Tip of the cap to the golfers — and the patrons — for braving Masters weather

The Open Championship took leave from Scotland and invaded Georgia on Saturday.

Really, the 87th Masters, which has provided all four seasons of the year in four days, more nearly resembled a golf championship scene from the United Kingdom on this second Saturday in April.

Winter defied the calendar and took a don’t-forget-me cameo before its predicted departure on Sunday. Temperatures dived, rain poured, winds howled. Look hard, and breath turned into icy blasts.

Augusta National Golf Club or Carnoustie Golf Links? Down in Amen Corner, is that Rae’s Creek or Barry Burn? Hogan’s Bridge or the Swilcan Bridge at the Old Course?

Did someone mention the Firth of Clyde?

Remember that canard that it never rains on the golf course? Believe that at your own peril.

Turtlenecks and hoodies replaced polos, and toboggans popped up in place of visors. No sunscreen needed. Handwarmers welcomed. Duck shoes became the footwear of choice.

If this were not the Masters, there’s no way the fairways and greens would be surrounded by a phalanx of fans striving to get a peek at some of golf’s finest players at work in the year’s first major championship.

Indeed, if this were not the Masters, play likely would have been called long before officials suspended activity for the day at 3:15 p.m.

But between the raindrops, those lousy conditions offered some insightful lessons to ponder.

For one thing, the scene on a rainy, cold, thoroughly miserable Saturday tells just how much the Masters is treasured. Fans came and watched and waited and appreciated what unfolded on a golf course that drips with tradition.

For another, the world got to see that these players are really good.

For yet another, results from some shots in the dreadful weather suggested what might become the norm if the governing bodies go through with plans to restrict distance for elite male players.

Consider the players’ skills. In weather that begged for a fireplace and slippers, they hit shots that most golfers only see in their dreams.

Look at Matt Fitzpatrick, joined in the third round by Harris English and Hideki Matsuyama at No. 1 just before noon. Bundled up in a pullover and a stocking cap, he sent his second shot to the par-4 over the pin with spin to pull the ball back.

Then there’s Collin Morikawa on the tee on the 240-yard fourth. His shot with a fairway wood stopped maybe 3 feet from the hole.

Fitzpatrick is the U.S. Open champion and Morikawa owns two major championships. But still ... shots like those in weather like this command a tip of the cap.

They get mud balls that create doubt in conditions already loaded with doubt. And yet they perform at a scary-good level.

Obviously, the players faced a different golf course Friday afternoon and Saturday than earlier in the week. Think about Thursday and wonder: Has Augusta National ever played easier in the Masters? Saturday, the question changes: Has the venerable layout ever been more challenging?

Indeed, the course played much longer than its 7,545 yards with the soggy conditions and shots often played into the wind. Look at No. 18, a 465-yard brute that requires a demanding tee shot, then doglegs uphill to the green.

Players who got the “wrong” side of the draw had to finish their second rounds Saturday morning. With wind howling and rain falling, solving calculus would be easier than judging the correct distance and pulling the correct club.

To say they struggled on the final hole is being kind.

Justin Thomas: maybe 250 yards off the tee. Jon Rahm: “The ball went nowhere.” Cam Smith: unplayable lie. And so the travails went. No. 18 played almost one-half shot over par, the hardest hole of the round.

Will that — the ball going “nowhere” — be the state of elite tournament golf if distance restrictions find their way into the rule book?

Certainly, the conditions put a different perspective on the game. Some of the pros probably used certain clubs — long irons or hybrids or fairway wood — for second shots for the first time in a long time on par-4 holes.

All in all, a miserable and yet somehow instructive day.

Don’t believe that myth that it never rains on the golf course, but believe this one: Even days that more nearly resemble the Open Championship are ones to remember at Augusta National.

After all, it’s the Masters.