When you think of The Masters and Augusta National Golf Club, you think of one of the most prestigious yet toughest tests in all of golf.
Winning a green jacket is often seen as the pinnacle of a golfer’s career and some of the very best to ever do it have won multiple times around Augusta.
The likes of Jack Nicklaus, Phil Mickelson, Tiger Woods and Nick Faldo are among the greats to hold multiple Masters titles, while Scottie Scheffler has two already in terms of modern day greats.
But for every Masters winner, there are those who hold unwanted records around the great course.
However, if you want someone who has experienced the highest of highs at The Masters and the lowest of lows, we needn’t look any further than a certain Sergio Garcia.
How Sergio Garcia carded the highest ever individual hole score in Masters history
While Sergio Garcia is regarded as one of the best European golfers to ever play the game, it doesn’t mean it’s always been plain sailing for the Spaniard.
Indeed, Garcia has experienced some massive highs, culminating in him winning his one and only major at Augusta in 2017, when he held off Justin Rose in a playoff to win in fine fashion.
However, just as golf has a tendency to do so, it was only 12 months later that Augusta well and truly bit back at Garcia.
In a remarkable turn of events on Augusta’s par five 15th in 2018, Garcia suffered the mother of all meltdowns as he tried to get home.
Inexplicably, after finding the fairway with a drive more than 300 yards, Garcia would find the water not once, not twice, not even three times, but on a whopping four occasions before his 12th shot eventually found the putting surface and he holed out for an octuple bogey 13.
Garcia’s 13 on the hole is the joint highest score ever recorded on a single hole at The Masters alongside Tom Weiskopf and his 13 on the 12th in 1980, and Tommy Nakajima’s 13 on 13 back in 1978.
What Sergio Garcia said after making 13 on one hole at The Masters
As with any negative situation in major sport, there’s not a lot a golfer can say when such a nightmare scenario occurs.
Indeed, this is the sort of thing we see from amateurs, never mind a PGA Tour player who won the same event just a year prior.
At the time, Garcia admitted he had little in the way of an explanation.
“I don’t know,” Garcia responded when asked to explain the hole.
“I don’t know what to tell you. It’s one of those things. I feel like—I don’t know, it’s the first time in my career where I make a 13 without missing a shot. Simple as that. I felt like I hit a lot of good shots and unfortunately the ball just didn’t want to stop. I don’t know, you know, it’s one of those things. So it’s just unfortunate, but that’s what it is.”
Garcia ended up at 15 over par for his two rounds and after winning the year before, was brought back down to earth with the biggest of bumps.
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