Tiger Woods did this at Augusta, says the big winner – and Augusta's key

Shane Lowry, months removed from the Masters. he can name his Augusta National non-par-3 tee shots. He doesn't care.

Here he goes:

“The first one is down. I hit a low cut.

“The second time I hit something outstanding.

“Thirdly, I always sleep.

“The fifth time, I hit something low.”

“Seven, I hit something low.”

“The eighth, I hit a low cut.

“Nine, I hit something really good. I try to hit it as high as possible there.

“In the tenth, I hit the best thing.

“Eleven, I hit it up and down there.

“Thirteen, I'm trying to draw one obviously.

“Then I'm 15, I'm going to get a real cut.

“Fourteen, I'm trying to answer it a little bit. So I have…”

Here, on the latest episode of GOLF's “Warming Up,” golfer Dylan Dethier asks the 2019 Open Championship winner if the ways can change. Lowry says no – the shot is based on what he sees. Good enough. But why “really high” at 9, Dethier asked. Good question, it turned out. The answer started back and forth in Augusta's program for Tiger Woods, who won Masters tournaments on the course.

At the 2020 Masters, Lowry played Woods in rounds 1, 2 and 4. There, he said he saw the game at 9.

“You hit a big high because there's a tree in the bottom left that's hanging,” Lowry said of “Warm Up,” “and if you pull it a little bit down the middle, it catches the tree.” But if you hit it high, it will fall into the tree. So little things like that really make a big difference. “

A natural question followed:

Did Lowry read anything else?

He did so. Lowry described it as Augusta's key, and the full answer is below – and you can watch the entire episode by clicking here or by scrolling down to the bottom of this article.

“When you watch him play Augusta,” Lowry said, “he doesn't just—I mean, obviously, he doesn't win every year, but when he plays well—I remember the first time I played him, he shot four under. And I was like, he didn't play that well. But he just likes – you know, up the 5th hole, he's never going to hit that bunker on the left. He always makes sure he hits it – like, his second shot on 15, he hits it long, to the right of the green, where the best break is. He just leaves himself in the best positions. And I think Augusta is probably about that – it's about playing away from trouble a little bit and kind of playing a chess game there. “

Said Dethier: “It's funny — I think people have this idea of ​​him as the most aggressive golfer ever.” And there are parts of him that are actually very conservative in his ways of…”

Said Lowry: “Like the 3rd hole, I always sleep on the 3rd. But I hit the 3-iron, I lifted it, like there were bunkers there. But you hit a 5-iron in a dream. So he doesn't even take the playgrounds. But he can do that because he's as good with a 9-iron as most people are with a sand wedge.”

Nick Piastowski

Golf.com Editor

Nick Piastowski is a Senior Editor at Golf.com and Golf Magazine. In his role, he is responsible for planning, writing and promoting news on the golf course. And when he's not writing about how to hit the golf ball forward and straight, the Milwaukee native is probably playing the game, hitting the ball left, right and short, and drinking a cold beer to wash down his scores. You can contact him about any of these topics – his news, his game or his beer – at [email protected].