‘Water makes players do silly things’: Disastrous shank sinks Olympian

Pia Babnik had just made Le Golf National as easy to digest as a croissant, and a reporter was curious Thursday after her Olympics second-round 66. “How have you been able to mentally keep yourself in it,” they wondered, “knowing that if you hit in the rough or something like that, it could penalize you pretty heavily?”

Here was her response:

“I was more focused on trying to hit the fairway. It’s definitely not easy. You just have to keep the ball on the fairway, and then yeah, it’s a lot easier, but also some second shots are pretty tough. And yeah, I managed today to overcome these things.”

Friday, however, at a most unfortunate time, Babnik did not.

During the Olympics third round, on the 397-yard, par-4 15th hole, she missed the fairway off the tee, had a “pretty tough” second swing — a shank, in fact — and was penalized “pretty heavily.” Babnik started the hole two back of the lead, and, following a quadruple-bogey eight on it, she’ll start Saturday’s final round seven back of leaders Morgane Metraux and Lydia Ko. 

Ahead of the 15th, she’d been surging, after bogeys on the 1st and 3rd holes. She birdied the par-4 6th on a 12-footer. She birdied the par-5 9th after hitting her third shot to 3 feet. She birdied the par-3 11th after rolling in an 11-footer. But disaster soon followed. 

On the 15th, in order, Babnik:

— Found the water to the right on the dogleg right with her tee shot. 

— Took a drop that put her 143 yards out. Here, Golf Channel cameras caught up to her. She swung, and she shanked. The ball rocketed right and about 25 yards short of the green. Babnik murmured. She walked back to her caddie, covering her mouth with her right hand en route. At her bag, she gently pounded her iron into the ground, before being handed a driver from her looper in preparation for a second penalty drop. On Golf Channel, announcer Tom Abbott said this: “Oh dear. Oh, it’s a shank. The water makes these players do silly things. Amazing, isn’t it?”

— Hit her fifth shot left of the green.

— Hit her sixth shot to 8 feet.   

— Missed that.

— Made a 20-incher for the quadruple bogey. 

It’s here, though, where we’ll try to spin things positively. 

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Notably, the week’s been good for the 20-year-old from Slovakia who’s won twice on the Ladies European Tour. She said she’s beginning to find a groove with a reworked swing; previously “it was all over the place.” She said she’s enjoyed herself so much that she could play in Games-like atmospheres every week. She’s seen other athletes, too. One stood out. 

“Probably the best part was after Novak Djokovic won the medal,” Babnik said, “he came to the Village and he was in the Serbian house, and we drove by and they were just dancing, screaming and it was just so fun to watch.”

Can she bounce back? Can she medal? Of course. She’s also five back of the group tied for third. 

The thought will be to just find the fairway. To just navigate those second shots. 

Just like she said.