Will it be a Monday finish at the 83rd Masters?

Will it be a Monday finish at the 83rd Masters?

The weather forecasts are out for the 83rd edition of the Masters, and it’s not looking very good for the Green Jacket hopefuls over the weekend. In fact, Sunday’s forecast is looking particularly dismal with a distinct possibility of play being abandoned and the players asked to come back on the Monday to finish the tournament.   

You’d have to go back to 1983 to find the last time the Masters finished on a Monday. On that occasion, the weather was so atrocious on the Friday that play was abandoned for the entire day without a shot being hit. With that in mind, does the impending bad weather hold any omens for the players this weekend?

It depends on what you want to read into it, but the winner back in 1983 was one Severiano Ballesteros, that’s right, Seve prevailed in the poor conditions to win himself a Green Jacket for the second time. If you were sat in the hot seat on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire and Chris Tarrant asked you who won the 1983 Masters after a weather delay, you would naturally be drawn to Seve as the answer given his brilliance in adapting to whatever situation he found himself in on the golf course.

All of this suggests the winner will have to be a player with a bit of imagination who can keep it together when battling the elements. This may actually rule out some of the early favourites like Rory Mcilroy and Dustin Johnson. The question, then, would be; does that include ruling out the Big Cat? Well, if you were to look at Tiger Woods' master odds, you’d find he is at 14/1. This doesn’t make him the outright favourite, but history tells us that the 14-time major winner struggles when the weather turns.

The third round of the Open at Muirfield in 2002 has been referred to as the worst day of major weather in history. It was around 2p.m. when a wall of wind and rain arrived off the North Sea to lash every part of Muirfield. At the end of his round, Woods finished on an 81, which remains his worst score over 18 holes as a professional.

Tiger Woods' record at the Masters as a pro:

1997: 1st

1998: T8

1999: T18

2000: 5th

2001: 1st

2002: 1st

2003: T15

2004: T22

2005: 1st

2006: T3

2007: T2

2008: 2nd

2009: T6

2010: T4

2011: T4

2012: T40

2013: T4

2015: T17

2018: T32
 

The bottom line is that everyone struggles when the weather is bad, but there are some who wilt quicker than others. 2015 Masters winner Jordan Spieth could be thrown a lifeline by some poor weather despite coming into this tournament with his putter the coldest it has been during his career. Wet greens may mean it comes down to ball striking and that’s something the Longhorn graduate is more than capable of doing in the wind and rain. Born in Texas, Spieth battled the elements throughout his youth and also has a fondness for Augusta National, well most of it anyway, if you exclude the 12th hole.

It’s never straightforward when the clouds close in, and there will be a few big names cursing their luck as well as their smartphones, as their weather apps reveal what is in store for the 2019 Masters.