Three trees fall at Masters, narrowly missing spectators; play will resume Saturday

Tragedy was narrowly averted at the Masters on Friday as three tall trees crashed to the ground near the 17th tee box at Augusta National, sending spectators scurrying.

Video of the incident appeared to show that no one was struck by the massive pines, but at least one patron wound up on the ground. No injuries were reported. Soon after, the course was evacuated and play was suspended for the rest of the day.

“Augusta National can confirm that no injuries were reported from three trees that were blown over to the left of the No. 17 tee due to wind,” the club announced in a written statement. “The safety and well-being of everyone attending the Masters Tournament will always be the top priority of the Club. We will closely monitor weather [Friday] and through the Tournament.”

Play was not resumed and was scheduled to restart Saturday at 8 a.m. EDT.

Golfer Sahith Theegala told ESPN that he had just hit his tee shot on 15 when the horn blew to signal the suspension of play.

“Right before the horn blew is when I heard the tree fall down,” Theegala said. “We were cresting the fairway on 15, coming up over the hill, and we were like, `What is that?’ We thought it was like a scoreboard or a grandstand. We were just hoping it wouldn’t be anything that would hit anybody.”

Earlier in the day, play was suspended for 21 minutes but had resumed for about an hour before the trees fell. The wind picked up and storm clouds closed in, although there was no significant rain — that is forecast for Saturday.

A security guard moves patrons away from trees that blew over on the 17th hole Friday.

(Mark Baker / Associated Press)

Authorities investigate the scene where trees fell on the 17th hole during the second round of the Masters on Friday.

(Mark Baker / Associated Press)

It is not unusual for foul weather to interrupt the Masters.

Heading into this year’s tournament, there had been rain in 47 of the first 86 Masters, with eight days postponed. Four of those days were made up by scheduling 36 holes in one day: 1936, 1938, 1939 and 2003.

The last time the Masters spilled into a Monday was 1983.

Each of the past four years, adverse weather led to schedule adjustments.

Last year, the start of play on Thursday was delayed a half-hour. On Saturday in 2021, afternoon play was suspended for 1½ hours. That’s when eventual champion Hideki Matsuyama admitted that he spent part of the delay sitting in his car and playing games on his phone.

On two days during the 2020 Masters, inclement weather affected the tournament. On Thursday morning, play was suspended for three hours and play was cut short for darkness that evening. And because some of those opening rounds had to be finished on Friday, darkness again came into play that night.

And in 2019, the year Tiger Woods won his fifth green jacket, play was suspended for lightning on Friday for about a half-hour. And on Sunday, in anticipation of foul weather, Sunday rounds started earlier — the first at 7:30 — players were grouped in threesomes, and groups started on both No. 1 and 10.