When Sergio made Masters history for all the wrong reasons
It was unlucky 13 for Sergio Garcia at Augusta’s 15th in 2018 as he played himself out of contention on the opening day of his title defence
You can’t win it on Thursday, but you can lose it. Just ask Sergio Garcia.
A year earlier, Garcia played one of the shots of the tournament at the par-5 15th en route to making an eagle that would put one arm in the Green Jacket.
But the defending champion played himself out of winning back-to-back Masters titles after a rather different visit to Firethorn in 2018.
Garcia dunked five – yes, FIVE – balls in the water and ended up racking up a 13 on the hole.
After a 322-yard tee shot, Garcia had 205 yards left but his approach found the water.
His next shot, his fourth after a penalty drop, flew past the pin twice – once in the air, then once as it zipped back along the green and into the water.
He then did exactly the same thing again. And again. And once more.
Here’s what that looks like when written out…
- Tee shot
- Into water
- Drop
- Into water
- Drop
- Into water
- Drop
- Into water
- Drop
- Into water
- Drop
- Onto green
- Holed putt
Here’s what that looks like on the shot tracker…
Here’s what that looks like in a photograph…
And here’s what it looks like on the scorecard…
It brought an unwanted record for Garcia, who now holds the honour of having had more shots than anyone else to have ever played that hole in the Masters. Here’s a rundown of the highest scores on each of Augusta’s 18…
1st (par 4): 9 – Ernie Els, 2016
2nd (par 5): 10 – Sam Byrd, 1948; David Duval, 2006
3rd (par 4): 8 – Douglas Clarke, 1980
4th (par 3): 8 – Henrik Stenson, 2011
5th (par 4): 8 – William Campbell, 1957; Sam Parks, 1957; Melvin Harbert, 1960; Jerry Barber, 1964
6th (par 3): 7 – Jose Maria Olazabal, 1991; Arnold Palmer 1997; Branden Grace, 2016
7th (par 4): 8 – DeWitt Weaver, 1972; Richard Von Tacky Jr, 1981
8th (par 5): 12 – Frank Walsh, 1935
9th (par 4): 8 – Jack Selby, 1948; Richard Davis, 1963; Clay Ogden, 2006; Luke Donald, 2014
10th (par 4): 9 – Danny Lee, 2009
11th (par 4): 9 – Dow Finsterwald, 1952; Bo Wininger, 1958; William Moody, 1980; Charles Howell, 2006; Sandy Lyle, 2017
12th (par 3): 13 – Tom Weiskopf, 1980
13th (par 5): 13 – Tommy Nakajima, 1978
14th (par 4): 8 – Nick Price, 1993
15th (par 5): 13 – Sergio Garcia 2018
16th (par 3): 11 – Herman Barron, 1950
17th (par 4): 7 – 19 players including Darren Clarke, 1998; Fred Couples, 2013
18th (par 4): 8 – seven players including Arnold Palmer, 2000; Henrik Stenson, 2012
If you can’t be bothered to do the maths, that’s an eclectic score of 169. Or 97-over-par.
Back to Garcia and do you know what he did right after that monstrous setback? He made birdie at 16.
Vamos, Sergio.
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Alex Perry
Alex has been the editor of National Club Golfer since 2017. A Devonian who enjoys wittering on about his south west roots, Alex moved north to join NCG after more than a decade in London, the last five of which were with ESPN. Away from golf, Alex follows Torquay United and spends too much time playing his PlayStation or his guitar and not enough time practising his short game.
