Welcome back to Kocet's Corner. Yours truly is predicting some trouble down atAmen Corner on Friday. Why? The reason is a 10- to 20-mile per hour wind out ofthe northwest which is a crosswind on hole 12. Now that's not a strong wind,but it doesn't take much of a breeze to wreak havoc with the tee shots on thatvery short but troublesome hole. To get to the 12th, the air has to movethrough and over a large stand of trees, which causes a swirling effect. Toimagine what is happening, picture how leaves swirl around in your front yardwhen the wind is coming from the rear of the house.Though the wind won't be terribly strong Friday, the swirling effect will makeclub selection very difficult. Throwing grass up in the air on the tee isfutile, since it will not tell the player what is going on around the green.
Over the years, many a shot has been hit seemingly perfectly, only to have thechanging winds dump it into the drink. To avoid this disaster some players hitthe ball over the green, and getting par from there is no picnic either.
In regard to the weather at Augusta, skies will partially clear Friday, andthere will be that 10- to 20-mile per hour wind I've been talking about.
Friday's temperatures will be noticeably lower than recent days with a higharound 70.
The weekend looks simply spectacular for rounds three and four. Both days willbe bright and sunny with chilly mornings, pleasant afternoons, and very littlewind.
My picks for The Masters stay the same. They are Ernie Els, Lee Westwood,Retief Goosen, Camilo Villegas and Jim Furyk... not necessarily in that order.
Story by AccuWeather.com Senior Meteorologist John Kocet.
