Frank Thomas, Former Technical Director, USGA

Three strokes under par was the best the field could manage at Augusta National in round one of the Masters.

Three under par and only nine players broke 72.

Traditionally, the toughest pin placements are set on Thursday and Friday at Augusta. And they were tough on day one.

The greens were fast and dry and many a putt was tentative.

That will make chairman Billy Payne and his executive pleased. They want Augusta to be tough.

But, apart from the scary fast greens, is it?

Is the rough intimidating? Brett Wetterich hit just 27 putts on his way to a first round co-lead with England's Justin Rose at 3 under.

But Wetterich hit only about 7 fairways all day.

Wetterich is one of the big hitters on tour - he ranks 7th in distance with an average of 301 yards. But he's 145th in fairways hit - barely over 56%.

So he sprays it off the tee with his prodigious strength. And finding Augusta's traditionally light rough is no penalty at all.

No wonder the tournament organizers keep lengthening the course.

The USGA's solution is to level the playing field by banning square grooves so guys like Brett can't spin the ball out of light rough any more.

That's what Frank Thomas might call "bass-akward" thinking on the part of the USGA.

"Why not just grow the rough longer?" Frank asks rhetorically.

Thomas was the technical director for 27 years at the USGA; he also invented the graphite shaft. He knows equipment, in other words.

And he knows how to truly level the playing field in today's professional game.

In part two of my interview with Frank, he goes into detail about what's wrong with the USGA's ruling on square grooves, among other things, and how the USGA is not showing the leadership necessary for the game.

Before you hunker down to watch round two of the Masters, take a listen to what Frank has to say. And then watch the action with his words in mind.

Click on the link below; allow a couple of minutes for the download. Part two runs just under 12 minutes in length.

Thomas_2.mp3