Will Masters scores continue to go further under par in 2020?

Overshadowed by Tiger Woods’ come-from-behind winning performance at last year’s Masters was the way the field turned the scoreboards red at Augusta National Golf Course.

The field set 15 course records for scoring, and 11 players finished 10-under par or better in 2019. In the first 82 Masters, only 62 players had reached that level.

In addition to Woods’ 13-under 275, three players tied at 12 under, four at 11 under and three at 10 under. Among those were Tony Finau, who tied a course record with his 30 on the front nine on Saturday. Francesco Molinari tied the course record for score after three rounds, sitting on the overnight lead at 203.

Photos: Tuesday Masters Practice

A trio of golfers – Finau, Patrick Cantlay and Webb Simpson -- all finished one shot off the course record with 64s in the third round.

Rickie Fowler, Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka and Jon Rahm each had four subpar rounds. And Xander Schauffele made 25 birdies during the tournament.

Eight of those 11 players were among the golfers who shot par or under for the tournament.

What about the rest of the field?

The field played the back nine (35.822) and overall tournament rounds (71.855) under par. The 65 players who made the cut shot 70.77 in the third round, all course records.

Of the 304 rounds played last year, golfers shot par or below 182 times, including records efforts in the third (45) and fourth (43) rounds. Thirty-six players shot under par in both the final two rounds, also a course record.

The 2019 field shot the most rounds in the 60s (63), including 20 players in the 60s in each of the final two rounds — again, all records.

Where did they pick up the most strokes?

Birdies were the driving force. Despite only 87 golfers in the field, they made 1,099 birdies. The previous mark of 1,028 in 2011 was set with 99 players.

Players feasted on the 8th, 13th and 16th holes – setting benchmarks for cumulative scoring on each of them.

The par-5 8th hole played to a stroke average of 4.6283, with four eagles and 122 birdies.

On the par-5 13th, players made 17 eagles and 158 birdies, leaving the week’s average at 4.4737, setting a new record (previously 4.5461 in 2015) Expect Augusta National and Masters Tournament chairman Fred S. Ridley to be asked Wednesday about moving the tee box back on No. 13 at the chairman’s annual State of the Masters address.

“Hitting it with length and hitting it in the fairway,” is how Finau described his -- and the field’s -- success. “The par 5s are very reachable for me. I’m hitting mid-to-long irons into all of them.“

Sunday aces by Justin Thomas and Bryson DeChambeau dropped the scoring on the par-3 16th down to 2.9079. The 68 birdies against 29 bogeys and 5 doubles also helped.

Did the change to No. 5 slow them down?

The changes at the par-4 fifth hole - moving the tees back 40 yards and the fairway bunkers 80 yards closer to the tee made the hole known as Magnolia play the hardest in 2019 at 4.336.

Only 13 birdies were made there over the four days, offset by 103 bogeys and six double bogeys.

“It made the front nine play a half-shot tougher,” Rory McIlroy said after parring the hole all four rounds.