It’s the always-anticipated day of the final round of The Master’s Golf Tournament, not everyone is sanguine about the fact that Stuart Appleby’s one-over-par 73 on Saturday allowed him to take a one-shot lead over Tiger Woods and Justin Rose at two-over par 218, which is the third-highest round lead in the history of the Masters. The Guardian’s Lawrence Donegan characterized the conditions on Friday in a fitting manner:

“As sporting drama goes, this was a bit like Laurence Olivier being acted off the stage by the grave diggers.”

The description was equally applicable to Saturday as the golfers struggled to make pars, much less the birdies and eagles that have made the Masters such an exciting tournament over the years. Donegan goes on to describe the renovated course, which another sage called “a golfing Zimbabwe” earlier in the week:

There is no disguising the fact that radical changes to Augusta in recent times, coupled with the bone hard conditions of this week, have turned Alister Mackenzie’s ageless masterpiece into a brute. Some, like Woods, used diplomatic language when asked for their opinions (“It’s a totally different course…[with ] about 500 extra yards, a billion trees and rough “).

Lorne Rubenstein gets into the act and notes how the lengthening of the par 5 15th hole has drained the drama from the hole:

Much of the confusion is gone because the hole was lengthened last year to 530 yards from 500. Too many players lay up now, which accounts for the much quieter environment among spectators in the area. They, and the golfers, used to hold their collective breath while a ball was in the air. What was its fate? The hole has almost turned into a par-3 because the tee shot and the lay-up have become routine. The third shot matters the most now, not the second.

Finally, don’t miss this Nick Seitz/Golf Digest article on the 1956 Master’s, which heretofore has been known as “the toughest Master’s ever.” The winner of that ordeal? None other than Houstonian Jack Burke.