With play off the pace, Trahan lies down in fairway
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D.J. Trahan fumed after posting a second-round 73. His ire wasn't all about his score.
Pace of play has been a touchy subject at the Masters Tournament for years. Fred Ridley, the chairman of the competition and rules committees, even addressed it at a Wednesday news conference. Trahan and playing partners Pat Perez and Mark O'Meara had to wait on almost every shot in a round that took five hours and four minutes.
"It didn't do us any good having to play behind them," Trahan said of the group consisting of Aaron Baddeley, Bubba Watson and Graeme McDowell. "And we were the (fifth) group off today. We should be out there playing at a torrid pace."
In disgust, Trahan lay down for 15 minutes in the 15th fairway. The first three groups of the day finished in less than four hours and 46 minutes. The Baddeley-McDowell-Watson pairing took five hours and four minutes, finishing 23 minutes slower than the previous group.
From then on, every group of three players took five hours or longer to complete their rounds.
Research by The Augusta Chronicle shows that the pace of play in Thursday's round, when the weather was ideal, was five hours and five minutes. Friday's round, marked by constant winds, took an average of five hours and 12 minutes.
Ridley stated that groups of three should take no more than four hours and 45 minutes, while groups of two should be finished in four hours and five minutes to complete their rounds. Thursday's and Friday's rounds were two minutes slower per hole than the expected pace.
"One of the things that we do every year is look at the prescribed pace of play and see if it needs any adjusting," Ridley said Wednesday. "We did do that last year. We cut off five minutes from the recommended time, and we'll take a look at that again this year, and there may be some opportunities to tighten that up a little bit.
''But clearly, we want our players to move along as quickly as possible, and in good time. And again, a lot of it depends on the conditions. When it gets windy, this golf course plays very difficult, and that does have an impact on it."
Trahan almost missed the cut with his 73. At 1-over, he'll be around to play this weekend. How fast he'll play is yet to be determined.
Reach Chris Gay at (706) 823-3645 or chris.gay@augustachronicle.com.
| 2nd Round | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Hole | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Out | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | In | Tot |
| Par | 4 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 36 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 36 | 72 |
| Rnd | 4 | 5 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 35 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 6 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 38 | 73 |
| Tot | 0 | 0 | 0 | -1 | -1 | -1 | 1 | 0 | -1 | -1 | -1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 1st Round | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Hole | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Out | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | In | Tot |
| Par | 4 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 36 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 36 | 72 |
| Rnd | 4 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 36 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 6 | 2 | 4 | 5 | 36 | 72 |
| Tot | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | -1 | 0 | -1 | -1 | 0 | 0 | E |
