William Mouw on the 16th hole on the Pete Dye Stadium Course on Friday.
pgatour.com/Golf Channel
Arnold Palmer would likely sympathize. Bob Murphy too. And JT Poston. And Kevin Streelman. And Martin Laird. And seemingly countless others. Even Tip O’Neil, former Speaker of the House. All used to stand where William Mouw stood on Friday, and all collapsed like Mouw collapsed. He was not alone. His misery had company.
We’re trying to be positive here.
Because there were many negatives. Thirteen strokes, if you’re counting. Then six more.
“Oh my God,” an announcer said at one point on the PGA Tour’s live broadcast. “What’s going on?”
In a sentence, the bunker to the left of the 16th hole on the Pete Dye Stadium Course happened. Its wall is 18 meters high. Blocks more shots than Shaq or Dikembe. You want to avoid it. But after two shots on Friday, Mouw found herself facing it, about 25 yards from the hole, during the second round of American Express the tournament. And then? Whoah, boy.
– On the third shot, Mouw rocketed the ball onto the green.
Said a PGA Tour Live announcer: “Oh, it was very clean. Easy to do.”
– On the fourth shot, from the dormant grass, Mouw drove his ball back over the green – and back into the bunker.
Said an announcer: “Oh my god. What’s going on?”
– On the fifth shot, Mouw’s ball missed clearing the bunker by about five feet – and it rolled back down. This was his second bunker shot.
Said analyst Johnson Wagner on the Golf Channel broadcast: “I mean, you can’t help but laugh at yourself.” In particular, in a spot for the network this weekWagner played a shot from the bunker – and got one out of the skull.
– On the sixth shot, Mouw’s putt missed the putt by about two feet – and it came back down again. This was his third bunker shot.
Said Wagner: “Oh boy.”
Announcer Steve Sands said: “Did he do it again? He did. Oh my god.”
– On the seventh shot, Mouw cleared the bunker – but again his ball sailed over the green. This was his fourth bunker shot.
Said an announcer on PGA Tour Live: “Oh my gosh.”
– On the eighth shot, again from the right of the green, again from the dormant grass, Mouw chipped his ball into a small embankment in front of the green – and his ball rolled across the putting surface and back into the bunker.
“Pick, put, put, put, put,” said an announcer on PGA Tour Live as his ball rolled.
Another host said: “Oh my god.”
– On the ninth shot, from the bunker for the fifth time, Mouw played his ball to the right of the wall and back into the fairway. The mistakes seemed to be over.
– They weren’t. On a 10, Mouw apparently miscalculated how firm the green was, hit his ball about five feet from the flag – and his ball rolled onto the green.
A PGA Tour Live announcer said: “What are you doing? Mouw, what are you doing?”
– Kick 11 was a return to the field.
Shot 12 was a putt.
The 13th shot was the last of his hole.
The numbers? A bogey on the par-5 eighth. He had taken five shots from the infernal bunker. He had started the hole at six-under for the tournament and left it at two-over. He finished the round at five. He started the day tied for 46th and finished 106th.
But there was more.
On the 16th hole, the island-green, par-3 17th, Mouw hit his first two shots in the water before finishing with a triple-bogey six.
However, others have also slammed the drink.
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