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Defending Masters champ implodes, ties highest single-hole score in tournament history

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For one shining moment, even the worst weekend hacker can say he might be on par with a Masters champion.

Sergio Garcia’s title defense at Augusta National took a nightmarish turn Thursday on the par-5 15th hole.

Garcia hit five balls in the water and finished with a 13. That’s T-H-I-R-T-E-E-N — 8 over par.

His octuple bogey is the highest score on the 15th in Masters history, beating the mark of 11 held by the trio of Jumbo Ozaki (1987), Ben Crenshaw (1997) and Ignacio Garrido (1998).

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Garcia’s 13 is also the highest score on any hole in the history of the tournament, tying him with Tommy Nakajima, who shot a 13 on the 13th in 1978, and Tom Weiskopf, who did the same two years later on the 12th.

His effort reminded many of the famous scene in the movie “Tin Cup” where Roy McAvoy, played by Kevin Costner, repeatedly hits the same shot into the water.

In winning his first green jacket last year, Garcia had no trouble on the 15th hole in four rounds, scoring a par, two birdies and finally an eagle.

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Garcia finished the day with a 9-over-par 81, putting him even with firefighter Matt Parziale.

Relative unknown Haotong Li, a 22-year-old from China, was tied with American Tony Finau atop the leaderboard at 4 under par late Thursday afternoon.

Finau made headlines Wednesday when he dislocated his left ankle celebrating a hole-in-one — and then popped it back into place and kept playing.

The first day isn’t yet in the books and it’s already a memorable Masters.

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Todd Windsor is a senior story editor at The Western Journal. He has worked as an editor or reporter in news and sports for more than 30 years.
Todd Windsor is a senior story editor at The Western Journal. He was born in Baltimore and grew up in Maryland. He graduated from the University of Miami (he dreams of wearing the turnover chain) and has worked as an editor and reporter in news and sports for more than 30 years. Todd started at The Miami News (defunct) and went on to work at The News & Observer in Raleigh, N.C., the St. Petersburg (now Tampa Bay) Times, The Baltimore Sun and Space News before joining Liftable Media in 2016. He and his beautiful wife have two amazing daughters and a very old Beagle.
Birthplace
Baltimore
Education
Bachelor of Science from the University of Miami
Location
Phoenix, Arizona
Languages Spoken
English
Topics of Expertise
Politics, Media, Sports




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