32 Of The Most Heartbreaking Moments In Golf History

For every winner there will be a loser as a missed putt or a run of dropped shots can define a career. Try thinking of Doug Sanders, a player who won 24 times around the world, without immediately thinking of that missed putt at the Old Course. Sometimes the Rules of Golf have got in the way of what might have been the greatest week in a player's life, occasionally golf has witnessed some truly tragic moments.  

ADAM SCOTT - 2012 OPEN

Scott led by four with four to play at Lytham in 2012. Meanwhile Ernie Els was putting together a spirited finish which culminated in a birdie at the 72nd hole but it still didn't look to be enough. But the Aussie, who was yet to win a Major, then wobbled all the way home and, needing a par to tie Els on 18, drove into a fairway bunker and then saw his putt for a four slip by. True to form Scott handled it beautifully. 

THOMAS BJORN - 2003 OPEN

As it transpired Bjorn could have bogeyed Sandwich's 16th hole at the 2003 Open and parred in to win. Sadly the Dane, who was a brilliant links player, would take three shots to escape the greenside bunker to run up a double-bogey. With his head scrambled he then bogeyed 17. Ben Curtis, who played his first 11 holes in six-under and his last seven in four-over, would become the first debut winner since Tom Watson in 1975.

HUNTER MAHAN - 2010 RYDER CUP

Mahan often had a wonky short game and it was shown up just at the wrong time. In the anchor match of the 2010 Ryder Cup he had watched McDowell make a ridiculous birdie at the 16th and, needing to do something special with a greenside chip at the next, he hit such a big flub that he didn't even reach the green. At the post-match press conference Phil Mickelson played a blinder as Mahan got a little teary.

SAM SNEAD - 1939 US OPEN

Snead never won the US Open though he did have seven top 5s. At his third attempt at the Philadelphia Country Club he thought that he needed a birdie to win when actually a par would have sufficed. He hooked his drive, attempted a 2-wood which found some sand and a catalogue of further disasters added up to a treble-bogey eight. “That night, I was ready to go out with a gun and pay somebody to shoot me,” he said in his book.

HALE IRWIN - 1983 OPEN

The 1983 Open will be rightly remembered for Tom Watson's closing 2-iron at Birkdale to close out his fifth and final Claret Jug but it could have been very different. The previous day his countryman Hale Irwin whiffed a back-handed two-inch putt after missing his birdie effort. "The rule says something about intent when you do that," Irwin said. "I intended to hit it." He then shot a Sunday 67 to come up one shot short.

IK KIM - 2012 KRAFT NABISCO

IK Kim missed a putt to win a Major that was maybe less than half the length of Doug Sanders' effort in the 1970 Open. The Korean had something like a foot to land the Kraft Nabisco in 2012 but it somehow stayed out and she would go on to lose a play-off to Sun-Young Yoo. Five years later at Kingsbarns she would finally notch up a Major at the Women's British Open. ”It’s a long process. What it did teach me is to give the same effort to every shot.”

SCOTT HOCH - 1989 MASTERS

Hoch had two putts from around 25 feet, up the heart of Augusta's 10th green, to win The Masters. His first attempt was wide but still within a couple of feet of the cup but the putt to win was then hit through the break. To his credit Hoch, who also missed a short one on 17, would knock in the resulting five-footer but Faldo saw him off at the next – 'Hoch the Choke' was quickly christened.

JORDAN SPIETH - 2016 MASTERS

Danny Willett won the 2016 Masters by three shots which is some statement given how things looked midway through the afternoon. Jordan Spieth birdied four holes on the trot to open up a five-shot lead but a bogey at 10 was followed by one of the most destructive holes in Masters history. His tee shot at 12 ended up wet and his third never looked like clearing Rae's Creek. The American would later admit to being haunted by that quadruple bogey.

IAN WOOSNAM - 2001 OPEN

Woosnam probably should have won an Open in the late 80s/early 90s but his best chance came in 2001 at Lytham. Starting the final round tied for the lead the Welshman then knocked a brilliant tee shot into the par-3 1st. But the birdie two would go down as four after it was discovered that he had 15 clubs in the bag. "You're going to go ballistic," explained caddie Myles Byrne, one thing that he did get right. 

ARNOLD PALMER - 1961 MASTERS

Gary Player would become the first overseas player to win The Masters in 1961 but this would be one tournament that Arnold Palmer would always rue. From the middle of the final fairway the defending champion would find sand from where he would hit a heavy-handed recovery through the green. The par putt was also too bold and Palmer would somehow run up a double-bogey six. The following year he would beat Player in a play-off.

BEN CRENSHAW - 1995 MASTERS

Crenshaw was a pallbearer at his legendary coach Harvey Penick's funeral the day before the '95 Masters got underway. By the end of the week he had landed a second Green Jacket to become the second oldest Masters champion at the age of 43. All the emotion would come flooding out after he tapped in on the 72nd hole to edge out Davis Love III. "I had a 15th club in my bag," Crenshaw remarked afterwards.

ANNA NORDQVIST - 2016 US WOMEN'S OPEN

Bizarrely this came after a Dustin Johnson rules mishap at the 2016 men's US Open. In the women's version at CordeValle, Anna Nordqvist touched the sand with her 5-iron at the second of three play-off holes but she was only told about the two-shot penalty after she had hit her third shot into the par-5 18th. Her opponent Brittany Lang got the nod before hitting her approach, which changed her strategy and she would win by three.

GREG NORMAN - 1996 MASTERS

Norman shooting a Sunday 78 and still finishing in second place tells its own story. In the end Nick Faldo would win by five as the Aussie, who began the week with a 63, went from one disaster to the next – he would double both the par 3s coming home – and Faldo would be at his relentless best. It remains the greatest comeback/collapse in Masters history but there was a touching moment between the two as they exited the final green.

JACK NEWTON - 1983 ACCIDENT

Newton lost in a play-off at the 1975 Open and he played alongside Seve Ballesteros when the Spaniard won his first Masters in 1980. In 1983 he walked into a spinning propeller of a Cessna airplane in Sydney and he would almost lose his life. After eight weeks in intensive care, Newton, one of the good guys, had lost his right arm and right eye but he would stay in the game working in the media and course design.

SEVE BALLESTEROS - 1986 MASTERS

While for most of the watching world, the sight of Jack Nicklaus blitzing his way to a sixth Green Jacket in 1986 was the stand-out win for the ages, Seve's dunked 4-iron at the 15th was a big blow for many European golf fans. He would never win another Masters and, within five years, he would never again threaten in a Major. Bizarrely, Seve had only played in one tournament by the time the '86 Masters came around.  

RORY MCILROY - 2011 MASTERS

Rory led by four after 54 holes but, come the 10th hole on Sunday, he was pretty much done for as he discovered parts of the property none of us was familiar with. He would make an 8, continue to falter around Amen Corner and would be found slumped on his driver on the 13th tee. Two things stand out here; he still hasn't won a Masters and, secondly, that he would win his first Major, the US Open at Congressional, by a whopping eight strokes two months later. 

COLIN MONTGOMERIE - 2006 US OPEN

Depending on which side of the Atlantic that you reside will depend on what you view as the biggest disaster; Monty or Phil Mickelson. Both made a royal mess of Winged Foot's final hole in 2006 to let in a brilliant Geoff Ogilvy but the Scot was in position A after his tee shot. Moments earlier he had holed a 75-footer but he then had to wait for a ruling for Vijay Singh before depositing just about the worst 7-iron that he's ever hit short-right and going on to make double.

ARNOLD PALMER - 1966 US OPEN

Palmer led the '66 US Open by seven heading into Olympic's back nine. The American wanted a piece of Ben Hogan's scoring record and even gave Billy Casper a pep talk to keep his spirits up. After 17 they were level and Palmer needed to get up and down at the last to force a play-off. On the Monday Palmer led by two at the turn but would go on to lose by four, his third US Open play-off loss.

MARK ROE - 2003 OPEN

Roe had never contended in a Major but he would finish his third round of the 2003 Open just two off the lead. Then we realised that we had a problem; he and Jesper Parnevik had somehow failed to swap scorecards which meant that they both signed for the wrong scores. This meant that both players were disqualified though that ruling has since been changed. The Sheffield player wouldn't play in a Major again.

GREG NORMAN - 1987 MASTERS

Norman winning just two Majors is one of the oddest stats in the game. Even more than being reeled in by Nick Faldo or Bob Tway holing a bunker shot or making a mess of Augusta's 18th, to watch Larry Mize somehow hole a chip from close to 50 yards was the ultimate gut-wrencher. And this after a 1986 season in which the 'Saturday Slam' was christened after the Aussie led all four Majors after 54 holes. 

LEXI THOMPSON - 2017 ANA INSPIRATION

At the 2017 ANA Inspiration Thompson was given the ultimate ruling; two shots for incorrectly placing a ball and two more for signing an incorrect scorecard. This all happened on the Saturday but she was told about it with six holes left on the Sunday after a viewer called in, a ruling that would soon be amended. Thompson would birdie the last to make it to a play-off with So Yeon Ryu but the Korean would be victorious at the first extra hole.

SEVE BALLESTEROS - PASSING AWAY IN 2011

It's hard not to feel robbed after the passing of Seve at just 54. He played his last Open at 49 and, despite all the smiles and wins and celebrations, how we would have all loved the bits that come with older age. Surely he would have played some sort of Ryder Cup role and you'd like to think that he would be getting The Masters underway every year. If there is an upside it's that he's remains so fondly remembered. 

TOM WATSON - 2009 OPEN

It's hard to ever picture this happening again; a 59-year-old needing a par to win a Major and 32 years after the scene of one of, if not, the greatest Opens at the same venue. Watson stood in the middle of Turnberry's 18th fairway and hit the perfect approach to the middle of the green. The bounce was ridiculously unkind, he would make a bogey and Stewart Cink would win the four-hole play-off by six shots.

BERNHARD LANGER - 1991 RYDER CUP

Hole it and Europe retain the Ryder Cup in 1991, miss and the Americans win it back. And you've been through various bouts of the putting yips! Bernhard Langer would see his six-foot putt slide by in probably the first Ryder Cup to bubble over, hence the 'War on the Shore' moniker. Langer, in true style, would tee it up at the German Masters four days later and go on to win a play-off against Rodger Davis.

DARREN CLARKE - 2006 RYDER CUP

Just six weeks after the death of his wife, Heather, to breast cancer, Clarke would tee it up at the 2006 Ryder Cup at the K Club. Helped in his preparations by Sky's Ewen Murray, the Portrush star would slowly piece together his swing and, used brilliantly by captain Ian Woosnam, Clarke would win all three of his matches. The Friday morning remains one of the most emotional 1st tees in the history of the competition.

JEAN VAN DE VELDE - 1999 OPEN

It's hard to add much to what we already know about the Frenchman's demise at Carnoustie in 1999. There was a huge slice of luck as his tee shot stayed dry, which was roundly offset by his approach shot careering back off the grandstand. Peter Alliss' commentary added to the legend of the whole thing and, in the  end, it would be a one-putt treble-bogey and a play-off that Paul Lawrie would dominate.  

TONY LEMA - PASSING AWAY IN 1966

Lema played in 18 Majors and finished in the top 10 in eight of them. He was second at Augusta in 1963 and the following year he won The Open at St Andrews on his first taste of golf in Britain. At the age of 32, while flying to an exhibition near Chicago, his plane would run out of fuel. It would crash in a water hazard on a nine-hole course and Lema, along with his wife and two pilots, was killed. 

JARROD LYLE - PASSING AWAY IN 2018

Watch or read anything about Lyle and it's impossible not to have a huge affection for the Australian. The father of two died at the age of 36 after his acute myeloid leukaemia resurfaced. Lyle, whose legacy and courage live on, would leave a simple message: `Thanks for your support, it meant the world. My time was short but if I’ve helped people think and act on behalf of those families who suffer through cancer, hopefully it wasn’t wasted.’

ROBERTO DE VICENZO - 1968 MASTERS

"What a stupid I am!" – De Vicenzo's summing up of his scorecard blunder at the '68 Masters has gone down in golfing folklore. The Argentine star won The Open at Hoylake the year before but he is better known for signing for a par 4 at Augusta's 17th, entered on the card by Tommy Aaron, when he actually made a birdie. So De Vicenzo missed out on an 18-hole play-off with Bob Goalby. All this happened on his 45th birthday.

DOUG SANDERS - 1970 OPEN

If ever a golfer was known for a costly error... One of the game's great characters could have won several Majors but it is the 1970 Open for which he is best remembered. The missed three-footer, after clearing some debris, is one of the most replayed shots given how short it was. It took place at St Andrews, we now had colour TV and it was against Jack Nicklaus. The Golden Bear would beat him by a shot in the play-off.

YOUNG TOM MORRIS - PASSING AWAY AGED 24 IN 1875

Young Tom had won four straight Opens by the age of 21 and all of them at Prestwick. In 1875 he was playing in a match at North Berwick with Old Tom, when he received news that his wife had gone into a difficult labour. By the time he had got home, Margaret Drinnen and the newborn baby had died. Months later, on Christmas Day, he died of a pulmonary hemorrhage causing apnea though it's often said he died of a broken heart.

PAYNE STEWART - PASSING AWAY IN 1999

Stewart was what we all needed, a flamboyant star who played the game in the right manner. In 1999 he would win the US Open at Pinehurst and be a part of the winning Ryder Cup team at Brookline – less than a month later he was killed in a plane crash while travelling to the season-ending tournament in Houston. The plane had failed to pressurise and the passengers were deprived of oxygen, it would continue on autopilot until running out of fuel.