Every Day is Sunday

Four holes typically decide the fate of the eventual winner of The Masters. Here's a closer look.

THURSDAY: NO. 1 TEA OLIVE

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Vitals: Par 4 (445 Yards) / 2008 Opening-Round Avg. score: 4.277
At last year's Masters, the first hole was the fifth hardest in relation to par on Thursday and the fifth hardest overall for the tournament. Early jitters aside, this one's not getting any easier.

"Now driving, [Your Name Here]." At golf's most famous course, that's all the introduction there is. No college, no home city, no recitation of past glories. Just the basics. But once you tee it up, you'd better be game. A massive fairway bunker up the right side calls for a 317-yard carry. "No. 1 is probably the hardest starting hole we play," says Stuart Appleby. "It's like climbing into the ring and getting knocked down with the first punch." Nerve-racking? "My first-ever shot at the Masters, as an amateur in 2004, I hit it dead right, straight over the second 's' in 'Masters' on the scoreboard," says 2008 third-place finisher Brandt Snedeker. "I could barely walk to the ball to play my second." Even if you split the middle, holding the two-tiered green is no picnic. As for getting it to the hole, think about this: Tiger Woods' first competitive putt at Augusta, as an amateur in 1995, rolled off the green. Of course, two years later, he won by 12 strokes.

NICKLAUS SAYS:
"Every time I stood on the first tee, I wanted to walk to the second tee even par. I never looked at No. 1 as a birdie hole, but I didn't want to get behind the golf course, either. Mentally, I always got off to a decent start with a par."

FRIDAY: NO. 10 CAMELLIA

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Vitals: Par 4 (495 Yards) / 2008 Second-Round Avg. score: 4.312
Of the last five winners, Phil Mickelson in 2006 is the only to shoot above par on the 10th on Friday and still capture the tournament.

Twenty-seven holes into this adventure, this long par 4 can send anyone close to the cut line on a near-direct path to the parking lot and his courtesy car. "Television doesn't do it justice," Snedeker says of the steeply sloping downhill fairway. The No. 1 handicap hole for members, No. 10 is traditionally the Masters' toughest hole too. There's an old joke about there being a Delta ticket counter in the left-side woods on No. 2, but Charles Howell III says there should also be one on the 10th. "If you're in trouble on Friday, you can book your flight home right there," says Howell. In 2004, it might well have been K.J. Choi and not Phil Mickelson wearing the Green Jacket were it not for the Korean's three consecutive back-nine bogeys that began here in Round 2. Choi finished three strokes off the lead, but he's not the only pro who has struggled around the turn. Lefty found the trees himself on Friday in 2007 (right) and finished T24, his worst showing in 10 years.

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NICKLAUS SAYS:
"The 10th hole can be dangerous off the tee. The left side is the best angle, but you have to watch the trees. If you hang it out to the right, you're looking at a 2- or 3-iron to the green. Anybody who plays 10 even par for the tournament should absolutely be jumping up and down."

SATURDAY: NO. 18 HOLLY

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Vitals: Par 4 (465 Yards) / 2008 Third-Round Avg. score: 4.133
Of the past 20 Masters winners, only three have bogeyed 18 on Saturday: Phil Mickelson (2006), Bernhard Langer (1993) and Ian Woosnam (1991).

You've come through all the famous back-nine perils, and three days in you're in good shape, maybe even sniffing the lead one hole from Sunday. Now you're faced with what may be one of the most intimidating tee shots on Tour. Massive trees on both sides create a narrow chute with little room for error. "The gap through the trees can make a real fool of you," says Justin Rose. "Hit it a little bit sideways, you can catch a limb 80 yards away." Retief Goosen remembers all too well. In 2002, he came to 18 at four-under for the day, holding a one-stroke lead over Tiger Woods. He scrambled for bogey but gave Woods a share of the lead. By the fourth hole on Sunday, Goosen was four down and Tiger was in cruise control. "If you're up near the lead," Rose says, "the drive on 18 on Saturday is like the first shot of Sunday."

NICKLAUS SAYS:
"The hole is all tee shot. If you can get up on the flat, it's not a particularly difficult ­second. It is hard to get it near the hole unless the pin is in front. If the flag's back right, you're just hoping to figure out some way to make par."

SUNDAY: NO. 16 REDBUD

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Vitals: Par 3 (170 Yards) / 2008 Final-Round Avg. score: 3.333
Last year, there were 9 birdies on the 18th hole on Sunday, as opposed to only 6 birdies on the Redbud hole. Most pros we spoke to, though, agree that the 16th on Sunday is the last great birdie opportunity: in 2004, there were 14 birdies on No. 16 (as opposed to 5 on No. 18) and in 2005, there were 12 birdies on Redbud (as opposed to 5 on No. 18).

Here comes the final par 3 of the week, which also happens to be Augusta's theater of dreams. The pin is back left on a two-tiered green. Many pros say it's the last, best birdie chance of the week. And it's those birdies that are among the most memorable in golf. Remember Nicklaus in '86, sticking a 5-iron to three feet? How about Tiger's last Masters title, in 2005? The record says it was decided in a playoff with Chris DiMarco, but memory says Tiger won on 16 with that up-the-hill, turn-to-the-right, down-the-hill chip that somehow took one last roll (after giving the Swoosh a moment to shine while hanging on the lip) into the cup (below). "Under the circumstances, it was one of my more imaginative shots," Tiger says. "I was up by one, and Chris had put it pretty close. If he made birdie and I parred, we'd be tied. I picked my spot, threw it up on the hill and watched it track down." Talk about a swing hole. DiMarco didn't make the field in 2008 and needs a win to get there this year. So in a way, Tiger's "imaginative" birdie not only won him the tourney but also cost DiMarco a lifetime Masters exemption.

NICKLAUS SAYS:
"The 16th, particularly on Sunday, is always exciting. If you don't hit a good tee shot, you can three-putt very easily. If you do hit a good tee shot, you can make birdie very easily. It was a separation hole for me on many occasions."

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