Two very contrasting moments occurred Thursday at the Masters tournament. Ernie Els managed to six-putt the first hole and start off the event with a score of nine, while Jack Nicklaus had to conduct his ceremonial tee shot without his pal Arnold Palmer.
Els swallowed a tough pill to start the first major event of the PGA Tour season. Barring a miracle comeback, the 46-year-old will more than likely miss the cut and go home after Friday's second round. His score of nine is the highest on the first hole in Masters history.
Check it out below:
INCREDIBLE!! @TheBig_Easy suffers a NIGHTMARE at #TheMasters hitting a 10 on a par 4. #GoingForGreen #Golf pic.twitter.com/ef9brhINM5
— FOX Sports Asia (@FOXSportsAsia) April 7, 2016
Els is now at the bottom of the leaderboard with a number of others, including Rickie Fowler, Webb Simpson and Vijay Singh. Assuming he can't rebound from his score of five-over thanks to the quintuple bogey to start the day, this will be his second missed cut at the Masters in the past three years and fifth overall.
On the other hand, Nicklaus, who has the most Masters wins (six) in PGA Tour history, took his ceremonial Masters tee shot with Gary Player. Arnold Palmer typically joins the two on the first tee box every year in taking a shot, but he passed on it this year due to shoulder issues. He was still there to watch.
Nicklaus got emotional this time around.
Watch the Honorary Starters hit their tee shots to open #themasters.https://t.co/fMG8WZ87hj
— Masters Tournament (@TheMasters) April 7, 2016
"I think that everybody was happy to see Arnold out on the tee," Nicklaus said after the ceremonial shot. "I think Arnold was happy to be on the tee. I think he would have preferred to hit a golf ball. I talked to him at the Masters dinner. I said, 'Arnold, when you're out there, what if we just take you up and had you hit? I don't care if you putt it off the tee. I think everybody would love to have you do anything.'"
Palmer told Nicklaus on Thursday that it would be better to "leave it alone" and still sit it out.
The 86-year-old Palmer played in 50 straight Masters and won the event four times, and this was the first time since 2007 that he did not partake in the ceremonial shot.
Stay tuned for a recap of the first round of the event later today.
*This article was updates after Els' score was corrected from a 10 to a nine as it was ruled he logged six putts and not seven.
