Masters contender implodes with 47 on second nine, tumbles down leaderboard

Brian Harman entered the Masters in strong kind. Since his Open Championship victory final summer time, he’s notched 4 extra top-10 finishes, together with a T2 displaying ultimately month’s Gamers Championship. At No. 8 within the OWGR, the 37-year-old is at a profession peak.

By his first 9 holes of the week at Augusta National, Harman performed precisely as you’d anticipate for a participant of his stature. He made seven pars and two birdies, handing over two beneath and on the primary web page of the leaderboard. He was his regular unflappable self. However as so typically is the case at Augusta Nationwide, catastrophe lurked.

After a par on the tenth, he made a bogey on the eleventh and added one other on the twelfth. Two over at Amen Nook isn’t excellent, however it’s hardly an anomaly. Sadly for Harman, the worst was but to return.

Issues began to go off the rails on the next gap, the par-5 thirteenth. After laying as much as wedge distance, Harman flighted a shot over Rae’s Creek and into the center of the inexperienced. The one drawback was he didn’t take off sufficient spin and the ball zipped again into the water, leading to double bogey.

Harman righted the ship momentarily over the subsequent two holes with a pair of pars, however his nightmare again 9 was not but full. He hit a water ball off the tee of the par-3 sixteenth and added insult to damage with a three-putt to complete off a triple-bogey 6.

His subsequent gap was no kinder. On the par-4 seventeenth, Harman snipe hooked his drive effectively proper on his strategy to one other 6. His tee shot on the par-4 finisher once more discovered the timber once more, and he double bogeyed that gap as effectively.

In simply 9 holes, Harman torpedoed any likelihood of slipping on the inexperienced jacket this yr. With two bogeys, two doubles and a triple, Harman posted a back-nine 47(!) and signed for an opening-round 81.

There’s an outdated saying you can’t win a golf match in Spherical 1, however you possibly can lose it. And within the opening spherical of this Masters Match, Harman proved that reality.

Zephyr Melton

Golf.com Editor

Zephyr Melton is an assistant editor for GOLF.com the place he spends his days running a blog, producing and enhancing. Previous to becoming a member of the crew at GOLF, he attended the College of Texas adopted by stops with the Texas Golf Affiliation, Workforce USA, the Inexperienced Bay Packers and the PGA Tour. He assists on all issues instruction and covers novice and ladies’s golf. He may be reached at zephyr_melton@golf.com.