AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) — Three towering pine trees fell near patrons as storms rolled through Augusta National on Friday, though nobody was hurt, and the second round of the Masters ground to a halt as heavy wind and rain rolled through the area.
The course was cleared once for 21 minutes by an earlier band of storms. The air horns sounded again at 4:22 p.m. as another set of arrived, forcing the evacuation of patrons and sending players and officials searching for cover.
Just before the second horn sounded, two enormous pines fell next to each other near the 17th tee, sending those in the area scattering. On the nearby 16th green, Sergio Garcia stopped and stared at what seemed to be happening in slow motion, and his playing partners Kazuki Higa and Keith Mitchell watched anxiously to see if anyone was hurt.
“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.”
Everyone escaped harm, but the close call was evidenced by several crushed chairs beneath the fallen pines.
“I was talking to friends next to me and all of sudden we heard a crack,” said Katie Waites, a patron from Charleston, South Carolina. "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.”
Waites said she saw one woman standing between the two fallen trees, and she had heard that a man had crawled out from beneath some of the limbs. She added that it was “absolutely a miracle” that nobody was hurt.
“Then the alarms went off and they evacuated again because of weather,” Waites said. "I called my dad. He’s a judge. And he said this time they are not going to open it back up. Get out of there now.”
Workers quickly arrived with chainsaws to begin clearing the trees away.
The storms had been expected throughout the day, and tournament officials moved all starting times up 30 minutes in the hopes 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.
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 but had nine holes still to play, while U.S. Amateur champion Sam Bennett had finished his second round and was 8 under for the championship.
