Will Azalea flower or will changes to the 13th be unlucky for some?

Rory McIlroy’s is 4.52. Tiger Woods’s sits at 4.38. Phil Mickelson’s is lower still, 4.26. The figures in question? Average scores at Augusta National’s par-five 13th hole when playing the Masters.

There is an argument that par is merely a scoring tool, that it should not be taken seriously into account when course setup is considered. Yet in this corner of Georgia, it has long been assumed the custodians of the Masters do not take kindly to a hole being butchered by competitors in the style which has transpired at “Azalea” where from tee to green, there are approximately 1,600 of the flowers.

This Masters edition will see a new tee, built 35 yards back from the previous side of the markers, step firmly into play. Those who have already driven from the tee box explain it may as well have been in place for five decades. Building work undertaken at Augusta is never conspicuous.

Reports have suggested Augusta National paid $20m to neighbouring Augusta Country Club for the land required to amend the 13th. This club has a level of resource which renders such a transaction perfectly straightforward. Others have neither the cash nor the space to expand; hence the ongoing debate about whether golf balls need to be modified.

The logic of the Masters committee is simple. They are attempting to stop players comfortably cutting the corner of the right-to-left dog leg from the tee, from which point they would have only a short iron second shot into the par five. Underpinning the amendment is the sense that this hole should be played in the manner intended by the architect, Alister MacKenzie. This is the most meaningful alteration made to the Masters course in umpteen years.

“I think it’s important that it is a reachable par five,