Golf: 'Disneyland of golf' guide

By TERRY MADDAFORD

Phil Tataurangi stopped on the Hogan Bridge during his first-ever practice round at Augusta last year and followed the long-held tradition by dropping a ball into Rae's Creek with the promise that that would be the only ball the creek would be getting from him during the famed tournament.

"It worked for me," Tataurangi recalled this week. "I scored par in all four rounds during the Masters."

Tradition is very much part of the Masters. Tataurangi hankers for another chance to test himself on the hallowed course.

"I would love to go back," says Tataurangi, who is recovering from a back injury and hopes to return to the US in the next couple of months to resume his playing career firstly on the Nationwide Tour and then on the PGA Tour proper.

"I was focused initially on making the cut then playing as well as I could. I did that until the last round when I ran out of gas.

"But," Tataurangi emphasises, "I won't go back [to Augusta] until I know I can compete. I felt really comfortable on the course. I ground it out on a lot of holes.

"It is a course that suits my game. It is certainly not a boring course. I played two practice rounds with Bernard Langer and picked his brains."

While the focus is almost always on the back nine, Tataurangi says there are some testing holes on the front nine which do not get the same exposure because of television coverage given the latter holes.

"Holes four to nine are good golf holes. On any of these holes one bad shot can leave you staring at bogey," he says.

"Apart from the 18th, the fifth is the best par four on the course. This is the hole where they turned the bunkers into hangi pits by making them bigger. The green has a huge ridge which makes it difficult too."

Like all golfers, Tataurangi has vivid memories of watching televised coverage of the tournament at what he tags the "Disneyland of Golf".

"I feel it was more fun when it was shorter. Players were often left scratching their heads as they attempted to work out how to keep their ball on the green."

Having played the difficult 10th - the dogleg "Camellia" which is used as the first hole in any play-off - the players head to "Amen Corner" and the journey home.

Tataurangi, hole by hole, tells how they unfold.

"The only change in recent years has been the addition of the trees on the right which makes the 11th a lot longer.

"You want your tee shot down the left otherwise you are bringing the water into play with your second.

"I aimed to play my second onto the front third of the green. The deep swale on the right of the green is a no-go zone.

"I scored four pars there.

"The 12th is not a long hole. Every day I followed the famous Jack Nicklaus line by taking my ball over the middle of the front bunker. I scored a par three in all rounds.

"They have added length to the 13th [a par five of 466m] and with it the shape of your tee shot. No one in their right mind can appreciate how steep the fairway is.

"The ball is always above your feet making for a testing uphill second shot.

"On the green a lot of players misread their putts. All the balls go towards Rae's Creek. I had a birdie, two pars and a bogey when I put a ball in the water on the last day.

"The 14th is a really deceptive dogleg. The green goes in all directions. They could not build a crazy green like that anywhere else.

"The 15th is a par five downhill. I defend Chip Beck for laying up like he did. The second shot is extremely difficult although it does not look like it on television.

"The 16th is an excellent par three with a long green. The water does not really come into play. The pin was placed in the front for the first two days which was not too difficult. The toughest placement is back right which they usually use for the third round.

"The 17th is famous for the Eisenhower Tree which does come into play now unless you can carry 256m in the air.

"You have to shape your drive around the tree. The green is quite shallow [in depth] which makes distance-control paramount.

"The 18th is one of the most difficult holes on the course. I hit long irons into the green off long drives but it was another hole many had told me you don't appreciate how steep the fairway is."