LOS ANGELES — Golf can be a brutally unforgiving sport, and top amateur golfer Gordon Sargent got a dose of that reality at the most unfortunate time on Sunday.
Putting on 18 to finish his final round at the 2023 U.S. Open, Sargent was looking at an easy tap-in putt for par. He did everything right in that moment and seemingly deserved to end the afternoon at 2 under, 3-over for the tournament. But a damaged cup would lead to the flukiest of bounces.
Sargent’s putt went into the cup and somehow bounced right out in a totally unnatural way. Sargent stared in disbelief as he had to settle for bogey on the hole and 4-over par for the tournament.
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How does that even happen?
“You probably saw what happened on 18,” he said after his round. “I had like a two-and-a-half footer straight up the hill that hit the back of the hole and just bounced right back to me. Haven’t seen that happen in a while, but that’s how it goes sometimes.”
This happened to Gordon Sargent on 18. Imagine if it happened later today on a putt to win the U.S. Open.pic.twitter.com/NefFUXedIK
— Kyle Porter (@KylePorterCBS) June 18, 2023
The bounce was so strange that U.S. Golf Association officials went to investigate what happened there. They determined that the group before Sargent inadvertently damaged the hole when the flagstick was removed. While USGA was able to repair the cup, it wasn’t much of a consolation for Sargent, who had to take an undeserved bogey.
Could you imagine if this happened to a golfer in contention, though? USGA avoided disaster at Sargent’s expense, but golf fans still couldn’t believe that the cup malfunction wasn’t caught earlier.
It could have been so bad.
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