AUGUSTA — No one can win a golf tournament on the first hole, but World Golf Hall of Famer Ernie Els showed everyone how to put yourself in an almost impossible position after only one hole, taking six putts for a “9” on Thursday in the first round of the 80th Masters.
For most of the afternoon, it was a “10” on the Masters scoreboard and was changed around 6:30 p.m. after Els signed an official scorecard.
Els has been having trouble with putting "yips" for the past several months. See a video here from his very short miss in October at the Dunhill Links.
“I can’t explain it,” Els said. “It’s something that I’m sure up there somewhere that you just can’t do what you normally do. It’s unexplainable. A lot of people have stopped playing the game, you know, it’s unexplainable. I couldn’t get the putter back. I was standing there, I’ve got a 3-footer, I’ve made thousands of 3-footers and I just couldn’t take it back.
“And then I just kind of lost count after I mean, the whole day was a grind. I tried to fight. I’m hitting the ball half decent and I can’t make it from two feet.
“I missed from two feet on 18 and a 4-footer on 17. … So it’s very difficult. I’m not sure where I’m going from here. So, I don’t know. We’ll see.”
There have been four players in tourney history who have scored an “8” on the first hole, one that played among the top three most difficult holes of the day through 3 p.m., including Olin Browne and Scott Simpson in 1998, Billy Casper in 2001 and Jeev Milka Singh in 2007.
Els’ “9” isn’t close to the worst Masters hole score in competition. Tom Weiskopf once made “13” at the par-3 12th in 1980 and Tommy Nakajima matched that at the par-5 13th in 1998.
In 74 previous Masters’ rounds on the first hole, Els had never scored worse than a double-bogey “6” once, while making seven birdies, 56 pars and 10 bogeys. And he previously had only one hole with worse than a double bogey in his 21 previous Masters.
Els has won 19 times on the PGA Tour and four majors, two British Opens and two U.S. Opens. He recovered his game quickly, shooting par over the other eight holes on the front nine for a 41 at the turn. But then it took another turn for the worse, concluding with bogeys
Tom Watson, playing his 43rd and final Masters, was asked about Els.
“That’s hard,” he said. “No. 1 is right up on top of the hill. It can really blow right up on top of the hill. It’s probably the windiest green on this golf course. These greens can get away from you possibly, with a lot of wind. They’re trying to get them so they don’t, I know that. But they know it’s going to blow really hard, so I wouldn’t expect that they’re going to get them too fast or too dry. They may dry out, and that’s tough.”
And Phil Mickelson had this to say:
“It’s a difficult (hole). It’s a difficult one. Either the wind is blowing downhill on 1, so when you get behind the green you’re going downhill and downwind so there’s nothing to stop it or it will run right off. It’s a tough opening hole. It never used to be like that. It used to kind of give you, get you going a little bit. Now it’s one of the three or four most difficult holes on the golf course and actually, I just love starting with a par. I don’t even think about trying to birdie the first hole out here any more.”
The Els’ moment had some recalling a famous Seve Ballesteros quote after putting trouble at No. 16 in the 1988 Masters.
Ballesteros four-putted from 15 feet and was asked how it happened: “I miss, I miss, I miss, I make.”
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