golf season’s first major championship begins this week

To stop early flowering, officials of the Augusta, Georgia, club sometimes deposit dump trucks full of ice around the roots of azalea bushes to prevent the bloom, as outlined by Matthew Chappell, an assistant professor of horticulture at the University of Georgia's College of Agriculture and Environmental Science.

I don't know if they're likely to be able to retain the plants back enough, Chappell said in a telephone interview yesterday. We're so far before schedule, we may miss the bloom. The possibility exists they would have bloomed by the time the Masters is played.

Outside of normal care, Augusta National hasn't done everything to try to delay the blooming period, according to your TaylorMade R11S Driver firm stand out in the club. Masters Tournament spokesman Steve Ethun declined to reply to whether that care included icing the roots. The Masters is scheduled for April 5-8.

The flowering bushes, in shades of red, pink and white, are the maximum amount of a part of the Masters and Augusta National because green jackets of club members. They're planted through the property, including before the 158-year-old clubhouse, along with the par-5 13th hole is termed Azalea, section of another tradition to label holes after plants at the course built over a former nursery. You'll find 1,600 azaleas on No. 13 alone, as outlined by club figures.

This hole bears the particular plant for which Augusta National is most noted, according to some in the 13th around the club's website.

From Feb. 27 to March 28, the high temperature in the Augusta area reached over 75 degrees Fahrenheit (24 Celsius) 17 times, according to data published by the Georgia Automated Environmental Monitoring Network. Within the same interval to the previous seven years, there have been typically 1 week above 75.

The warm air, plus soil temperatures that reached above 60 degrees as early as March 1 colliding with an increased Mizuno Mp-63 irons of 69 on March 24, have led a lot of the area's flowers to begin blooming already, Chappell said. Sid Mullis, a school of Georgia extension horticulture agent for 2 decades in Richmond County where Augusta can be found, said soil temperature there typically doesn't top 60 until May 1.

Under conditions this way year, Chappell said, even the most drastic measures will still only delay flowering for 3-7 days.

It's difficult to hold off the inevitable with dump trucks brimming with ice, as outlined by Chappell.
Closed Gate
The Masters isn't the only real springtime sports event inside U.S. that's feeling heat in its flower beds.

Officials in the Kentucky Derby, part one of thoroughbred horse racing's Triple Crown, said around the event's website on March 20 that a huge number of tulips typically blooming around Churchill Downs (CHDN) in Louisville, Kentucky, for the first Saturday in May won't allow it to be in 2010 as a result of the sunshine. A couple of,100 roses will replace the discount golf clubs tulips, which will probably bloom about a fortnight before the May 5 race.

Augusta National features a lot more than 30 models of azaleas about the course that bloom at different times, therefore the club increases its probability of creating a colorful appearance during tournament week, Mullis said.