There's no arguing that the past two Masters Tournaments have lacked fireworks at Augusta National Golf Club, especially on the back nine.

Louis Oosthuizen putts on No. 15. Several players say excitement through the back nine has been lacking for a number of years. (Rainier Ehrhardt/Staff)

Through 16 holes in 2007, Zach Johnson led by three shots and ended up winning by two.

Trevor Immelman was up by five shots after 15 holes last year and won by three, even with a double bogey on No. 16.

"It's not an exciting nine holes of golf to play anymore," said Steve Flesch, who was in the mix on the back nine last year before tying for fifth. "It's a grind to play it. I think that's why you hear guys saying it's such a quiet back nine. It's like you're at a funeral.

"I think back on 1986 when (Jack) Nicklaus won, the roars were one after another. You don't hear that anymore," Flesch said.

Three-time champion Gary Player, who will compete in his final Masters this week, misses "the cheers that you could hear through these trees and these valleys, time and again."

Rocco Mediate is playing this year, but he watched last year's final round on TV.

"It was survival; it was a war of attrition," he said. "There weren't any fireworks."

What's going on?

Is it a manifestation of how the "new" Augusta National (growing a second cut in 1999, and added yardage and newly planted trees that created different sight lines starting in 2002) plays when it's dry?

Or is it about the final-round weather the past two years, especially the way the wind swirls through the Augusta National pines?

The best guess is it's a combination of the two, with a heavier weight placed on the weather.

THE COURSE

Starting in 2002, Augusta National has added 450 yards to the course. It plays 7,435 yards.

"They've got it to now where it's a modern test for these guys, these supremely long hitters," said two-time champion Ben Crenshaw. "Certainly, in the last six years it has leaped headlong into big changes."

On Tuesday, Tiger Woods said: "The golf course has changed quite a bit; your strategy has changed. You don't go out there looking to shoot super-low rounds because they are not out there anymore.

"... you don't have the same amount of birdie opportunities that you used to have. It's just not the same. The scores reflect that."

The back nine par-5's -- Nos. 13 and 15 -- are where most of the excitement used to be, and where players would start charges with birdies and eagles.

That's no longer the case. Yardage has been added to the holes, which were once considered "par-41/2 holes" because most players could get to the green in two shots.

No more.

"I don't know whether I'm imagining things," Player said. "I don't know how many birdies have been made since the change of the golf course and eagles as compared to before. Only that would tell the truth."

The statistics bear Player out. On No. 13, the number of birdies in the final round dropped significantly from 2007 to 2008. There were 19 final-round birdies there in 2007 and eight in 2008. On No. 15, there were 20 final-round birdies in 2007 and 12 in 2008.

There were just seven final-nine eagles on No. 13 in the 2007-08 period, and just two on No. 15 during that time.

"I just hope the excitement comes back on the back nine; it's not what it used to be -- 13, 15 were good drives, were automatic irons into greens, and that's not always the case now," Woods said.

Flesch says the back-nine grind starts on No. 11, a par-4 that went from 455 yards in 2001 to 490 in 2002 to its current 505 in 2006.

Numerous trees have also tightened the shot off the tee. The longer second shot brings the pond to the left of the green more into play.

"Guys aren't going at the 11th green anymore," Flesch said. "They're aiming right of it. I think if you've got a 3- or 4-iron in your hand on a par-4, I think you should be at least looking at the green, but you can't afford to on No. 11, which I think has taken so much of the excitement out of it."

It's not just the added length. Trees were planted in the side of holes, almost eliminating the recovery shot, an Augusta National hallmark for years. Then there's the rough that was added in 1999.

"They represent a huge change," Crenshaw said of the rough and added trees. "It cuts down on the things a player can do."

FINAL-ROUND WEATHER

Both days were cold and windy, with gusts up to 35 mph last year.

"The weather was a huge issue last year," Brandt Snedeker said. "The weather being tough on Sunday makes it really hard for someone to go low."

Said Crenshaw: "When the weather gets inclement, the top players start playing it a little more defensive. Because it's a huge test."

Some players, like journeyman Flesch, go the other way and roll the dice in an effort to catch up. Flesch, who had doubled-bogeyed No. 12 to fall four shots behind Immelman, tried that in 2008 and it didn't work out.

"I felt like I needed to play 13, 14 and 15 aggressively to even have a chance and I ended up bogeying a couple of those holes. It kind of put me behind the eight ball," Flesch said.

"I just played aggressively with the lines I took, trying to get too close to the pins," he said. "If I'd played it a hair more conservatively, instead of trying to hit it 2 or 3 feet, I might have made a few more pars. I was just trying to hit it dead stiff. That's the beauty of Augusta. You try to do that and if you don't pull it off, you're going to pay the price."

Immelman goes with the weather theory to explain the lack of back-nine drama, pointing out he was 11-under through 54 holes last year (and still 10-under going to the back nine) and Snedeker was second at 9-under through 54 holes.

"That doesn't happen too often at too many majors, where the leader is 11-under after three days," Immelman said. "Pretty difficult weather came in on the Sunday. We had gusts into the mid-30s.

"When you're playing a golf course like Augusta National, the beauty of Augusta National, its defense is that you really need to be accurate and you need to really control the distance and the trajectory of your golf ball.

"When that's a golf course's defense, then a 30-mile-an-hour wind is thrown into the equation, it becomes extremely difficult for the golfer," Immelman said. "Once that breeze came up, you know, things became very difficult for the players on that Sunday."

Woods said: "You get any kind of wind around this place, it is absolutely amazing."

During a practice round Monday, Woods said, he changed clubs four times on the tee of the par-3 12th hole before finally settling on a club.

"That's how the nature of this golf course is so different from anywhere else; how can you go from a 5-iron to an 8-iron to a 6-iron all in a matter of seconds?" Woods said.

Augusta National officials want a Sunday shoot-out. The course is set for just that, with shorter tees (sometimes on No. 3) and the most accessible pins of the week. It hasn't happened the past two years because of the tough course/bad weather combination.

"I think if you get dry conditions and they set the course up relatively the same every Sunday, guys can go out and make some birdies," Snedeker said. "If the weather's bad, then par is going to be a good score and that's the Masters you're going to have."

Snedeker says course officials "don't miss on anything; they know what they're doing."

One thing the club can't control is the weather.

"It has to cooperate to get those low scores (on Sunday)," Snedeker said.

It might happen this week. The long-range forecast for Sunday calls for a high in the mid-70s and 5 to 15 mph winds out of the east.

Reach David Westin at (706) 823-3224 or david.westin@augustachronicle.com.