The morning dew on a bentgrass putting green carries a fungal pathogen called Clarireedia jacksonii — the deadliest disease in American turfgrass agronomy, and the superintendent fights it with a single fiberglass rope at four AM.
D.W. Williams at the University of Kentucky was the first to separate atmospheric condensate from plant-generated guttation fluid on a creeping bentgrass surface. One is relatively inert. The other carries sugars, amino acids, and potassium that the dollar spot pathogen uses as a direct nutrient source. The dew on the green is food for the thing eating the green.
The documented epidemic threshold is 10–12 consecutive hours of leaf wetness above 50°F. A 2007 Crop Science study found 4 AM mowing produced the lowest disease incidence of any time tested. Penn State documented up to 81% reduction in dollar spot severity from early-morning dew displacement alone. Fungicide programs for dollar spot run $10,000–$34,000 per course per year.
During Masters week Augusta National deploys 160–170 agronomy experts. Your local super runs the same biology with a single fiberglass pole, alone, before you arrive.