How a Masters debutant was left “beaten up” by Augusta National

Playing in his first Masters, Laurie Canter has learned about the merciless nature of Augusta National the hard way. 

“A bit beaten up,” the Englishman said with a wry smile after finishing up on Friday afternoon with five straight bogeys. Canter signed for a second straight 77, meaning he will likely miss the cut by at least seven shots.

“I’m just tired,” he said. “I really hit my irons terribly for two days. Made it look pretty hard.

“That’s where I’ve been all week, really, just fighting my swing, trying to hang in there. You can still hit half decent shots. It still gives you a chance. I definitely feel more comfortable on the front nine. Just it suits my eye a little bit. The back nine has just been really tough.”

Indeed, there is no room for error at Augusta and Canter felt that only one practice round before tournament week was not sufficient to fully understand the nuances of the course.

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After starting his season in fine fettle on the DP World Tour with a victory in Bahrain and a playoff defeat in South Africa, Canter earned his debut here after sneaking inside the world’s top 50. The Ryder Cup hopeful was never pitching up at Augusta just to make up the numbers.

“You can’t enjoy it if you’re playing rubbish,” he sighed. “You want to enjoy, like, the sort of stage and stuff, but it’s hard to. I tried to do the best I could of trying to soak it in and get the atmosphere and stuff, especially in the kind of beginning of the round, but when you get into it and you’re fighting your swing, it’s definitely more tricky to enjoy it as much as you’d like.”

Canter of course, is not the first to experience a baptism of fire when making his Masters bow.

“There’s just some really crucial shots on there,” he said. “For the most part, you’ve got to keep the ball in play and do what you’ve got to do, but then it’s the sort of second shot into 10, 11 as a whole, 12 as a whole.

“I feel like if you play those okay, it almost steadies you for what’s to come the other side of it. I actually birdied 10 today, which was a great 3, but 11, I’m just super uncomfortable starting the ball right and seeing it moving in that way. I’m trying to take some stuff away, learn a bit, and hopefully at some point in the future get another crack at it.”

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Asked what surprised him on his first visit to the course, Canter added: “The stuff with the grass here is different. I’ve never played a golf course where every shot is cut into me, so I felt like I’m just constantly searching for a strike. Tough to get the ball pin high.

“Holes like 17, the green is like 35 yards wide but there’s really not anywhere to hit it. It’s like the hardest green I’ve ever seen. I think you have to get used to it.”

Canter, incidentally, was playing alongside Angel Cabrera, who was returning here under a cloud for the first time since his release from prison.

The 2009 champion, who served a 30-month sentence in South American prisons on multiple charges including assault, theft and intimidation against former girlfriends, also missed the cut at 10-over.

“It was cool to play with Angel because he seemed more comfortable with where to hit the ball,” Canter said. “I think you probably gain that from a few visits.

“I spoke to him a little bit. Didn’t ask him a load about the golf course, but I was chatting to actually his son on the bag about how they cut the grass. He was saying the same thing, you just don’t feel like you can flush anything. Especially if you’ve been fighting your swing a little bit. It’s an exposing kind of place to be.”

Canter was asked if heard any negative reactions towards Cabrera from the Augusta patrons.

“No, it seemed very positive,” he replied. “A lot of people welcoming him back. He seemed like he had a great reception.”

Ben Parsons is the Senior Writer at bunkered and is the man to come to for all of the latest news, across both the professional and amateur games. Formerly of The Mirror and Press Association, he is a member at Halifax Golf Club and is a long-suffering fan of both Manchester United and the Wales rugby team.