Garcia’s title hopes sink in spectacular fashion
Never have the hopes of a defending Masters champion sunk so dramatically. Sergio Garcia hit five consecutive balls into the water on the par-five 15th, eventually holing a 10-footer for a 13, tying the highest score taken on a hole in the history of the Augusta major.
On an opening day when Tiger Woods managed a 73 in a defiant show of damage limitation, Garcia maximised his own destruction by going all Tin Cup.
This bizarre scene was simply the Augusta National’s way of reminding that while it can be the most beautiful course in the world so it can be the cruelest.
The last time he played the 530-yarder - on his way to breaking his major duck - Garcia recorded an eagle three. That is a remarkable 10-shot differential. In 2017 he took only 20 shots to play the hole in four rounds. A missed cut now looks a formality for the shellshocked Spaniard.
‘‘I don’t know what to tell you,’’ Garcia said, when bravely facing the media. ‘‘I had a six-iron for my second and I thought it was perfect. Straight at the flag. I don’t know, if it carries probably two more feet, it’s probably good.
‘‘But unfortunately I flew it on the perfect spot for it to come back. And then I kept hitting good shots with the sand wedge and unfortunately I don’t know why, the ball just wouldn’t stop. It’s the first time in my career where I make a 13 without missing a shot. Simple as that.’’
Garcia eventually tapped in for an 81, making a birdie two on the 16th, but by then his humiliation had already been recorded. Not since Tom Weiskopf suffered his own aberration on the par-three 12th 40 years ago, has any Masters participant had to sign for a ‘‘1’’ and a ‘‘3’’ crammed into the same column. And the previous worst score on the 15th was an 11 by, among others, Ben Crenshaw in 1997.
At two-over, Garcia had been going along nicely enough until reaching the 15th tee. He launched his drive 322 yards into the middle of the fairway.
From 205 yards, Garcia went for it with eagle on his mind, but he found the water in front of the green. He returned to the drop zone, approximately 75 yards from the pin and this is when one those inescapable golfing nightmares unfolded. Plop! Caddie chucks him another ball. Plop! Caddie chucks him another ball. Plop! Caddie chucks him another ball. Five times in all.
On the sixth attempt, he span it into 10 feet and made the putt. And somewhere Weiskopf and Tommy Nakajima, who took an octuple 13 on the 13th in 1978, welcomed him into their club.
To think, only last month Garcia and his wife Angela named their firstborn Azalea in honour of this layout. This was some way to repay the compliment.
From green jacket jacket.
Meanwhile, Jordan Spieth’s quest for a second green jacket is off to a dazzling start.
The 24-year-old Texan birdied five straight holes on the back side to finish with a six-under 66, giving him a two-shot lead after the opening round.
Spieth made eagle at the par-5 eighth hole, but things really got rolling at the 13th. That’s where he began the stretch of five straight birdies, which suddenly made him the man to beat. Again. Matt Kuchar and Tony Finau are Spieth’s closest challengers. Both shot 68, which was a truly amazing performance by Finau considering he dislocated his left ankle just 24 hours earlier while celebrating a hole-in-one during the par-3 contest.
The group at 69 includes Rory McIlroy, who’s going for the career grand slam, and Henrik Stenson. to strait-