Storms bring down trees at Masters, play halted in 2nd round

Three towering pine trees fell near patrons as storms rolled through Augusta National on Friday, though nobody was hurt, and the second round of the Masters ground to a halt as heavy wind and rain rolled through the area.

Just before the second horn sounded, two enormous pines fell next to each other near the 17th tee, sending those in the area scattering. On the nearby 16th green, Sergio Garcia stopped and stared at what seemed to be happening in slow motion, and his playing partners Kazuki Higa and Keith Mitchell watched anxiously to see if anyone was hurt.

"We were cresting the fairway on 15. We thought it was a scoreboard or a grandstand," said Sahith Theegala, who is playing in his first Masters. "We were hoping it wasn't something that hit anybody."

Everyone escaped harm, but the close call was evidenced by several crushed chairs beneath the fallen pines.

well THIS was terrifying <a href="https://t.co/qfIm2w4zKW">pic.twitter.com/qfIm2w4zKW</a>

"I was talking to friends next to me and all of sudden we heard a crack," said Katie Waites, a patron from Charleston, South Carolina. "And there were three trees across the pond, and all of a sudden we saw them falling and everybody — it was just like ants. They were like, scattering just like ants from beneath. All three fell at the same time. And then I just grabbed my friends' hands we were like, `Is everyone OK?' And it was silent."

Waites said she saw one woman standing between the two fallen trees, and she had heard that a man had crawled out from beneath some of the limbs. She added that it was "absolutely a miracle" that nobody was hurt.

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