"The Second Round has been officially suspended for the rest of the day. Play will resume Saturday morning at 8:00 a.m. EDT. Ticket gates will open at 7:00 a.m. EDT as scheduled."
This was not the announcement anyone wanted to hear, especially the patrons. With a huge tree coming down on the course, however, and with the threat of thunder and lightning in the area, a premature end to the day was always likely. And with more heavy rain forecast on Saturday, it begs the question: Are we heading for a Monday finish at The Masters?
MONDAY FINISHES AT THE MASTERS
Nothing is unusual about golf tournaments being affected by bad weather, especially in the US, where electrical storms can come and go in pretty quick time. At The Masters, and before this year's tournament, rain has been experienced during 47 of the 86 events.
In total, eight days of play have been postponed. Of course, it’s sometimes possible to make up days and, at Augusta, they’ve managed to play 36 holes in one day on four occasions: 1936, 1938, 1939 and 2003.
1936
However, there have only even been five Monday finishes at The Masters since 1934, the last of which came in 1983. The first Monday finish came in 1936, when 36 holes were played on Monday. It didn’t affect Horton Smith, who won his second Masters title.
1938
Two years later and the tournament was forced into a Monday finish again. Two rounds were played on Sunday, but more time was needed before Henry Picard prevailed.
1961
The weather was relatively kind in the subsequent years, and another Monday finish wasn’t witnessed until 1961. Rain on Sunday wasn’t going to prevent Gary Player from pulling on a Green Jacket; the South African returned on Monday to hold off Arnold Palmer and amateur Charles Coe to become the tournament’s first international champion.
1973
Tommy Aaron was the victor in 1973. There was a 75-minute delay during the third round, which led to a two-tee start on Sunday and then a Monday finish. Aaron closed with a 68 to win by one stroke.
1983
The rain in 1983 was fairly constant. It started on the Thursday, when a heavy storm interrupted play for 40 minutes. It was a game of catch-up thereafter and a Monday finish was inevitable after more rain on Saturday, none of which caused the great Seve Ballesteros any concerns. The Spaniard defeated Ben Crenshaw and Tom Kite by four strokes to win his second title in four years.
Are we looking at only a sixth ever Monday finish at Augusta National? With more heavy rain forecast on Saturday, it's looking likely.
