Augusta’s playing even longer

AUGUSTA, Ga. – With players, caddies, spectators and others flooding out of Augusta National Golf Club all around him, Retief Goosen sat placidly in the back of a golf cart in the parking lot, gently tossing his cell phone around in his fingers, his familiar, casual smile fixed on his face.

“I’m just waiting for my wife to pick me up,” the 36-year-old South African said after play had been canceled for the day in the 69th Masters Tournament. “I’ll go home and play with my children this afternoon. I didn’t get a chance to see them much yesterday.”

And so it goes, once again, on the PGA Tour.

For the second consecutive day Friday, storms ruined any semblance of rhythm in the Masters, which completed its first round Friday morning but got only 2 hours and 20 minutes into the second round before rain and lightning moved in.

Englishmen David Howell and Luke Donald, both Masters rookies, share the lead with Chris DiMarco at 5-under at various stages of the second round.

Vijay Singh, who has not begun the second round, is 4-under after completing seven holes of the first round Friday morning at 2-under. His 68 is his career-best opening round in 12 Masters.

Australians Mark Hensby, through seven holes of the second round, and Stuart Appleby, through half a hole of the second round, are 3-under, with Kirk Triplett and defending champion Phil Mickelson, who also has not begun the second round, at 2-under.

After storms washed out nearly 5 1/2 hours of play Thursday – making the Masters the ninth of 15 PGA Tour-sanctioned events this season delayed by bad weather – play was held for only 2 hours, 55 minutes Friday, from 9:45 a.m. to 12:40 p.m.

Triplett, a former Pullman resident, opened with a 75 and was worried about a weekend tee time, but all that changed when he holed out for eagle on No. 13 from 94 yards. He birdied the 15th and 16th, and suddenly was at 2 under and dreaming big.

“I would love to keep playing,” Triplett said. “I’m thinking about contending, instead of when you’re a few over par and you’re thinking about making the cut. That’s the feeling I’m going to bring to the course tomorrow.”

The second round is tentatively scheduled to resume at 8 a.m. today. After the 91-player field is cut – to the low 44 and ties and anyone within 10 shots of the lead – players will begin the third round.

Will Nicholson, chairman of the competition committee for the club, said the tournament will be played over 72 holes regardless of further delays, with the intent remaining to finish Sunday.

“I would not speculate on that at this stage of the game,” he said of the possibility of a Monday finish, which has not occurred at the Masters because of weather since 1983.

“The weather looks pretty good (for the weekend). It looked pretty good today, so you can come to your own conclusion. But right now, it looks pretty good.”

Howell, 29, who has one career victory on the European Tour, had five birdies in just eight holes of his second round. Donald, 27, twice a runner-up on the PGA Tour this season, completed a 68 Friday morning and birdied his second hole of the second round.

DiMarco, 4-under through 15 holes Thursday, completed a 5-under-par 67, making him the official first-round leader for the second time in five Masters appearances.

The farthest any golfer made it in the second round Friday is nine holes, with some players facing as much play as daylight will allow today.

“We’ll get back on track (today),” said Appleby, who holds the Masters record for consecutive holes without a bogey, going 50 holes without one in 2001.

“The weather looks much more benign (today). No big threat there. It is going to be a bit of a haul for a lot of guys. And mentally, you’ve got to be sharp around this course.”

With rain interrupting the Masters for the fourth consecutive year and seventh of the last eight, Augusta National, already considered a bombers’ paradise, is expected to favor the longest hitters even more because the ball will have little or no run on the moist fairways.

“I don’t think we’ve seen this golf course play firm and fast,” David Toms, who completed a first-round 77 Friday morning, said in reference to the addition of 285 yards to the course in 2002. “It’s played soft every year.”

“It’s going to play even longer (today),” said Hensby. “You’re not hitting 8-irons into these greens. You’re hitting 5-irons.”

“It’s so long now, and this type of weather, it’s playing very long,” said Goosen.