There’s never a good time to make a mental mistake on the golf course. Some times, however, are worse than others. The possible time may well be during a major championship at Carnoustie.
Paul Broadhurst found that out the hard way on Thursday, during the opening round of The Senior Open.
Broadhurst lined up his par putt on the seventh hole. It did not go in, coming to rest just inches to the right of the hole. Broadhurst went to tap his bogey putt in — only, it did not find the hole. In fact, Broadhurst didn’t even make contact with the attempted putt. He did, however, make a legitimate stroke at the ball and as such, it counts as a shot.
Broadhurst succinctly summed up what happened.
“I had a fresh air putt,” he said, per Adam Schupak, Golfweek.com. “I sort of pulled out of it but the putter passed over the ball and went past it…I checked with the referee. I made a legitimate attempt at it. I sort of went back and didn’t get to the ball.”
Broadhurst, who won The Senior Open in 2016 when it was last played at Carnoustie would probably know better than anybody (well, just about anybody) that Carnoustie doesn’t need any help at brutalizing even the world’s best players.
Making matters worse, it’s not as though this was a bad mistake in an otherwise forgettable tournament. Broadhurst recovered to shoot a three-under 69 on Thursday. He did struggle more on Friday, carding a two-over 74. But at one-under, Broadhurst headed into the weekend tied for fifth place. To give a sense of how big that one shot might loom, he’s teeing off on Saturday as one of five players at one-under. So, that one could be the difference in a lot of money at the weekend’s end and could even possibly even keep him from winning.
[DP World Tour on X, Golfweek.usatoday.com]