Augusta: The Masters tournament has been at Augusta National since 1934, and no one had ever made a 9 on the first hole — until Ernie Els, the easy-going South African and four-time major champion, reached the green in three shots Thursday afternoon and proceeded to experience perhaps the most acute, most cringeworthy case of the yips ever seen on these grounds.
After six halting putts — none of them longer than four feet, and most of them shorter than two — Els walked off the green with a quintuple-bogey 9. The fifth of his six putts was an exasperated one-handed stab from perhaps six inches, which lipped out. Els’s score was recorded as a 10 for much of the day until a review of the hole determined it was a nine.
Afterward, Els struggled to explain what had happened, making reference to “snakes” in his head and suggesting only his respect for the tournament kept him from walking off the course.
“It’s unexplainable,” he said. “I couldn’t get the putter back. I was standing there, I’ve got a three-footer. I’ve made thousands of three-footers. And I just couldn’t take it back ... I don’t know how I stayed out there [and finished].”
The previous worst score on the first hole in a Masters round was an 8, which had happened four different times, most recently by Jeev Milkha Singh in 2007.
Els, 46, is less than four years removed from his last major title — the 2012 British Open — but he has struggled since golf’s ruling bodies banned anchored (or “belly”) putters at the beginning of this year. His 2012 win at Royal Lytham and St. Annes came with the anchored putter.
Amazingly, Els rolled in a 35-foot birdie putt at the fifth hole, four holes after his disastrous start, and finished the front nine at 5-over par — having played even-par golf after the first. He went on to shoot 39 on the back, with more trouble on short putts, for an opening round of 80.
“It’s the first time ever I’ve seen anything like that,” playing partner Jason Day said. “I feel for Ernie. I’ve known Ernie for a long time now. I didn’t realise he was fighting stuff like that upstairs with the putter. You just don’t want to see any player go through that.”
— Washington Post
