Three years into the so-called rough era in the Masters Tournament, the question remains: What effect has the longer grass had on scores?

Some golfers say it has actually improved scoring. ``A number of players say the golf course may have been made easier with the rough,'' said 1976 Masters champion Ray Floyd. ``I'm from that school. The first time I played the course with the rough, I thought that and said, `Wait a minute.'''

It's impossible to tell the impact the rough has had on scoring. If it had been added during a year in which no changes were made to the course, a definitive answer would emerge. But changes to five holes also were unveiled in 1999, making them more difficult.

The rough, or second cut, as the Augusta National Golf Club calls it, was added to give the course a second defense to it's No. 1 challenge, the slick bentgrass greens.

The rough, which is 1Ä inches high, can cause a few problems. Golfers can't control the accuracy of their shots coming out of the rough as well as they can off the closely cropped fairways. Flyers - shots that jump off the club and go farther than expected because of the way the grass catches between the clubface and ball - can happen.

``You might have to think about, `Is this ball going to jump a little bit or not?''' said Steve Flesch.

And golfers can't spin the ball as well off the clubface out of the rough. Instead of checking up on the green, shots from the rough come out hot and keep rolling.

The rough also slows down the progress of a shot from the tee. Sometimes, that can be a good thing for a player.

``The golf balls aren't getting away from you when they go in the rough,'' David Duval said. ``Unless you hit a big, wild shot, you're not playing out of the pines. Balls aren't running off 30 yards into the woods.''

Floyd said the rough is helping players avoid big numbers on holes that traditionally penalized off-line shots.

``The rough is saving people from making double and triple bogeys,'' Floyd said.

For example, Floyd points to the par-5 second hole. A little-known creek runs to the left side of the hole, adjacent to the landing area off the tee. Many a hooked tee shot has rolled into the creek. Former Masters champion Bob Goalby calls the creek the ``Delta ticket office'' because anyone who hits a shot there will take such a high number, they would probably miss the cut and soon be booking a flight out of Augusta.

Now, hardly anyone finds the creek.

``You hit the ball left there now, and it will stop from going down into the creek,'' Floyd said. ``The length and depth of it will stop it.''

Floyd gives holes Nos. 5 and 8 as other examples of where the rough has been benefical role for golfers.

``On No. 8, on your second shot, if you pull it or hook it, it now catches up in the rough and doesn't go to the azalea bushes,'' Floyd said. ``And then there's left of the fifth fairway. It used to be hard and fast and there was nothing to stop you from going into the pine trees; now it does.''

Darren Clarke of Northern Ireland is another player in the ``rough made the course easier'' camp.

``I played here for the first time in 1998,'' Clarke said. ``There was no rough then. If you pulled or pushed a drive, the ball would roll and roll into the trees. Now, the longer grass slows the ball down. In effect, the course is wider than it was.''

The Augusta National is pleased with the way the rough has worked out.

``We don't have any plans to change the second cut,'' Augusta National Chairman Hootie Johnson said Wednesday.

The rough was brought in on some fairways in 2000, making them narrower. This year, on two holes, Nos. 9 and 10, the rough line has been returned to the 1999 specifications.

Ernie Els wishes they would do away with the rough completely.

``It's hard to criticize Augusta National,'' Els said. ``It's one of my favorite places, and it still is. But I really enjoyed it the way it used to be.''