dropped four shots at No. 12. Spieth dunked both his tee shot and his postdrop third shot in Rae’ s Creek, leading to a quadruple bogey from which he never recovered.
Spieth, not one to avoid the scene of such a disastrous turn, revisited No. 12 in December, when he joined two Augusta members to play a round.
“ First time back. I was very nervous when I got on 12 tee, and I hit an 8-iron over the bunker to about 15 feet,” Spieth said before the SBS Tournament of Champions in Hawaii in January.“ Greens
were a little slower, and I left a lot of putts short. In the group, I was like, there was no chance I was leaving this short and I hit this putt to about 15, 18 feet.
“ I was pumped to hit the green, and then I hit my putt and it just about stopped short on the front lip and fell in for two. I probably gave a big fist pump. I was walking around with my hands up, like‘ demon’ s gone.’
“ And I went back the next day,” Spieth continued.“ We played it the next morning and I hit a 9-iron this time to a left pin, and it landed about three feet beyond the hole and it was really, really soft, and it sucked back and almost went in, right on the lip. So I got two twos out of No. 12 the first time back. Last two times I played the hole, I made birdie.”
Spieth’ s seven was nowhere near the worst score ever recorded on Golden Bell. Tom Weiskopf put five balls in Rae’ s Creek in 1980 and made 13, the highest score relative to par in tournament history. A double bogey on No. 12 was part of Rory McIlroy’ s Sunday meltdown in 2011. In 2013, defending champion Bubba Watson and Kevin Na both made 10s on the 12th.
“ You know, it’ s funny, if you’ re not going to win, you’ ve got to get in the record books somehow,” Watson quipped after that round.“ So I’ m a guy that got a double-digit score on a par 3.”
Not everyone has found calamity at the 12th. Curtis Strange, who was part of the Inaugural Class of the Virginia Golf Hall of Fame, is one of three players to have aced Golden Bell in competition, doing so in 1988.( Claude Harmon in 1947 and William Hyndman in 1959 were the others.)
Strange used a 7-iron for his ace, and in an odd move, reached into the cup, retrieved his ball and immediately threw it into drink.
“ We’ ve all given way balls to Rae’ s Creek,” Strange told USA Today.“ So when I picked it out of the hole, I just tossed it in there. It was spontaneous.”
“ You know, it’ s funny, if you’ re not going to win, you’ ve got to get in the record books somehow.”
— Bubba Watson
The key to Strange’ s ace: Determining precisely when the wind was right to hit his shot.
“ When I felt the wind was the wind I wanted, I hit the ball quickly,” Strange told USA Today.“ It’ s one of those things you don’ t usually do, but there, you pull the trigger a lot faster when you figure out what you want to do. … You have to play the perfect shot on that hole, and you have to guess perfectly.” Then there was Fred Couples in 1992. The hole was cut into the upper right corner, tucked between the bunkers, making a direct approach close to impossible. Couples drew an 8-iron and aimed for the center of the green, but it wound up short, landing on the front bank that slopes back toward the water. Somehow, the ball hung up in the thick grass and stayed out of Rae’ s Creek.
Couples lined up his second shot, standing at the water’ s edge, and knocked it within a foot of the hole for a tap-in par, one that left his three-shot lead intact. He went on to win his only major championship.
“ I don’ t know how it stayed up,” Couples told USA Today.“ I’ m not sure what would have happened if it had gone in like everybody else’ s.”
The beauty of No. 12: You never know what will happen. Expect more drama in April when the world’ s best converge upon Augusta once again.
Meet the VSGA’ s Drive, Chip and Putt Finalists
Four members of the VSGA Junior Golf Circuit are among the 80 players who will participate in the 2017 Drive, Chip and Putt Championship on Sunday, April 2 at Augusta National Golf Club. A quick look at the four finalists:
JARON LEASURE, Virginia Beach Age group: 14-15 Regional qualifying site: Pinehurst Chip-ins: Leasure competed in four VSGA Junior Golf Circuit events in 2016, winning two outright and tying for first in another. He finished 11th on the season-long points list. … Leasure’ s father is in the U. S. Navy, meaning he’ s moved around quite a bit in his life. He’ s already attending his seventh different school and has lived on both coasts and in Guam. … Interests outside of golf include music, video production, running and training. … Plays out of Cypress Point Country Club.
MATTHEW MOLONEY, Vienna Age group: 10-11 Regional qualifying site: Baltusrol Chip-ins: Started playing golf at age 4. … Watching his brother and father play helped him become interested in the sport. … Interests outside of golf include basketball and snowboarding. … Just missed making it to the finals in 2015, finishing third in his regional at Congressional. … Plays out of Westwood Country Club.
IAN WALTERS, Glen Allen Age group: 14-15 Regional qualifying site: Baltusrol Chip-ins: Tied for 12th in his only VSGA Junior Golf Circuit event of 2016 at CCV’ s Westhampton Course. … Interests outside of golf include snow skiing. He’ s skied competitively since age 10. … Considers chipping the strongest part of his game. … Qualified for DCP finals on his first attempt. … Plays out of Hunting Hawk Golf Club.
CATHERINE QIU, Ashburn Age group: 10-11 Regional qualifying site: Pinehurst Chip-ins: Started playing golf at age 7. … Entered one VSGA Junior Golf Circuit event in 2016 and finished seventh at the Regency at Dominion Valley. … Interests outside of golf include arts, singing, dancing and reading. … Considers her sand wedge the best club in her bag. … Plays out of 1757 Golf Club.
vsga. org M ARCH / A PRIL 2017 | V IRGINIA G OLFER 23