The Masters 2020: Your 10 year Augusta National form guide

When the PGA Tour called a halt to proceedings in March of this year, which meant the following month's Masters Tournament did not take place, who would have thought that six weeks prior to Christmas the world's leading golfers would be teeing-up at Augusta National!

Covid-19 completely ripped the heart out of the sporting calendar all around the globe but, at a time of year when golf's star names are usually starting to wind down following a hectic season, in 2020 they have had to keep their minds, physiques and techniques fully sharpened deep into autumn.

The PGA Championship was staged 12 weeks later than planned, while the US Open was delayed by three months.

Britain's Open Championship was cancelled altogether, with the Masters set to tee-off seven months 'behind schedule'.

Cold conditions

And when the pros and amateurs arrive in Georgia they will discover vastly different conditions than when the tournament is staged in mid-April.

Although the temperature will probably be no more than 7-8F degrees cooler in November, because Georgia is a southern state, other factors will come into play.

The lower, cooler temperatures will mean the ball will travel slightly shorter through the air, but the big difference will be what happens to it when it lands on the fairway.

Check out the latest betting ahead of The Masters at Augusta National

A more significant statistic is that rainfall charts for the region show that the months of greatest precipitation in Georgia are between June and September.

This will make fairways softer and there will be less run on the ball. Those who have played the course in November have said Augusta played considerably longer in autumn than when competing at The Masters in April.

Approach shots will require more club than during spring, and to make matters worse there is no compensation to be claimed on the greens.

The same players who reported the course as playing longer in November than April, also said putting surfaces remained intensely quick.

Augusta an anomaly

And when it comes to the greens, putting stats for The Masters are normally vastly different to every other course which hosts tournaments on the PGA Tour.

At regular events, the average Putts per Green in Regulation for players completing 72 holes is usually somewhere between 1.5 and 1.9.

However, at The Masters, rarely does anyone break 2.0 (Putts per GiR) over four rounds and it is not uncommon for some players to register + 3.0.

In 2016, Jordan Spieth registered the best Putting (GiR) stats of the week with 2.393, when finishing joint runner-up.

He was the only member of the top six to break 3.0 for 72 holes, with champion Danny Willett registering tournament stats of 3.193.

That was a particularly difficult year for the competitors on the greens but you understand the general trend.

The only player of the last five years to break 2.0 for Putts (GiR) was Spieth when claiming his maiden Green Jacket a year earlier.

It should be interesting to discover what the putting stats will be like for a November Masters but according to previous eye witness reports, it may not look a lot different to normal.

Masters Stats

Check out our Scoring Rating for the Last Five Masters (2015-19)

Rating...Player (Rounds)
3.08: Jordan Spieth (20)
2.75: Dustin Johnson (16)
2.65: Tony Finau (8)
2.53: Rory McIlroy (20)
2.39: Jon Rahm (12)
2.13: Justin Rose (18)
2.03: Hideki Matsuyama (20)
1.86: Tiger Woods (12)
1.78: Rickie Fowler (18)
1.68: Jason Day (20)
1.68: Brooks Koepka (16)
Min. No. Of Rounds = 8

Click here to view Full List of Scoring Ratings (and explanation) for Augusta National (2015-19)

Twitter: Andy Swales@GolfStatsAlive