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Golf fans and pros alike were left bemused and bewildered at Gordon Sargent’s shock jump-out at the US Open.
Sargent topped the low amateur standings in his national championship at Los Angeles Country Club, but his impressive finish was marred by a bizarre event on the 18th green.
The talented young American was just tidying up his par on his 72nd hole, tapping in from two feet to sign for a final round 68.
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But despite rolling his ball straight into the bottom of the cup, the ball somehow popped back out, leaving him in compete awe.
Fortunately, his tournament was not affected as he prevailed out of the four amateurs who made the cut in the major.
However, the shocking moment left fans wondering the same thing: imagine if this had happened with the US Open title on the line.
The extreme misfortune was soon going viral on social media, with esteemed professionals, journalists and fans all weighing in on the incident.
Golf is the most infuriating sport to have graced this earth. pic.twitter.com/FHAiSqwchi
— Sky Sports Golf (@SkySportsGolf) June 18, 2023
European Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald wrote: “This is unacceptable! Does the @USGA go fix this mid round? This should never happen?”
“Cup not deep enough on 18?” former Masters champion Trevor Immelman tweeted.
Swedish pro Frederik Lindblom agreed: “The US Open staff doesn’t know how to put in a cup?!?! This happens if the cup is not far enough down so that it hits the top edge of the metal cup. If the cup is far enough down it hits the soil. Unacceptable.”
A similarly perplexed Hunter Mahan added: “WTF just happened to Sargent???? How could that happen?”
Fortunately, it has been confirmed that the USGA have now attended to the matter, so we are highly unlikely to have a repeat of the incident as the leaders finish up on Sunday.
Paolo Uggetti, golf reporter at ESPN, noted that the cup had been damaged before Sargent’s unthinkable piece of bad luck.
Uggetti tweeted: “USGA spokesperson says the group before Sargent pulled out the flag in a way that slightly damaged the cup, which has now been fixed.”
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