‘I got punched in the face’: Farmers leader collapses on 18th-hole mishit 

Thomas Detry needed 16 words, across one sentence, and no more were required. Give him credit then: Despite all that went down with him on the 18th hole on Torrey Pines’ South Course, he managed to sum things up rather perfectly. 

“So we decided to be smart and there we go,” he said, “I got punched in the face.”

Yeah, yeah he had. 

Here’s where it gets extra cringy, though. Things had been going OK for the eighth-year pro from Belgium. He had stood up to the Torrey brute, overcoming bogeys with birdies. He had been one-under for his Farmers Insurance Open third round, following a wonderful birdie on the lengthy par-3 16th. He had a one-shot lead standing over his ball on the 18th tee.  

Detry had also fired a missile on the 543-yard par-5. On its broadcast, CBS labeled it its Drive of the Day.

But it finished just 293 yards out, and doubt arose. Go for it? He had a touch over 250 yards to the hole, which was doable. But so was finding the water that fronts the left side of the green. And it was getting cooler; golf balls prefer warmth. And Detry admitted later there was a touch of mud on his ball; golf balls like to be spotless. And he admitted the round had dragged on; golfers eye efficiency. And he admitted it was getting dark; golfers seek the light. It all added up. 

Layup. 

He worked an iron to about 90 yards short of the hole, short of trouble. His playing partners, Stephan Jaeger and Nicolai Hojgaard, also hit short, though they had hit their tee shots into the rough and had little choice. They hit their third shots first, and hit safely on. 

Detry grabbed a sand wedge for his third. He’d have to hit something past the flag on the green that slopes back to front, and toward the drink. 

He did. His ball landed about 25 feet past the hole.  

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But he’d put spin on it. It violently yo-yo’d. Back toward him. Back toward the penalty area. 

It didn’t stop. 

Wet. 

“Oh my word,” analyst Trevor Immelman said on the CBS broadcast. “Middle of the fairway, decided to lay up and now look at that.”

Detry looked ahead. He walked forward. He motioned at slamming his club, but thought better of it. He went over stroke five with his caddie, from the drop area about three first downs ahead. He dropped. He hit on. That one also fell past the hole, about 20 feet long, but it stuck and stayed put. He took off his golf glove and slapped a headcover with it. 

It’s here where you wonder whether Detry should have gone for it. Maybe he’d reach. At worst, he’d do exactly what he did from short range. On the broadcast, Immelman wondered. 

But he didn’t. He had his reasons. They’re noted above, but here are his words. 

“I hit an amazing drive; I drove it great on 18,” Detry started. “I was just in between 3-wood, hybrid. It’s been a very long day. I think we played in 5 hours, 45 [minutes], I had a little bit of mud on the ball, the lie wasn’t perfect, light was starting to be — it was starting to be dark. There was a couple of different factors that were not in favor. Obviously short is a no-go. 

“So we decided to be smart and there we go, I got punched in the face.”

Yeah, yeah he had. 

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From the green, Detry two-putted — he just missed the first putt — and he made a double-bogey seven, while Jaeger birdied, and he leads by one over Hojgaard and Matthieu Pavon heading into Saturday’s final round. Detry is two back.   

After he was done on the green, he watched. He ran his right hand through his hair. Later, he covered his face with his left hand. Recovery won’t be easy.  

But he believes he will. 

“Yeah, it’s really tough, honestly,” Detry said. “I’ve been working on a lot of things mentally as well and I feel I’m doing everything the right way and it still seems to happen. It’s very tough, but in hindsight, I did a lot of good things today. I made some mistakes and stayed patient. I made some great birdies coming back down the stretch. The last couple of holes are tough here. I drove the ball great, I made some nice putts for birdie. 

“Yeah, I mean, I just have to face adversity and just try to learn from it again, I guess. More real things that you can learn from it again, you know. Yeah, I felt like I really did everything the right way on the last couple holes and it really didn’t pay off and it was an expensive one, yeah.” 

Nick Piastowski

Golf.com Editor

Nick Piastowski is a Senior Editor at Golf.com and Golf Magazine. In his role, he is responsible for editing, writing and developing stories across the golf space. And when he’s not writing about ways to hit the golf ball farther and straighter, the Milwaukee native is probably playing the game, hitting the ball left, right and short, and drinking a cold beer to wash away his score. You can reach out to him about any of these topics — his stories, his game or his beers — at nick.piastowski@golf.com.

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