Like Augusta wind, the Masters has come and gone, and with it came highs and lows (and actually some strong winds…), some typical of a golf tournament and some quite unexpected. Of the unexpected events, the three holes in one on hole number 16 has to be the most amazing. The first to manage this feat was Shane Lowry. The luck of the Irish was certainly with him there! Shortly after followed Davis Love III, and finally Louis Oosthuizen who, even more remarkably, hit J. B. Holmes’ ball off of his first shot, causing his own ball to roll right towards the hole. The biggest high of the tournament surely goes to Danny Willett as he watched Jordan Spieth’s unfortunate choke on TV, realizing he was the new defending champion of the Masters, and the proud winner of $1.8 million.
As for the lows, there were plenty… To start, Ernie Els had the worst start to the Masters in history with a 9 on the first hole. His series of 5 missed putts left him with a quintuple bogey. Needless to say he did not make the cut this year. Speaking of strong winds earlier, they certainly hindered many on Friday and Saturday, making it extremely difficult to keep the ball on the fairway. The biggest victim of the wind was Billy Horschel by far. His ball was lying steady on the 15th green when a strong gust managed to push it all the way to the edge of the green, where a false front took it the rest of the way to the water. Then there’s Jordan Spieth, who was doing very well with a 5 shot lead after the front nine, and choked on the 12th hole after landing in the water twice, then landing in the bunker before finishing the hole with a 7. What’s so disappointing is that he would have been one of only three people to win the Masters two years in a row, and he choked. Luckily he is young, and with his resilience, he should be able to bounce back from this pretty well.
The U.S. Open in June is the next major tournament. Hopefully it will bring fairer weather and more holes in one!
Featured image courtesy of www.abc.net.au
