Play was suspended for the second time on Friday during the second round of the 2023 Masters after three pine trees fell near the 17th hole at Augusta National Golf Club.
It appeared based on videotaped television coverage that trees had fallen near several patrons.
“I was sitting, looking, waiting for the next group to come up to the tee, and maybe 8-10 chairs fell to our left,” said sponsor Megan Hill, of Manhattan, New York. “I stood and screamed and thought, ‘Are you going to fall on me?’ I fell to the left of us and it was so scary.
“If the wind was blowing in a slightly different direction, we might have been hit.”
Several herders at the site confirmed that no one was injured.
“I fell off my seat,” said Sylvia Martin, who was attending with Judy Streiff, both of Frisco, Texas. “We were sitting under the umbrella because of the pinecones. We were kind of laughing and joking that it was raining pinecones and pine needles.
“Suddenly, the people behind us were paying attention,” Martin continued. She later added, “We heard a crackling. Everyone started running, so we were trying to get over the rope (in the fairway). We had nowhere to go because people were behind us.”
Martin, Streiff, and others at the scene credited Dechy Thomas, a pastor from Fuquay-Varina, North Carolina, with alerting people that trees were about to fall and getting everyone out of harm’s way. USA TODAY Network photographers said Martin and Streiff got emotional when they saw Thomas next.
“A pine tree was hitting us in the back, we turned and looked up and heard a loud cracking noise, and the tree crushed ten chairs that were sitting there,” said Thomas. “Luckily, everyone got us out of there. We were blessed.”
Two trees were uprooted and a third fell to the ground. Observers said maintenance workers at the Augusta Nationals had already cut the tree into pieces to remove it from where it fell between the tournament and the members’ tee boxes at No. 17.
“It sounded like a runway broke, very loud,” said Sergio García, who was on the green in the 15th. “Two trees fell from the roots and took another one in the way. People scattered around but there was a woman around whom the trees fell and somehow she was not hurt. Thank God.”
Contributors to this report: Katie Goodall, Rob Schumacher, Todd Kelly, Brian Mull, Dan Spears
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