He is the player who accidentally hit his wife with a wayward shot on the first hole of The Masters

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We’ve all fallen victim to first-tee nerves.

It’s a familiar feeling, standing over your first ball of the day with images of shanking it flashing through your mind. Most of the time, there are a few people watching from the clubhouse, and each peering eye only adds to the mounting pressure.

But most of us can only imagine those nerves on the first tee of The Masters, with thousands watching at Augusta, and millions on TV. Players usually overcome this and find the fairway. Sometimes they hit it in the bunker or the rough, and very occasionally they hit it in the woods.

One golfer, playing in the 1979 Masters, would have loved that result. Instead, they fired the ball into the crowd, only to find that the person they hit wasn’t any old fan. It was his wife. 

Mac McLendon hit his wife on the first hole of The Masters

The 1979 Masters was won by Fuzzy Zoeller, but further down the leaderboard, Mac McLendon had no such success. It was his fourth Masters, coming off the back of his career-best T29 the year before, but his opening round in 1979 left him way off the pace. 

He shot a 74 on Thursday, and that evening he said to his wife, I’m playing so badly, I’m sure I’m going to hit someone.” If only he knew how right he was.

On the very first tee box the following day, McLendon drove his very first ball straight into the crowd. What are the odds that he would hit his wife? Luckily, the only thing that was hurt was McLendon’s pride, as his wife, Joan, was unharmed.

McLendon never recovered his round, which was over before it started. He shot a second round 77 and missed the cut, in what proved to be his final appearance at Augusta National. What a way to sign off!

Mac McLendon beat Sam Snead in his first PGA Tour win

McLendon’s career didn’t exactly etch his name into the record books, but he built a really respectable resume on the PGA Tour. He was a four-time winner after turning pro in 1968, and beat a legend of the game for his first title.

At the 1974 Walt Disney World National Team Championship, he beat the uncle-nephew pairing of J.C. and Sam Snead alongside playing partner Hubert Green. They beat the all-time leader in PGA Tour wins by a single stroke with a finishing round 64.

His best season on tour came four years later, just a year before the incident at Augusta. In 1978, he had two PGA Tour victories and a career-high finish of 22nd on the money list. 

His wins were at the Florida Citrus Open (later known as the Arnold Palmer Invitational) by two strokes over David Graham, and in the season-ending Pensacola Open. In the latter, McLendon defeated Mike Reid in a playoff.

McLendon’s play dropped off after that. He continued playing full seasons through 1980, but then played just one official tour event in 1981 before retiring from the tour.

For his PGA Tour career, McLendon made 326 starts and 240 cuts. In addition to his four victories, he was second three times, third-place three times, and had 43 total Top 10 finishes.