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Starting at the hardest hole is not such a big deal for Lahiri
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This year skill will elicit only scant admiration. Absent crowds will steal some of Augusta's flavour, for Lahiri says unequivocally that "of all the tournaments we play stateside, Augusta's patrons - or whatever nomenclature you want to use - are the most intelligent".
Amateurs and professionals use somewhat similar equipment for altogether different purposes. We hopefully flog a ball, they play calculated golf, which is the same word turned inside out. We recoil from sand, the pros occasionally aim for bunkers. We are separated always by degrees of difficulty.
And so when the November Masters announced it would have a two-tee start (1st and 10th holes) on the first two days, amateurs may have flinched. Imagine beginning day one on the 495-yard par-four 10th which is historically ranked the toughest hole and has an average score of 4.31?
