Shaun Norris one-putted.
From 7 feet, 5 inches away on the 504-yard, par-4 4th hole at Royal Portrush, the South African needed just one stroke to reach the hole.
Now, the unfortunate news.
Ahead of Friday’s Open Championship second round, Norris had been playing fair. On Thursday, behind a pair of birdies and nine-straight pars on the back nine, he shot a one-over 72. He was tied for 45th.
Then came the 4th hole. Ahead of it, he was even-par for the day after three pars. After it, he was six over.
Here’s why, based on the report from the Open Championship’s online leaderboard:
– Shot one went 264 yards and out of bounds to the right.
– Shot two was a penalty stroke.
– Shot three was a second tee ball. It went 266 yards and found a left fairway bunker. It was 233 yards away from the hole.
– Shot four traveled zero yards. Norris’ ball didn’t escape the bunker. On Thursday, this had also happened.
– Shot five also traveled zero yards. Norris’ ball didn’t escape the bunker again.
– Shot six again traveled zero yards. Norris’ ball didn’t escape the bunker a third time.
– Shot seven got him out. His ball traveled 39 yards and into the fairway. It was 196 yards away from the hole.
– Shot eight went 173 yards, finishing short and left of the green.
– Shot nine moved him onto the putting surface.
And shot 10 was in. But the damage was done. He finished with a sextuple-bogey 10.
“I mean, I hit a very poor tee shot, the first one,” Norris said afteward. “Then proceeded to hit the next one straight in the bunker. Now I’m trying to chase something, trying to make the best score out of it. Unfortunately, what was it, the fourth shot caught the lip, then stuck with the same club and tried to do the same.
“After that, the mind sort of went a little bit numb. But it happens. Golf is golf. There’s nothing you can do about it. Made a number, and I had to accept it and carry on.”
From there, thanks to birdies on the 5th, 10th, 12th and 18th holes, he played two-under golf. But his 5th hole led to a four-over 75, and he finished his second round in a tie for 117th, a drop of 72 leaderboard spots.
“You’ve just got to accept it,” Norris said. “Plain and simple, you’ve got to accept it. There’s nothing you can do about it. The past is the past. I knew that it happened. I made the number. I made the 10 on the hole. I just said, OK, now instead of making two or three or four birdies coming back, I’ve now got to make five or six.
“Like I said, I was happy with the way I fought back after that. Unfortunately I didn’t make as many putts as I would have liked to, but that’s how it goes.”
