The second round of the Masters took a scary turn Friday when a large tree fell down to the right of the 16th green and across the 17th tee.
When the tree crashed, Larry Mize, Min Woo Lee and Harrison Crowe were on the 16th green. Fans scattered to avoid being hit.
Sergio Garcia, who was playing with Kazuki Higa and Keith Mitchell, had just hit a shot out of the bunker near the 15th green when the tree fell.
Mitchell told ESPN the sound of the tree coming down “just took your breath away.’’
An eyewitness who was near the clubhouse a short time after the tree fell saw Garcia’s wife, Angela Akins, in tears.
“It was pretty wild,’’ said Sahith Theegala, whose group with Patrick Reed and Adam Svensson was on the 15th hole behind Garcia’s threesome. “We thought it was like a scoreboard or a grandstand, and we were just hoping it wasn’t anything that would hit anybody. The winds were really swirling.”
The broadcast cut away from Garcia and captured the tree falling — zooming in afterward as others raced back toward the scene once the tree hit the ground.
“Oh, good gracious, watch out,” one broadcaster said. “My god, I hope everybody’s OK.”
In the aftermath, photos from the Augusta National Golf Club grounds showed people with chainsaws and other gear clearing the debris.
The weather disrupted play throughout Friday before thee second round was ultimately suspended.
Starting times had been moved up 30 minutes due to the looming weather.
Play had already been suspended earlier in the day, pausing golfers for about 21 minutes. After the tree incident, the second round was suspended for a second time.
When play was suspended shortly before 6 p.m., 39 golfers still had not finished their rounds because of the storm.
Brooks Koepka ended Friday in the lead at 12-under — with all 36 of his holes completed — while Jon Rahm sat three strokes back through 27 holes.
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