Here’s what the newest tee at Augusta looks like

It looks as if Augusta Nationwide incorporates some notable changes nearly yearly, and this yr is not any exception.

Over the weekend, the membership’s official Instagram account (@themasters) launched photographs of a model new teeing space for the par-5 2nd gap.

The outlet, named Pink Dogwood, was already the longest on the course, and can now play 585 yards — a 10-yard improve of its former size. Augusta Nationwide’s whole yardage for the Masters now stretches to 7,555 yards. Within the historical past of the Masters match, the second gap has performed because the second-easiest, surpassed solely by the thirteenth, a 545-yard par-5.

The brand new teeing space seems to be pushed as far again and left as doable. The outlet performs as a downhill dogleg left and has lengthy been considered a terrific birdie alternative, even for shorter hitters. That is the primary time the membership has made adjustments to the second gap since 1999, when Tom Fazio added a brand new again tee moved the correct fairway bunker even farther to the correct.

At first look, the tee shot seems to be prefer it might show to be tougher from the brand new start line, however after enjoying the outlet on a latest scouting journey, Rory McIlroy mentioned the change is comparatively minor.

“I believed it was going to be a unique visible than it was, nevertheless it’s — I believed each time somebody mentioned they moved it again and to the left, I believed the tee field was going to level you out in direction of that proper bunker and also you’re going to should hit extra of a draw across the nook,” McIlroy mentioned forward of final week’s Valero Texas Open. “I imply, for those who didn’t know, you’ll suppose you had been on the identical tee field, it doesn’t look that a lot totally different. You’ll be able to nonetheless see left of the bunker and I believed it was actually going to pressure you to hit some form of draw shot across the nook, however you may nonetheless hit a immediately shot and hold it left of the entice. It’s not as drastic of a change as I believed it was going to be.”

Final yr, Augusta’s thirteenth gap was in the spotlight, when the membership elevated the outlet’s size by 35 yards and debuted a brand new elevated teeing space.

Will the additional 10 yards on No. 2 make the outlet play any more durable? We’ll discover out quickly. The 2024 Masters begins on Thursday, April eleventh.

Golf.com Editor

As a four-year member of Columbia’s inaugural class of feminine varsity golfers, Jessica can out-birdie everybody on the masthead. She will out-hustle them within the workplace, too, the place she’s primarily liable for producing each print and on-line options, and overseeing main particular initiatives, comparable to GOLF’s inaugural Fashion Is­sue, which debuted in February 2018. Her origi­nal interview collection, “A Spherical With,” debuted in November of 2015, and appeared in each within the journal and in video kind on GOLF.com.