Course had already been cleared for 21 minutes earlier in the round, and the air horn sounded again at 4.22pm local time as another set of storms arrived; two enormous pines fell near the 17th-tee box, sending the patrons in the area scattering for cover
Saturday 8 April 2023 11:28, UK
Two pine trees fell near patrons during storms at Augusta on Friday, and another tree fell elsewhere, though nobody was injured as the second round of The Masters was suspended.
The storms had been expected throughout the day, and tournament officials moved all starting times up 30 minutes in the hope of getting the second round in as scheduled.
The morning dawned hot and humid, with plenty of sun, but it gave way to ominous clouds churning through from the east shortly after the lunch hour.
The course had already been cleared once for 21 minutes when the first band of storms passed through the area, and the air horn sounded again at 4.22pm local time as another set of storms arrived, bringing heavy rain and the threat of lightning.
About the time the horns sounded, two enormous pines fell near the 17th-tee box, sending the patrons in the area scattering for cover. Workers quickly arrived with chainsaws to begin clearing the fallen trees.
There were immediate concerns that patrons may have been hurt, but it quickly became apparent that those in the area had had a lucky escape, with an official statement confirming the news.
The statement read: "Augusta National Golf Club can confirm that no injuries were reported from three trees that were blown over to the left of the No 17 tee due to wind.
"The safety and well-being of everyone attending the Masters tournament will always be the top priority of the club. We will continue to closely monitor weather today and through the tournament.
"The second round has been officially suspended for the rest of the day. Play will resume Saturday morning at 8am EDT. Ticket gates will open at 7am EDT as scheduled."
Sky Sports News' Jamie Weir at Augusta:
"Dramatic scenes this afternoon as three trees came down. Incredibly, nobody was hurt at all. And the trees were brought down by wind, not lightning.
"I was out on the course beside the 14th fairway at the time, and heard a loud bang. Somebody actually said, 'That sounds like a tree falling down'.
"I spoke to a few people who had seen the trees come down, and they confirmed to me that, miraculously, nobody had been hurt.
"For Augusta National, clearly there are some big decisions to make. There's a lot of rain forecast, the ground is going to get softer, and while this is a complete freak incident, they want to be entirely sure that no other trees are at risk. The big news, and thankfully the great news, is that nobody was hurt."
The reaction from those who witnessed the drama also revealed how fortunate the patrons were to escape injury.
"We were cresting the fairway on 15. We thought it was a scoreboard or a grandstand," said Sahith Theegala, who is playing in his first Masters. "We were hoping it wasn't something that hit anybody."
On the nearby 16th green, Harrison Crowe saw the tree falling and started to backpedal in surprise. His caddie John Serhan told the Australian Associated Press: ""You could feel it down there. This little tornado whipped up. It caught those trees. You could see them start to sway. They were lucky no one got killed. Very, very lucky."
Eyewitness Megan Hill told the Augusta Chronicle: "I was sitting, looking, waiting for the next group to come up to the tee and it fell maybe eight to 10 chairs to our left.
"I stood up and screamed and thought, 'Is it going to fall on me?' It fell to the left of us and it was so scary. If the wind had been blowing a slightly different direction, we might have got hit."
Another spectator, Deshey Thomas, added: "Pinecones were hitting us in the back, we turned around and looked up and heard a huge cracking noise and the tree basically crushed 10 chairs that were sitting there.
"Luckily we got everyone out of there. We were blessed."
Katie Waites said: "I was talking to friends next to me and all of sudden we heard a crack. And there were three trees across the pond, and all of a sudden we saw them falling and everybody - it was just like ants. They were like, scattering just like ants from beneath. All three fell at the same time. And then I just grabbed my friends' hands we were like, Is everyone OK?' And it was silent."
She added that it was "absolutely a miracle" that nobody was hurt.
Brooks Koepka was the leader at 12 under when play stopped, taking advantage of fortuitous tee times that left him in the clubhouse long before the storms arrived. Jon Rahm was three shots back in second, with nine holes still to play when the action resumes - weather permitting - at 8am local time (1pm BST) on Saturday.
Watch The Masters throughout the weekend live on Sky Sports. Live coverage will resume on Saturday at the earlier time from 1pm on Sky Sports Golf, with extra feeds available via the red button.
