Most weeks in pro golf, there are no gimmes, even if the players are practically automatic inside 3 feet. No matter what, in a stroke-play event, those putts gotta hit the bottom of the cup just like any other.
And that fact, along with a lack of concentration, cost Haru Nomura a stroke on Wednesday in the first round of the 2016 women's Olympic golf tournament.
Nomura, from Japan, missed her birdie putt on the par-4 11th hole, cozying up the putt just about 6 inches short of the hole. Like she would usually do, she walked up to the ball and went to tap it in for par. However, when she did that, she almost whiffed, barely hitting the ball and missing the putt for par.
The stroke counts; there are no mulligans in pro golf. So, the 23-year-old Nomura records a bogey on the hole.
