Phil Mickelson took aim at Augusta National’s lengthened back nine on Friday, saying the Masters has lost some of its drama because too few players can challenge the par-5 13th and 15th in two. The three-time Masters champion posted the criticism on X during the second round of the tournament at Augusta National Golf Club, even though he is not playing this week because of a family matter.
Mickelson wrote that watching the Masters and seeing so few players long enough to go for the 13th and 15th had taken away excitement and intrigue from the back nine. He added that it was another example of how longer is not always better.
The complaint landed on a day when the holes were still producing chances. One eagle was made on the 13th and one on the 15th on Friday, after four eagles on the 13th and one on the 15th on Thursday. Swirling winds and firm conditions made going for both holes in two especially daring, but not impossible, during the week.
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Augusta National has repeatedly stretched and tightened the course as modern power hitting has changed the game. Its championship tees now play at more than 7,500 yards, up from 6,800 yards when the club opened in 1933. The 13th was extended from 510 yards to 545 yards with a new back tee in 2023, while the 15th was moved 30 yards back and 20 yards to the left in 2022.
Mickelson’s criticism also echoed a debate the club has heard before. In his annual pre-Masters address, Fred Ridley said there is an urgent need to roll back the golf ball, a change supporters argue would restore more balance to courses that have been stretched to meet distance gains. Mickelson, though, pointed to a different fix from afar: if the most famous holes on the property are being blunted by length, then more yardage is not automatically making the Masters better.
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That leaves Augusta National in the same place it often finds itself during Masters week: admired for protecting its challenge, and questioned for how far it should keep pushing that challenge. On a week when the 13th and 15th still produced eagles, Mickelson’s point was not that the holes are dead. It was that the margin for making them thrilling is narrowing.
