When one mishit putt sends your tournament hopes up in smoke
Even for the world’s best, golf can be a cruel sport. Just ask Ken Duke.
The PGA Tour Champions veteran was going along swimmingly during day three of the Mitsubishi Electric Classic, storming to 8-under-par to sit at the top of the leaderboard.
But on the 15th green at TPC Sugarloaf, Duke’s week began to unravel as the American caught some of the worst luck you’re going to see in quite a while.
Putting for birdie to extend his tournament lead, Duke ever so slightly overhit his 20-foot effort as it trickled a few inches right of the hole.
What happened next was about as relatable as it gets.
“Easy.”
“Woah now.”
“Wait a minute.”
“That needs to stop.”
Duke reached into his pocket for a marker as if to magically summon the ball to stop – which it did, for just a split second at least.
Then this happened…
Who hasn’t been there?
Duke’s face was quite the picture, a mixture of confusion and frustration as he trudged towards the ball with his hands on his hips as if to ask the Golfing Gods, ‘Why me?’
Less than impressed, Duke was forced to pitch back up to the green as he desperately tried to salvage things.
Unfortunately, things went from bad to worse as he somehow fell short and into a greenside bunker. From there, Duke chipped out to an almost identical spot where the horror show started, this time giving the effort the tiniest of taps to two-putt and clean up for a painful triple-bogey.
Duke would go on to finish tied-10th.
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George Cooper
A golf fanatic his entire life, George Cooper is NCG's man for all goings-on at the top level of the game, whether it's the PGA Tour, DP World Tour, LPGA or LIV Golf. He also looks after NCG's Twitter and Facebook accounts. George is a member of Woburn, but is not friends with Ian Poulter.
