The 12th hole
This tiny hole – at 155 yards the shortest hole at Augusta National – changed the complexion of the tournament as it so often has. In a span of 25 minutes, Poulter, Koepka, Molinari and Finau visited the watery grave that is Rae’s Creek and each made double-bogey 5. After Molinari rinsed his tee shot, Woods, trailing by two, stepped on a 9-iron shot and found the putting surface, then nailed a 6-footer for par after leaving his 40-footer for birdie well short. Just that quick, he had a share of the lead.
Woods: (Molinari) just opened Pandora’s box to who’s going to win the championship. Frankie, he hit an 8-iron at 12 and he didn’t hit it solid, ended up wet. But Tony hit a great shot. Tony hit it right on his number, hit the perfect shape, but you could see the wind just hold it up right at its peak, and you could see it get slammed, and that’s just enough for it to end up in the water. But he hit a good shot.
LaCava: I think it helped him in that he hit it about as hard as he could hit a 9-iron. You know as a player or a caddie when a player mis-hits it, you can tell. Molinari did not hit it flush. Having said that, to follow a guy that just hit one more club than you’re about to hit and hit it in the water, that might get you thinking a little bit. I think it might have helped us. He might have been thinking a stock 9-iron and instead he ripped it. It was 10 feet left of where he was looking. But at the same time, after you see a guy hitting one club farther and go in the water even though he mis-hit it, it’s hard to go farther right. It just is. So that was big. The fact that he hit the 9-iron harder and then made the 6-footer.
Molinari: Obviously, a great week in general but not the outcome I was hoping for with seven holes to go. To be fair, I had never been anywhere near in contention in the Masters, so my biggest take from the week, when I got there last year, I was in a much stronger place than I had ever been. How it ended is just golf. You win some, you lose some. Obviously, I’m not the first guy to hit a ball into the water on 12.
Koepka: I didn’t even hit a bad shot on 12. I think that’s the misconception. We’re all trying to hit it in the same spot in the center of the green. And then the wind just flares up. I actually went into the ball, backed off it because the wind was off the right. It should have been just off the left and maybe a hair into. I hit it with just a little bit too much spin, or maybe just too high. It wasn’t even a bad shot. It’s one of those things. Poulter did the same thing. And you don’t get four guys to do that in a row. You’re standing on that tee, you’re looking at 11 green and the wind is into and then you look to the right and it’s going across. It’s all timing there. It’s some luck. That’s the game. Henrik (Stenson) hit it all the way in the back and, let’s be real, no player is hitting it 25 yards off, or too far off in their yardage.
Simpson: The wind was gusting pretty good and it was in our face. Brooks hit a great shot. He either hit it too high or the wind just got it. But I thought he hit a great shot. In the air, as a player, you’re judging the shot, and it looked like it was perfect. Poults hit a similar shot. I just hit mine lower. You’re standing on that hole with an 8-iron and there is room right of the hole if you get it there. But if you tug it with that club it’s going long. It’s a genius hole. It can make us look silly.
Woods: When I got to that 12 tee, the feeling was that 11 played a little bit longer, and that shot is so inviting to hit it over (toward the pin). It was warm out. I know that I don’t quite hit the ball as far as Brooksy does, and I had 9-iron out, and I figured that his flight is more penetrating and he can get it back there, and he didn’t quite get it back there. Watching Fran (Molinari) hit an 8-iron there, and you could see it and I know if he didn’t quite hit it right, but I played it to the left. Tony (Finau) hit the best shot of all of us and he got stood up at the very end. It was a good shot. He hit it flush, but it stalled out at the top. If I had gone at the flag, my ball would have been the same thing, because mine, I played left, and it stalled out at its apex, ended up short left, and I had a putt.
LaCava: The fact he made a 6-footer on 12 for par going left to right after he left the putt 6 feet short was big. Not the easiest putt in the world. Last thing you want to do is make 4 on the hole when you’re the only guy in the last six guys to play the hole who hit the green. You’re on the green, you feel like you’re going to pick up two. All of a sudden you miss this and pick up one, it’s a little deflating. To me that was huge.
Simpson: You could feel how much everybody wanted Tiger to win. When I made birdie on 13, there was like eight claps. Everybody else was cheering for Tiger. And honestly that was the first time at Augusta where I heard anyone cheer for a water ball. They cheered for Molinari’s and Finau’s water balls because it meant Tiger had a better chance.