Golf is a cruel, cruel game, with the difference between winning and losing being literally mere inches. Whether it’s battling for the title, or attempting to make the cut, either can be extremely tough, with Bryson DeChambeau finding this out at the par 5 15th during The Masters.
Throughout the second day, the American had been battling hard as he looked to make the cut at a venue which has caused him nightmares throughout his career, with his best finish being a T21 in 2016. At the time, DeChambeau was still an amateur!
With the action underway at Augusta National, it appeared that the cut line was going to be around +2, with there still being plenty of golf remaining on Friday. Stood at +3 on the 15th, a birdie coming in would certainly help DeChambeau’s cause and, after striking his third shot on the par 5, it looked destined to be a birdie. However, the ball struck the flag and ricocheted back into the water, leading to a very costly bogey. You can watch his unlucky break on the 15th hole over on The Masters website (opens in new tab).
Memorably, DeChambeau once stated ahead of the 2020 Masters that Augusta was “a par 67 for me”, only to struggle and finish down in 34th in that tournament. The next year he secured a 46th place finish but missed the cut altogether in 2022.
This year, after firing a two-over-par first round, the 29-year-old needed to get off to a hot start if he had any chance of making the cut and seeing the weekend. But his day couldn’t have started much worse, with one birdie, one par, three bogeys and one double bogey putting him four-over for his round through six holes.
It seemed that flawless golf would be needed to get to the cut line and, with back-to-back birdies at the eighth and ninth, DeChambeau was back on track. What’s more, he found yet another birdie at the recently extended par 5 13th to put him three-over for the tournament and one-over for the day.
DeChambeau earned low amateur honors in 2016
(Image credit: Getty Images)
The final four holes at Augusta National had been yielding plenty of birdies and, with the par 5 15th definitely reachable for DeChambeau, a fourth birdie in eight holes would do nicely for the American.
However, his third short heartbreakingly struck the flag on the fly, with the ball spinning back into the water and leading to a bogey. The brave charge had pretty much come to an end and, after his makeable birdie putt slid by at the par 3 16th, a second consecutive missed cut at The Masters…
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