White Knuckles At White Dogwood

AUGUSTA, GEORGIA | During a Monday afternoon practice round, Zach Johnson and Lucas Glover walked off Augusta National’s 10th green, down a slope and then turned up the hill toward the newly relocated 11th tee.

Johnson, the 2007 Masters champion, kept his head down trudging up the hill behind Glover.

“Come on,” Glover said.

“I don’t want to look yet,” Johnson said.

He wanted to get the full effect of the changes to a hole that has played as the second-most difficult in Masters history yet has been lengthened this year by 15 yards, with the tee being shifted to the golfer’s left. White Dogwood, as it is named, now measures 520 yards, and the case can be made that it gets progressively more difficult as it goes.

Tough got tougher.

When he reached the tee, Johnson paused for a moment and took a breath. Turning around, he looked at the new perspective – which offers a wide tee-shot corridor – and said, “Holy crap.”

It’s different, for sure.

“I think it's going to be a more difficult golf hole than it used to be,” R...