‘What a mistake’: PGA Tour pro loses 1 stroke, 1 driver in meltdown
Brendon Todd on Sunday on the 14th hole on the Plantation Course at Kapalua.
NBC
Let’s talk football.
Brendon Todd was OK with doing so on Friday, despite him, you know, being a golfer, and him, you know, playing a golf tournament this weekend, the PGA Tour’s season-opening Sentry event. But his stick-and-ball game would end Sunday. And the football would kick off Monday. College football. College football national championship game. Michigan. Washington.
But no Georgia. The Dawgs, in fact, weren’t even picked for last week’s four-team playoff.
And Todd, a proud alum, had bolded, italicized thoughts about that.
“I want to ask you: Should Georgia be playing for the national title Monday night?”
“Yes,” Todd said. “And here’s why: No. 1, Michigan cheated, and they should have never even made it into the playoffs.
“No. 2, if the committee is sitting there analyzing teams based on injuries, and if Florida State is an injured team and that’s why they get left out and they don’t have their best players, who is the best team after a month off when they’re fresh? It’s Georgia. You let us have a month off to prepare and get healthy, we’re the best team in the country.”
HOT, all caps. This being a golf site, we’ll spare you the football details there. Your takeaway is this anyway:
Even Todd, as cool and as calm as they come, can be kindled. To be stirred. It happens.
Like Sunday. You probably knew that was coming in this piece. And something was seemingly building in Todd. He’d been playing well during the Sentry’s final round. He’d birdied 2, 3, 4, 5, 7 and 13 on the Plantation Course at Kapalua. But some tee shots were squirrely. His first shot of the day went into the left fairway bunker. His tee shot on the 6th went into the left fairway bunker. His tee shot on the 10th went into the left rough.
His tee shot on 14th went right. And right. All the way out of bounds.
Back on the tee box, Todd went left.
Seeing the result, he flung his driver in the direction of the left tee-box marker just a few feet away. The club bounced. It snapped in two, with the top half of the club falling to the turf and the bottom half taking a few bounces forward. Todd then picked up his tee.
He picked up his driver, too, the top and the bottom. NBC cameras eventually showed him squatted down, his hands over his face.
All of that took just about 30 seconds. But you probably have some questions. Like:
How did he get on from there?
Without a driver, he took a penalty stroke on 14, reloaded and double-bogeyed the hole. He parred 15. He birdied 16. He double-bogeyed 17. He parred 18. (A complete breakdown of the final five holes is below.) On a day when the gang was going low, a three-over finish hurt.
How much did it hurt?
In the end, Todd tied for 33rd, 11 shots back of leader Chris Kirk. He earned $113,000. Not bad.
But, for the sake of this story, let’s say:
— Without the club toss, Todd birdies the par-5 15th.
— And pars 17.
— And birdies the par-5 18th.
That’s four shots. He would’ve joined the pack tied for 14th. He would’ve made $310,000.
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Isn’t there any rule that could’ve helped the poor soul?
Unfortunately, no.
There’s some forgiveness for broken clubs. But Rule 4.1a (2) says this: “If a conforming club is damaged during a round or while play is stopped under Rule 5.7a, except in cases of abuse, the player may repair it or replace it with another club.”
You know the words in play here.
What did his buddy Kevin Kisner say?
Kis, also a proud former Bulldog, was making his debut as an NBC analyst. He watched it all unfold.
“You know, that’s gonna — he apologized to his playing partners,” he said. “It’s not that good of deal. But now he’s going to hit 3-wood the rest of the way. Probably can’t get to the par-5s. That’s just going to cost him major FedEx Cup points coming down the stretch.”
Added announcer Mark Rolfing: “And look, he knows it right here. What a mistake. He’s been playing golf for a long time.”
Did Todd say anything about it all?
Yeah, he actually did.
Credit to him. Here’s the exchange with reporters in his post-round interview:
“How would you assess the week?”
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“I guess I was just knocking the rust off. Came out hot and then had some struggles on the weekend. But I usually look back and say: Did I drive it well, use my wedges well and putt well? I had a really bad putting day Saturday and a really bad driving day today, but otherwise I played great.”
“What was maybe the difficulty with the driver today?”
“Just sometimes you make bad swings. That’s really all there is to it.”
“Other than the fact it didn’t come all the way — didn’t make it all the way home?”
“Yeah, exactly.”
One more question here.
Let’s end this well for Todd.
When does Georgia kick-off next?
Aug. 31. Big one, too. The Dawgs play Clemson in Atlanta in the Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game.
How Brendon Todd played the final five holes on Sunday
No. 14 285-yard par-4 (double bogey)
Shot 1: 260 yards to unknown, 49 yards to hole
Shot 2: Penalty
Shot 3: 228 yards to the left side of the fairway, 76 yards to the hole
Shot 4: 82 yards to the green, 19 feet, 3 inches to the hole
Shot 5: Putt 20 feet, 10 inches, 16 inches to the hole
Shot 6: In the hole
No. 15 528-yard par-5 (par)
Shot 1: 276 yards to the left side of the fairway, 257 yards to the hole
Shot 2: 250 yards to the left side of the fairway, 67 feet, 1 inch to the hole
Shot 3: 59 feet, 3 inches to the green, 8 feet, 4 inches to the hole
Shot 4: Putt 9 feet, 11 inches, 17 inches to the hole
Shot 5: In the hole
No. 16 372-yard par-4 (birdie)
Shot 1: 261 yards to the left side of the fairway, 119 yards to the hole
Shot 2: 117 yards to the green, 6 feet, 1 inch to the hole
Shot 3: In the hole
No. 17 548-yard par-4 (double bogey)
Shot 1: 273 yards to the native area, 275 yards to the hole
Shot 2: Penalty
Drop in the native area, 344 yards to the hole
Shot 3: 164 yards to the left side of the fairway, 182 yards to the hole
Shot 4: 174 yards to the right side of the fairway, 35 feet, 11 inches to the hole
Shot 5: 36 feet, 11 inches to the green, 9 inches to the hole
Shot 6: In the hole
No. 18 667-yard par-5 (par)
Shot 1: 327 yards to the left side of the fairway, 316 yards to the hole
Shot 2: 258 yards to the left side of the fairway, 69 yards to the hole
Shot 3: 68 yards to the green, 8 feet, 5 inches to the hole
Shot 4: Putt 11 feet, 3 inches, 3 feet, 3 inches to the hole
Shot 5: In the hole
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