Every golfer has had one. A blowout; a card-killer; a ‘Tin Cup moment’ – where for whatever the reason, the golf gods frowned upon you in a moment of contempt and one false stroke turned into another, and another and another…
No one is impervious to the curse.
It’s fair to say that few people on this earth are swinging the golf club as well as Adam Scott at the moment. But during Thursday’s opening round of the ISPS Handa World Cup of Golf, the Aussie proved his mortality.
Scott, for two weeks untouchable in winning the Australian PGA Championship and Masters, would emerge from the par four, 12th hole with his card stained by a quintuplet bogey ‘9’.
While Scott will be left to rue the shocker which probably cost him the title, it pales in comparison to the biggest implosions recorded in professional golf.
We’ve gone back through the golfing annals to bring you 10 of the best, of the worst.
Tom Weiskopf – 13 (+10)
Where: 1980 Masters, Augusta National
Hole: 12th, Par 3, 155 yards
When it comes to the most feared shots in golf, the par-3 12th at Augusta National is right up there with the island green at Sawgrass. ‘Golden Bell’ would claim its biggest victim during the 1980 Masters, when Tom Weiskopf stepped up to the tee with a 7-iron in hand. The American’s tee shot spun back into Rae’s Creek, then from the drop area he dunked four more. Weiskopf would at last find the back of the green with his 11th shot. But hey, at least he didn’t three-putt.
Billy Casper – 14 (+11)
Where: 2005 Masters, Augusta National
Hole: 16th, Par 3, 170 yards
The 1970 champion, Billy Casper, deserved a better Masters send-off than the one he received. The 73-year-old American carded a 34-over-par 106, eclipsing the previous Masters record of 95. The score included a 14 at the par-3 16th, where he hit five balls into the drink. “I just kept hitting it to the left,” Casper told reporters. “I got five balls within a nest there. I was very accurate with every one!”
Gary McCord – 16 (+11)
Where: 1986 St Jude Classic, Colonial Country Club
Hole: 16th, Par 5, 512 yards
After hitting five balls with his 4-iron into the water at the par-5 16th at Colonial, pro-turned-commentator Gary McCord recalls: “I suddenly realized then that I was using the wrong club.” He switched to a 3-iron, found the green and sank a 25-foot putt for an 11-over 16. “I’m looking right between the eyes at a 17 if I don’t make that putt,” McCord said of his final shot. “I was determined to make it.”
Chris Gane – 17 (+12)
Where: 2003 Diageo Championship, Gleneagles
Hole: 18th, Par 5, 533 yards
With winds buffeting the PGA Centenary Course at Gleneagles during the 2003 Diageo Championship, the unheralded Chris Gane still had an outside chance of making the cut when he departed the 17th green at +9. He was looking for a birdie and got off on the right foot when he bisected the fairway and followed up with an entirely adequate second shot. Then he pulled his third left into rough, and that’s where the trouble began. After several hacks and a penalty, he arrived on the green to a round of applause – eventually holing out for 17. “Have you ever seen the film, Zorro?” Gane asked later. “That’s what it was like, with all my slashing at it.”
Kevin Na – 16 (+12)
Where: 2011 Valero Texas Open
Hole: 9th, Par 4, 474 yards
Kevin Na admitted even he had lost count of how many shots he had taken on his way to a record 16 at the 9th hole of the Valero Texas Open. The rare feat – a duodecuple bogey, or 12 over par – came after, among other misfortunes, an unplayable lie from his tee shot and a two-stroke penalty incurred after his ball hit a tree and rebounded onto him. Initially scored as a 15 then changed on review, it was the worst score on a par-four hole in PGA Tour history and, to make matters worse, Na was wearing a microphone for the Golf Channel so his frustrations were broadcast for all to hear.
[youtube width=”560″ height=”315″ video_id=”aWTXoNzuk8c”]John Daly – 18 (+13)
Where: 1998 Arnold Palmer Invitational, Bay Hill
Hole: 6th, Par 5, 543 yards
When ‘The Wildthing’ came to the Par 5 6th at Bay Hill, a dogleg left around a lake, he decided to take on the water and have a crack at the green. He’d pulled off the monstrous 320-yard clearance earlier in the week, but this time, not so lucky. Daly took a drop from in front of the lake, and proceeded to hit five consecutive 3-woods into the drink before finally clearing the hazard. After another drop and a visit to the bunker, he’d emerge with a 13-over-par 18.
Ray Ainsley – 19 (+15)
Where: 1938 U.S. Open, Cherry Hills Country Club
Hole: 16th, Par 4, 397 yards
Ainsley, a club pro from Ojai, California, hit his approach on the par-4 16th into a stream fronting the green. Rather than take a penalty, he decided to play the ball from the water. As the ball drifted with the current, he slashed at it repeatedly, stubbornly refusing to take a drop. He finally carded a 19, which is still the U.S. Open record for the highest score on a single hole.
Philippe Porquier – 20 (+15)
Where: 1978 French Open, La Baule GC
Hole: 13th, Par 5, 511 yards
Try as he might, Philippe Porquier simply could not hit the ball on the green at the 13th hole at the La Baule Golf Course during the 1978 French Open. Already unlikely to make the cut after a first round of 82, the marathon hole included several shanks causing lost balls and contributed to a second round of 98. To this day, Porquier’s 20 remains the worst single-hole score in the history of the European Tour.
Mitsuhiro Tateyama – 19 (+16)
Where: 2006 Acom International, Ishioka Golf Club
Hole: 8th, Par 3
Thankfully, Mitsuhiro Tateyama could see the funny side after setting a Japanese record by taking 19 on a par-3 hole at the Ishioka Golf Club. The 38-year-old found the rough with his second shot to the par-3 8th before hitting it into bushes where he took 14 shots to hack the ball out. At least he avoided three-putting. “There were more reporters around me than for the leader,” Tateyama joked after his meltdown on the eighth. “That must be a world record or something.”
Tommy Armour – 23 (+18)
Where: 1927 Shawnee Open
Hole: 17th, Par 5
In the 1927 Shawnee Open, Armour posted a mammoth 23 on the par-5 17th. The Silver Scot would hit 10 balls out of bounds from the tee, before making ‘birdie’ on his 11th ball. It was the first instance of an “archaeopteryx”, a single-hole score of 15 or more over par, and occurred the very next week after Armour’s sole U.S. Open triumph.
What’s the biggest single-hole score you’ve ever witnessed on a golf course?
