Masters hopeful urinates in Rae’s creek at Augusta National

Jose Luis Ballester admitted to urinating into Rae’s Creek after being caught short by the 13th hole during his first ever round at the Masters.

The young Spanish amateur, who shot a four-over 76 playing alongside world No.1 Scottie Scheffler, admitted after his round he needed to take relief after hitting his third shot on the iconic par-5.

Assuming he had cover with his back to the grandstand on the 14th tee, Ballester did his business in the stream down the left side of the fairway. Yet patrons quickly caught on to what was unfolding with the US amateur champion and clapped him as he returned.

Ballester addressed the rather bizarre incident in his post-round interview.

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“Well, I completely forgot that we had those restrooms to the left of the tee box,” he said. “And then I’m like, I really need to pee.

“Didn’t really know where to go, and since JT (Justin Thomas) had an issue on the green, I’m like, I’m just going to sneak here in the river and probably people would not see me that much, and then they clapped for me.”

Ballester was asked if he was worried about being reprimanded by Augusta National officials.

“They saw me,” he replied. “It was not embarrassing at all for me. If I had to do it again, I would do it again.”

As part of the traditional Masters grouping with the amateur champion and defending champion, Ballester relished the opportunity to play alongside Scheffler.

“I feel like you never really know how to prepare,” he said. “You can meditate, visualise, put yourself in hard situations, but at the end of the day you’ve got to figure it out, right, especially being the first time here at Augusta with such a nice pairing like I had.

“I knew for sure I was going to have Scottie, and when I saw Tuesday I had JT, I was like, oh, my God, this is getting serious.

“Yeah, I feel like you never really know how to prepare. You can meditate, visualize, put yourself in hard situations, but at the end of the day you’ve got to figure it out, right, especially being the first time here at Augusta with such a nice pairing like I had.

“I knew for sure I was going to have Scottie, and when I saw Tuesday I had JT, I was like, oh, my God, this is getting serious. Tried to get loose warming up, tried to be myself, listen to music, tried to stay focused. And again, as I said before, really happy with how to manage the nerves on the first tee box and how to play the first few holes.

“Although I made a couple mistakes and got really unlucky on 5 (where he had a triple bogey seven). Yeah, I think I kept doing that, and I was not intimidated at all by the pairing that I had.”

Ben Parsons is the Senior Writer at bunkered and is the man to come to for all of the latest news, across both the professional and amateur games. Formerly of The Mirror and Press Association, he is a member at Halifax Golf Club and is a long-suffering fan of both Manchester United and the Wales rugby team.