three weeks after going public about his PTSD, Woodland won the Texas Children’s Houston Open, his long-awaited first victory since claiming the 2019 U.S. Open. Even then, in the midst of his biggest on-course triumph in years, Woodland was struggling mentally.
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“I had a big battle Friday of Houston,” Woodland said Tuesday ahead of his Masters return. “I got hypervigilant on the ninth hole, and I battled the last 10 holes thinking people were trying to kill me. I have security with me. The Tour’s been amazing.
“But I talked to Tour security that night and I told them what I was going through, and every time I looked up on the weekend, my security team was behind me. Any time I got startled on the weekend, I turned around — last year I didn’t talk to Tour security. I fought this on my own. It was awful. Turning around and knowing that I’m safe, having somebody there with me, it’s the only reason why I won like two weeks ago.”
Woodland revealed that the PGA Tour communicated with Augusta National ahead of his arrival, and he’s since met with Augusta’s security team.
“I’ll have, just like on tour, I’ll have security with me,” Woodland said. “The main deal is they were showing me where security is. The whole deal for me is it’s visual, right? If I can see somebody, then I can remind myself that I’m safe constantly.
“So I have a good idea now where security is on every hole. The big deal for me, my caddie knows too. So he can constantly remind me. Like I said, I don’t have control when this thing hits me, and it’s tough. It can be a fan. It can be a walking score. It can be a camera guy running by me, just any startlement from behind me can trigger this pretty quickly. Knowing where the security is is a constant reminder that I’m safe.”
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Woodland said he hoped his win in Houston has “a bigger impact on somebody else’s life,” and that his message to those coping with similar adversity is to reach out and talk to somebody.
“We live in a world, as men and especially as an athlete, that you put your head down and you fight through it. I’ve done it my whole life,” Woodland said. “This is honestly one battle that I’m not able to do on my own. I tried, and it wasn’t working.”
Woodland’s 13th career Masters start is set to be even more emotional than his 12th.
“People ask me, ‘How was the win (in Houston)?’ The one thing I know is having this brain tumor and having PTSD, it doesn’t matter if I win or lose. It doesn’t care,” he said. “I had a tough time (that week) battling this stuff. A lot of stimulation comes with winning, stuff I hadn’t seen in a long time.
“It’s a big week for me this week. The fans are very close on the tee boxes. There’s a lot going on. There’s probably not a safer golf tournament in the world, so I’m happy for that, but it’s still a battle in my head if I’m safe or not. That’s a tough pill to swallow.
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“I’m emotional from the standpoint I know how close I probably was to never being back here, and I’m very proud of myself for earning my way back.”
AUGUSTA, Ga. — If there was such a thing as natural order when it comes to who deserves to — and should — win the Masters, Justin Rose is your man this week at Augusta National.
But, of course, there is no such thing.
Augusta National owes no one a damn thing.
Just ask Greg Norman, who had his heart mercilessly ripped from his chest not once but two or three times at Augusta and never won a green jacket.
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Scars or belief?
This is a question that faces Justin Rose as he embarks on his 21st career Masters this week at Augusta National.
England’s Justin Rose hits his tee shot on the 9th hole during a practice round. REUTERS
To be sure: Rose has done everything but win a green jacket in his first 20 tries, finishing second three times, including last year in a playoff to Rory McIlroy. In all, he has seven finishes inside the top 10.
The Masters has also represented significant heartbreak for Rose.
He lost to Sergio Garcia in a playoff in 2017 after shooting a final-round 69. And his loss to McIlroy last year came after Rose posted a 6-under-par 66 on Sunday to force a playoff, playing beautiful golf.
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Scars from defeat or belief, based on his close calls, that he can finally cross the line and have that coveted green jacket slipped over his shoulders in Butler Cabin on Sunday night?
These are things Rose, at age 45 and understanding his realistic chances are dwindling with each year, ponders. He chooses to live on the positive side of the tracks.
“I hope it only boosts my belief that I can go ahead and do it,’’ Rose said Monday. “I feel like I’ve pretty much done what it takes to win. I just haven’t kind of walked over the line. I feel like I’ve executed well enough to have done the job.
“I’m very aware that I’ve been close here,’’ Rose went on. “I’m very aware that I’ve had tough, tough losses here. I also am aware that I enjoy this place. So I don’t want to feel that those three second-place finishes need to create a different sort of feeling for me.’’
He was asked whether he falls in the “desire’’ or “obsession’’ camp in wanting a Masters.
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“I’d say firmly in the desire camp, just because I know that the latter is not going to help me,’’ Rose said.
This is a player who missed his first 21 cuts to start his professional career. So, don’t ever question Rose’s mental toughness.
Justin Rose of England chips on to the second hole green during a practice round prior to the 2026 Masters Tournament at Augusta National Golf Club on April 06, 2026 in Augusta, Georgia. Getty Images
“I’ve realized that you can’t skip through a career without a little bit of heartache and heartbreak,’’ he said. “If you’re going to be willing to win them, you’ve got to be willing to kind of be on the wrong side of it as well. The key is showing up. The point is you’ve got to put yourself there.
“The better player you are, the more chances you’re going to have and the more you’re going to win. I don’t feel like [the Masters] owes me anything. I come here with a good sort of attitude. I come here with it [being] a place that I enjoy being.
“There’s certain places you get to and you take a deep breath and go, ‘Right, it’s nice to be here.’ Augusta still is one of those places for me.’’
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Rose, who played a practice round with Jersey Shore native Chris Gotterup on Monday, said he’s “always trying to learn’’ around the place.
“Listen, you can know everything in the world, but when it comes to execution, if you’re not playing well, it doesn’t matter how well you know anything,’’ he said. “It’s an execution-based business, and the golf course doesn’t know what I know.
England’s Justin Rose on the 1st hole during a practice round. REUTERS
“From my point of view, I don’t think, ‘Oh, I know how to play this golf course. It’s going to be fun. It’s going to be easy.’ I turn up every day I play this golf course knowing it’s a new body of work.’’
Rose, who won the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines earlier this year, breaking the tournament record and becoming the first wire-to-wire winner of that event since 1955, is an absolute sentimental favorite here this week.
Three runner-up finishes and handling those with pure class, which has always been Rose’s calling card, will do that.
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“I’ve already experienced it this week,’’ Rose said. “A lot of people are wishing me well or thinking it’s going to be my year, whatever, just based around sentiment. So, I’m going to have to manage that a bit this week, and that’s going to be part of my week this week for sure is people remembering what happened last year.
“That’s fine, but I’ve got to kind of be aware of that, be ready for that, and I’ve got to have my own narrative and not kind of buy into everyone else’s narrative.’’
