Worst shots in golf recalled

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. — As powerful as positive thinking can be at the highest level of golf, even the best have a tendency to recall the worst.

Justin Thomas didn't hesitate when asked for the worst shot he ever hit. It also was fairly recent.

"The first shot I hit in the playoffs last year," Thomas said. "That was the worst shot I ever hit in my life, hands down."

In his first appearance since winning the PGA Championship, he hit a duck-hook that barely went more than 200 yards when it clanged out of the trees and into the fairway. Most players had a wedge to the green at Glen Oaks. Thomas had to smoke a 2-iron and somehow managed to make par.

That was televised. Still fresh in his mind was a shot from college when Alabama played at Isleworth.

"I get the chunks sometimes," Thomas said. "I hit a drive in college, a drop-kick off the toe on No. 8. I'll never forget it. I was talking to one of our assistant coaches. I was trying to decide if I could carry it 305 to 310 yards over a bunker because we had a helping wind. I took a huge divot. It landed like 15 yards in front of me and rolled down the hill. The coach looked over at me and was laughing. I said, 'Coach, did that cover the bunker?'"

Dustin Johnson also went back to college.

"For some reason ... I won the tournament, but we were at Duke in college. It was the Duke Invitational," Johnson said. "I was in the right side of the fairway at No. 1 after making the turn, and I hoseled a 5-iron into the trees."

Does he remember his good shots as easily?

"Probably not," Johnson said. "But I've hit a lot of good ones."

Jordan Spieth didn't have to think hard when asked his worst shot of last year. He had a five-shot lead at the Northern Trust last year when he hit 8-iron into the water on the par-3 sixth. He wound up losing in a playoff to Johnson.

Was it a bad shot or bad timing? It only missed clearing the water by about a foot.

"It was a situation where I hit a club that was way too aggressive when I could have taken more and just faded it in," Spieth said. "When I look back at last year, if I want one mulligan, that was my mulligan from last year." AP