Even the most effective golfers on the earth lose to the most important of underdogs.
Tiger Woods on the 2009 PGA Championship instantly involves thoughts. That 12 months, Woods held the 54-hole lead at Hazeltine however noticed his putter go ice chilly on Sunday, shedding to Y.E. Yang by three. Different vital upsets in golf historical past embody Larry Mize defeating Greg Norman in a playoff at Augusta Nationwide in 1987, Michael Campbell at Pinehurst No. 2 in 2005, after which, maybe the best upset of all: Francis Ouimet profitable the 1913 U.S. Open at Brookline.
Golf is the sport of the surprising: something can occur on any given day, together with the World No. 1 shedding to an novice who carries a 10-handicap.
Sure, that occurred, albeit with strokes concerned.
“I performed final weekend and one among my buddies who shouldn’t be an excellent golfer, he’s like a ten handicap, he beat me in our aspect wager for the day,” defined World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler forward of this week’s Arnold Palmer Invitational.
“And I used to be speaking with [my coach] Phil [Kenyon] and that’s type of one of many nice issues about golf is I can exit with a man who’s going to shoot 90 and I may give him sufficient strokes to the place we’ll have a great competitors. That’s what makes it so enjoyable concerning the sport of golf.”
Final 12 months on the Tour Championship, Scheffler revealed that he carries a plus-seven index — a preposterous determine even for the most effective participant on the earth. Based mostly on that quantity, Scheffler needed to give 17 strokes to his buddy who performs off a ten handicap. Scheffler needed to give him a stroke on each gap apart from the 18th handicapped gap, which is often the simplest par-3 on the course.
But, regardless of that discrepancy, Scheffler’s buddy holed out a bunker shot on the 18th gap to win the match.
“I obtained out of the way in which as a result of I assumed he may doubtlessly shank it, and he ended up holing it,” Scheffler stated with fun.
“It was fairly enjoyable. I didn’t like shedding, so I handed him the cash and informed him, ‘Thanks, man. Now I obtained to go play a golf event subsequent week, so recognize the arrogance enhance that I simply misplaced to a ten handicap.’”
Jack Milko is a golf employees author for SB Nation’s Taking part in By. Comply with him on X @jack_milko.
