The second round of the Masters was suspended Friday after lightning storms brought down three pine trees near the 17th tee and almost crushed spectators. Incredible footage of the blowdown shows audience members scattering as the 100ft trees toppled over, narrowly avoiding tragedy. Officials quickly confirmed that there were no injuries.
“I was sitting, looking, waiting for the next group to come up to the tee and it fell maybe 8-10 chairs to our left,” spectator Megan Hill told local media. “I stood up and screamed and thought, ‘Is it going to fall on me?’ It fell to the left of us, and it was so scary. If the wind had been blowing a slightly different direction, we might have got hit.”
Footage of the frightening was captured on live television. In the video, the commentary team for the Masters can be heard shouting, “Watch out! Oh my God, I hope everyone is OK. Holy smokes!”
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well THIS was terrifying pic.twitter.com/qfIm2w4zKW
— Timothy Burke (@bubbaprog) April 7, 2023
The trees were reportedly brought down due to lightning storms rolling through the area. Two of the trees were uprooted and toppled a third as they fell. The pine trees reportedly fell slowly enough that spectators were alerted to the danger and managed to avoid being struck. One grateful spectator told reporters,
“Pinecones were hitting us in the back, we turned around and looked up and heard a huge cracking noise, and the tree basically crushed ten chairs that were sitting there. Luckily we got everyone out of there. We were blessed.”
The trees reportedly struck the ground in front of the tee box, away from where spectators were standing.
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Another view of the trees falling on 17 pic.twitter.com/jR431IcdLv
— No Laying Up (@NoLayingUp) April 8, 2023
The course had previously been cleared earlier in the day for 21 minutes while another band of storms rolled through the area. After the blowdown, an alarm was sounded, and the course was evacuated. Officials announced that the tournament would resume at 8:00 am Saturday.
Some commentators, however, expressed skepticism over how safe the course would be. Christine Brennan of USA Today wrote that the Masters was taking a “huge gamble” by letting fans back on the grounds.
Clearly, the leaders of Augusta National are gambling that in the midst of severe weather that is expected to continue throughout Friday evening, including heavy rain and high winds, all their other trees — thousands of them — are safe and stable and nothing like this will happen again.
So far, no additional trees have fallen since Friday’s dramatic spectacle.
On Friday, a spokesman for the course iterated that the safety of attendees was a “top priority of the club,”
“Augusta National Golf Club can confirm that no injuries were reported from three trees that were blown over to the left of the No. 17 tee due to wind. The safety and well-being of everyone attending the Masters Tournament will always be the top priority of the club. We will continue to closely monitor weather today and through the tournament.”
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