The pin was just 24.5 meters away. Covering that short distance required 10 shots.
In the fourth round of the PGA Tour's Travelers Championship (total purse of 20 million dollars), held Saturday at TPC River Highlands (par 70) in Cromwell, Connecticut, JT Poston of the United States sent a 293-yard tee shot down the middle of the fairway on the 13th hole (par 5).
With 229 yards left to the pin, his second shot went into the bunker to the right of the green and, of all places, settled right against the bunker lip — and the disaster began.
His third shot from there did escape the bunker, but only managed to travel a little over 6 meters. It appeared to be a strategy to avoid the misfortune of dropping the ball into the pond to the left of the green.
But his fourth shot was too strong and ultimately plopped into the water on the opposite side. After a drop, his sixth shot was too timid and returned to the water. The same happened with his eighth shot. He finally reached the green on his 10th attempt and finished with a two-putt, writing "12" on the scorecard. A septuple-bogey, seven strokes over par. It was the most strokes on a single hole in the history of the tournament held here.
"I felt that if I used the putter (from around the green), the ball would bounce once and lose its speed. The mound rising in front of the green was also threatening. I thought it was a shot I could pull off with a wedge," Poston said, stunned.
Adding a double bogey on the 15th hole (par 4), his score for the day was a 6-over-par 76. He had to finish at a final total of 1-over-par, in 69th place, 19 spots lower than the previous day.
Earlier this month, Poston won the Memorial Tournament, a signature event with a total purse of 20 million dollars, at 12-under-par, grabbing 4 million dollars in prize money. But just three weeks later, at the Travelers, also a signature event, he was pushed to fourth from last among those who made the cut, along with the humiliation of the septuple bogey. The prize money he missed due to this hole's disaster alone was nearly 10,000 dollars.
Even in a tournament where the course is set up easily to produce a flood of birdies, disaster comes like this — at an unexpected time, in an unexpected situation.
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