Worst Shot In Major Championship History

[skydog]

1 hour ago, Golfingdad said:

You sure? He’s up against the collar of the rough only a few yards behind the bunker.  It seems to me it’s pretty close to the same line that Norman was on.

 

True, I failed to fully think about the line from the tee box. Tiger was definitely a good bit left....although not quite as bad Norman's 

 

[Buckeyebowman]

11 hours ago, skydog said:

I was thinking that Norman's 1996 Masters meltdown at least deserves some recognition in this thread but I couldn't think back to a single iconically bad shot that embodied the collapse. Like most of Norman's collapses, it seemed to just be a string of poor shots and poor decision making that ended up costing him. His tee shot at 16 (4:09 in) deserves an honorable mention here and definitely seemed to be the worst of the day. You don't see many (I can't think of any off hand) sunday tee shots that end up in the water there considering the ideal landing spot is ~30 yards to the right, well right of the pin.

 

This is one of the first things that leapt to mind when I initially read this thread, but it's a whole series of bad shots. I once read (or heard_) and interview with Norman about that round. He said he could bfeel his timing going on Saturday, but he managed to hold it together enough to scrape it around in par, I think. He went to the range Saturday evening, nothing doingh! Went to warm up on Sunday, same thing! He had no idea where the ball was going. I'm not too harsh with criticism because I know how jittery I can get over a 3 foot putt with a damn beer on the line!

[mvmac]

10 hours ago, skydog said:

Yea pretty much. I think he was 2 back of Faldo when he hit that shot at 16...so not completely out of it, but the writing was clearly on the wall by that point that it wasn't going to be his day. 

My bad then, I though he was further back on 16.

[MuniGrit]

DJ hit a horrible iron in the Brittish Open the year Clarke won.

 

[Piz]

Branden Grace's tee shot, on number 16 at Chambers Bay, has got to rank up there.  He went from  "I might have this" to "fuhgidaboudit" in one swing.

[onthehunt526]

This one probably won't count because the shot that followed it, was either the luckiest shot ever (mostly likely) or one of the greatest shots ever (well it was pretty good)

The worst shot in a major, Larry Mize, Second Shot, 194 yards, 5-iron, 2nd playoff hole, 1987 Masters. (I mean Floyd's 7-iron in '90 in the playoff was pretty bad, but not 40 yards offline). I think he either shanked it, Or pushed a draw, but that was almost on the 12th tee it was so far right. 

I need not describe the shot that followed it,

[Dr. Manhattan]

Hoch and Sanders choking on 2 footers to win. Brutal. 

[Zeph]

 

Edited April 5, 2018 by Zeph
Oops, wrong thread. Still kinda works.

[fishgolf]

Sergio Garcia shooting a 13 on hole 15 in the first round.  Definitely not the worst shot (first attempt or two), but has to rank among the top all time WTH were you thinking worst decisions.  I mean, why not just go a bit deeper after wet ball #2 (#3 for sure) and move on?  Oh well, it was great seeing him win last year and he will no doubt be among the contenders at Augusta in years to come.

[iacas]

55 minutes ago, fishgolf said:

Sergio Garcia shooting a 13 on hole 15 in the first round.

This doesn't really meet the criteria in bold:

On 2/28/2018 at 2:02 PM, mvmac said:

What do you think is the worst shot hit in major championship history by someone who had a chance to win?

That means a player in contention.

[onthehunt526]

Dan Forsman at 12 in the 1993 Masters... He was 1 stroke behind Langer at the time, and hit the worst 7-iron I've ever seen, to top it off he put his pitch into Rae's Creek and walked away with a 7.

Edited April 11, 2018 by onthehunt526

[Dr. Manhattan]

Phil's tee shot on the 72nd hole of the Winged Foot U.S. Open in 2006. Terrible swing and an even worse decision in the first place. I really hope he can get the win sometime soon. Feels like Shinnecock owes him for Goosen's miraculous putting performance in 2004. 

[b101]

On 3/1/2018 at 2:09 PM, Zeph said:

 

Don't think any of these were particularly bad. He carried the 8 iron a bit too far, the pitch back was always going to be tough unless he risked leaving it down there and the putt wasn't awful.

On 3/1/2018 at 1:35 AM, MuniGrit said:

 

Those bunkers are brutal - definitely a mistake, but not the worst shot ever, in my opinion.

---

Hard to look beyond DJ's three putt for me. It's not so much the second putt, although that is poor, it's the three-putting from 12 feet at that moment that makes that the worst.

[Mr. Desmond]

Gosh, this thread is bringing back a lot of nightmares ... the most recent gaffe, but not the worst shot in Majors, was Spieth hitting tree on 18 on Sunday, but he also hit it on Friday - cost him bogey both times, which probably would have had him in a Masters playoff last weekend or he may have birdied the hole at least once. They ought to name that tree after Jordan.

Nice thread... for the uglies.

Edited April 12, 2018 by Mr. Desmond

[Chanceman]

Surprised no-one has mentioned Thomas Bjorn, in 2003 Open when leading by 2 puts his ball in the bunker at 16 and takes 2 to get out, letting Ben Curtis (who??) through to win.

[Chanceman]

9 hours ago, iacas said:

This doesn't really meet the criteria in bold:

That means a player in contention.

Well it was the first round and Sergio was the defending champion so I suppose he WAS in contention until about the third try. After that it was a test of character just to keep going despite the embarrassment which he did, so hats off.

[fishgolf]

13 hours ago, iacas said:

This doesn't really meet the criteria in bold:

That means a player in contention.

It happened in round 1.  He was only 2 over par to that point.  He was the defending champion with plenty of Masters experience. And he is among the top 10 ranked golfers in the world.  He was definitely in contention but that stands out as among the worst shot (shots) meltdown IMO. YOMV.

[iacas]

3 minutes ago, fishgolf said:

It happened in round 1.  He was only 2 over par to that point.  He was the defending champion with plenty of Masters experience. And he is among the top 10 ranked golfers in the world.  He was definitely in contention but that stands out as among the worst shot (shots) meltdown IMO. YOMV.

No, he wasn't. "Contention" doesn't begin until at least late in the third round. That's further backed up by this statement from the OP:

On 2/28/2018 at 2:02 PM, mvmac said:

Obviously the idea for the discussion is for the shot to be hit by someone that was in the hunt. I'm sure there were plenty of shots hit by guys that missed the cut 

 Sergio wasn't "in the hunt." He was a guy "that missed the cut."