“I actually thought it was a patient round”, he said. “But you love the game and you got to have respect for the (Masters) and so forth, but it’s unexplainable”. It’s very tough to tell you what goes through your mind. You’ve really got to think your way around the golf course and you’ve really got to hit quality golf shots. It’s something that I’m sure up there somewhere (in his head) that you just can’t do what you normally do. “I don’t know if you’ve ever been fourth in the world, but you have pretty good confidence; there’s only three guys better than you in the world”.
Advertisement
Ernie Els suffered an embarrassing start to his 22nd Masters when he required seven putts from a short distance on the first green to post a record-high 10 on the par-4 hole in Thursday’s opening round.
World number one Jason Day was playing alongside Els and said: “It’s the first time ever I’ve seen anything like that”.
That humiliation he blamed on “snakes and stuff” that he said had invaded his brain, but it was clear that the problem was not just a one-off abberation but due to something more fundamental in his putting technique. Something withholds you from doing your normal thing.
“I know it was tough, but it wasn’t as tough as I made it look”, he said.
“It was a little better”.
“Hopefully I can pull it back and play some decent golf”.
It was the worst opening-hole score in Masters history.
Els rebounded to make a 35-foot birdie on 5 but missed short putts on 17 and 18 for bogeys.
“It felt OK on the putting green”, Els said. I couldn’t get the putter back. I was standing there. “I just have to minimize the three-putts”.
It meant not one of the five-strong Aussie contingent could find red numbers on a trying day.
Spieth did the field a favor on Friday by shooting 74 to finish Friday 4-under for the tournament, a serious backup considering he was 8-under at one point.
Mickelson’s first double bogey, at the par-four seventh, came after he got too cute with a greenside bunker shot and left his ball in the sand. “But I’ll try to take something out of this”.
The veteran South African took three legitimate attempts with the putter on the first at Augusta this morning and then had a further meltdown as he carelessly took a few more swipes at the ball.
Advertisement
“From tee to green I’m not bad, but with the putter it was hard on every hole”.
