Sticky situation
Tiny crab causes big worries for golfer Watson
Two-time Masters golf champion Bubba Watson had some major issues with a tiny crab in Saturday’s third round of the US PGA RBC Heritage as topranked Rory McIlroy could only watch.
The bizarre situation came at the par-3 17th hole at Harbour Town Golf Links in Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, in the US tour’s second event after ending a three-month coronavirus shutdown last week.
Watson blasted his tee shot into a bunker, but when he arrived to check out the ball he found a tiny crab had crawled under it.
McIlroy, a four-time major winner from Northern Ireland, and Watson were in a featured pairing at the event, meaning tour television cameras were watching the entire situation as Watson pondered his options.
They included blasting the ball out with the tiny crustacean lurking in the sand beneath it and facing animal cruelty complaints.
“I don’t want the world to get mad at me, know what I mean?” Watson told McIlroy as the European star stuck the top of the putter near the ball to try and distract the crab.
Watson called for a rules official but as he approached, the little crab flipped out from beSix-time neath the ball, landing a few centimetres away and moving off, eventually crawling away.
“There was a camera and people get mad if I hit an animal,” Watson told the official to explain the problem that had resolved itself.
“We don’t need crab issues, know what I’m saying?”
Watson, 41, eventually blasted out to 17 feet but missed his par putt and took his last of four bogeys in a twoover par 73 round to stand on three-under 210 for 54 holes, sharing 70th.
The stress was unusual for the Heritage, which is typically a relaxing week for players following the Masters, which Watson won in 2012 and 2014.
McIlroy two-putted for par after the crab distraction, then birdied 18 to shoot 66 and stand on 203, five strokes off a four-way tie at the top.
Webb Simpson was forced to make some room at the top of the leaderboard, with a fourway tie injecting drama into the final round.
The 2012 US Open champion played a solid round with four birdies and a bogey, but it was not enough to fend off Briton Tyrrell Hatton, who had eight birdies on a day of stellar putting to equal Webb’s threeday, 15-under par effort.
“I think I’ve only missed one putt inside six feet in three days,” Hatton said.
“Holing out has been really good and been pretty solid from inside 20 feet, which is nice, and I hope that continues.”
Rounding out the four-way tie for first were Abraham Ancer and Ryan Palmer, who shot six and five under par respectively, with 11 other golfers all within two strokes of first place heading into the final round.
Daniel Berger, away with the winner who’walked s plaid jacket at last weekend’s Colonial, hit nine birdies for eight under par, sitting one stroke behind first place.
“I don’t think I’ve ever played this consistent for this amount of time,” Berger said.
“I feel like I’ve got a great plan to get prepared and play well every week.”
The fierce competition on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, showed there was little rust left to shake off as the PGA Tour returned to action last week.
American Nick Watney withdrew after testing positive for Covid-19 at the second round on Friday, rattling some golfers on the tour.