Masters now an endurance test

AUGUSTA, Ga. — Whoever wins the Masters this afternoon will need to be in pretty good physical shape besides being a terrific golfer.

Thanks to thunderstorms that rolled through Augusta and dropped steady rain for more than four hours Saturday afternoon, the leaders will have to play a lot of holes today. And that won't be easy on the hilly Augusta National layout.

Only 11 of the 47 golfers were able to complete their rounds by the time play was halted at 7:45 p.m. EDT. The two players in the final group, Chad Campbell and Rocco Mediate, were only able to complete four holes and will face 32 holes today. The rest of the field will face somewhere between 18 and 31 holes on a long Sunday, which is expected to be dry.

Campbell, the 31-year-old former UNLV golfer, still holds on to the lead at 6-under-par, one ahead of Mediate and South African Tim Clark at 5-under. Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson, the past two Masters champions, are at 3-under along with Ireland's Padraig Harrington.

Five players, including Vijay Singh, Ernie Els, Fred Couples, Retief Goosen and Stephen Ames all stand at 2-under. Utah resident Mike Weir heads a group of six golfers at 1-under par.

That's quite a leaderboard with five former Masters champions — Woods, Mickelson, Singh, Couples and Weir — within five shots of the lead, along with former U.S. Open champions, Els and Goosen.

Because of the extra holes, the younger golfers such as Woods, 30, Clark, 30, and Campbell, would seem to have an advantage. It worked well for Woods last year when he had to play 27 holes on Sunday and came from four behind to win.

Of the main contenders, Couples is 46, Singh and Mediate 43 and Ames 41. But Mediate doesn't think age will be a factor.

"I'll crawl around here if I have to," he said. "I'm not going to stop unless you pull me out of here. It's going to be a long day, a tough day. I'm looking forward to it."

Even the younger guys acknowledge it's going to be difficult.

"It's going to be tougher walking this course," Campbell said. "Eighteen holes is quite a chore, so 32, we've got our work cut out for us."