The infamous 12th hole at Augusta National proved to be every bit as disastrous as Charl Schwartzel doubled it en route to a 78 on Friday, writes WADE PRETORIUS.
Rae’s Creek played havoc with the South African’s scorecard on Friday on a tough day for scoring with blustering winds and some devilish pin placements.
The 2011 Masters champion was on the road to recovery after playing the first five holes in three over with fives at the 1st, 3rd and 5th.
A birdie two at the 6th, one of the holes troubling most players in round two, and a birdie at the 10th after a run of pars kept Schwartzel hovering near the front page of the leaderboard.
A par at the 11th was followed by his tee shot finding the hazard on the 12th. He was unable to get up-and-down with his pitch and chalked up a five. That error took the wind out of his sails after pars on both of the back nine’s par fives, paying the price for laying up on both occasions.
Schwartzel scrambled for par on the 16th after missing the green but dropped on to the cut line after a double at the 17th.
The 33-year-old missed the green and followed that up with a three-putt before finding trouble to the right of the fairway from the tee on the 18th. A bogey followed for a round of 78 as he slipped below the cut line, something that didn’t seem distinctly possible arriving at the 12th tee.
The swing on that infamous tee box was a sign of the troubled times to come.
Photo: Jamie Squire/Getty Images
