It wasn’t pretty.
You may not want to watch the train wreck of a putting meltdown that hit Ernie Els on the very first hole of the Masters tournament on Thursday.
It started out innocently. Els missed the green and chipped to within two feet. Easy par, right?
Wrong.
Els proceeded to do something that’s never happened on the first hole in the history of the tournament. He six-putted from two feet and made the highest score ever recorded at No. 1 — a nine.
Else started by running his first putt three feet past. It got very ugly from there. At first, they thought he seven-putted, but after he finished, it was only six resulting in a nine rather than a 10 on the hole.
“There’s a short up there somewhere and you can’t do what you normally do,” was hole Els explained, or tired to. “It’s unexplainable,” he said.
Once upon a time, the late, great Masters champion Seve Ballesteros four-putted and when asked how, he simply said:
“I miss, I miss, I miss, then I make.”
