"You used to be able to have a train wreck, but you also could shoot 30 on the back nine."

Ron Kroichick profiled Nick Price prior to last week's Schwab Cup and included this item on Augusta National, which is not anything we haven't heard in the last few years from noted players. But considering the disappointing announcement on course changes, offers a reminder how much work remains to get ANGC back to respectability.

Along the way, Price has followed a popular road of past major champions, forming his own course-design company. The experience helped convince him that Augusta National, among others, is taking the wrong approach to combat technology.

Price, who shares the Augusta National course record (third-round 63 in 1986), pointed to the plodding nature of the past two Masters. Those tournaments offered a striking contrast to the '80s and '90s, Price said, when players who finished the final round early rushed to the nearest television, never sure who might surge out of the pack.

"I totally disagree with what they've done there," he said. "They've taken a lot of the theater out of that event - now it's about not having a train wreck. You used to be able to have a train wreck, but you also could shoot 30 on the back nine."

Comments

[86general]

I see what he means. But on the other side, we complain about golf becoming too easy. I know many will distill this dichotomy back to an "equipment issue," but I think it's chasing your tail to do that.

I think they can still shoot 30 on the back 9. It's just harder. Maybe they have to learn how to a) hit it in the fairway, and b) follow that up with a long iron or fairway wood to 10 feet or so. It can be done.

Define what is easy enough, or what is exciting enough, or challenging enough, to you. Chances are it involves whatever your circumstances were in your heyday. No doubt ANGC has changed most dramatically in the last 5 years relative to its history, but we're silly if we think Nick Price shot his 30 on the "same" course as Hogan and Snead played.

Sometimes it seems like keeping the golf fan/writer/apologist satisfied is like trying to thread a needle while standing with one foot hanging over the edge of a cliff and the other on a wet bar of soap.

[Bob Brancato]

Beg to differ. Throw in some dry weather and a little wind and no one shoots low 30s on the back nine. The possibility of a back nine charge was a charm that Augusta held on it's own. They chose to do without one of the most riveting perpetual possibilities in golf, a late Sunday duel between great golfers on a great course in a tradition filled event. Throw out the tradition and you have a golf tournament as mundane as most of the other myriad events.