Golf, two trees fall at the Augusta Masters: moments of fear – Corriere.it

On Friday, due to a disruption announced and punctually arrived, two towering pines have fallen near the 17th hole of the Augusta Masters, recording moments of terror. The fans ran to safety and by some miracle tragedy was averted before play was suspended for the second time: The safety and well-being of all those participating in the tournament will always be our top priority – the Augusta National Golf Club said in an official statement – we will continue to closely monitor the weather, both in these hours and in the next stages of the competition.

Many of the pines along the route are over 150 years old. The famous Eisenhower Tree near the 17th hole (the tree about 20 meters high so called because it was hit so many times by the former president of the United States as to push the latter to ask for it to be cut down), was already thrown down in 2014 due to damage taken from an ice storm.

After two days Koepka commands

Before bad weather wreaked havoc, it was Brooks Koepka who took the lead thanks to an extraordinary -12 (65-67 partials). Three shots ahead of the Spanish Jon Rahm, stopped for half a turn by the suspension and therefore still able to undermine him. The American, already a four-time Major winner, has gone through very complicated moments in the last year also due to a bad knee injury: It had become impossible to work on a daily basis, it took me 20 minutes just to get out of bed – his words at the press conference – I even tried to destroy the glass of my car with a fist. I tried twice, because I failed on the first attempt. I was incredibly frustrated.