Scene from Tin Cup

They call him “El Nino” not “Tin Cup”, but the 13-year PGA Tour player brought back some fond memories of the 1996 movie when he duplicated Roy McAvoy’s score of 12 on a hole…..this time, at the recently completed Doral Championship in Miami. Like McAvoy, Sergio Garcia’s octuple-bogey required five balls to complete the hole but occurred instead on the third hole of his Sunday round……after an amazing eagle on his opening hole!

Unlike Tiger that day though, “El Nino” actually completed his round— with a 76. Not really all that bad considering an 8 over par on a SINGLE hole! In response to the barrage of questions, the often-temperamental Garcia kept his cool following this latest disappointment as he mumbled, “not today guys, I don’t have the energy”, while walking through the media tent on his way to the parking lot.

Even with seven PGA Tour wins and over $28M in earnings, the Spaniard has never quite reached the pinnacle of golf that we all predicted when he first “leaped” onto the scene at the 1999 PGA Championship (where he eventually finished in a tie for second). He’s recorded nine 2nd place finishes, and his biggest victory to date was the 2008 Players Championship at Sawgrass, but he needed a playoff to get that done. His best finishes in the “Majors” include a T4 at Augusta (2004), a T3 at the US Open (2005), a second place at the 2007 British Open after holding the lead entering each round, and a second (1999) and T2 (2008) in the PGA Championship. Interestingly, he also has another amazing single-hole score in his career…….a rare double-eagle on the par-5 second hole at Augusta. On that day in 2002, following his monstrous 325-yard drive he holed a 253-yard 2-iron! That is some incredible talent! No doubt the guy has astounded us at times, but he’s always fallen short in the BIG ones.

The five-time European Ryder Cup superstar definitely has not been the only golfer to blow-up a hole on the PGA Tour. Check out these incredible all-time disasters:

• Tommy Armour shot a 23 on a par-5 at the 1927 Shawnee (KS) Open

• John Daly recorded an 18 on a par-5 at the 1998 Bay Hill Classic in Orlando (hitting SIX consecutive balls in the water)

• Kevin Na fired a 16 on a par-4 at the 2011 Valero Texas Open, and

• Ed “Porky” Oliver carded a 16 on a par-3 at the 1954 Bing Crosby Pro-Am

Thank you Sergio Garcia, and these others, for making us weekend hackers not feel so bad after all!

Tell us your story of your worst hole ever!  Can you beat Sergio?  How about “Porky” Oliver?