It's really easy for golf fans to take for granted the best players in the world making all the close ones. But every once in a while, the pros miss the close ones -- and they turn out to be awfully costly.
Joe Durant was on the 17th hole on Sunday in the final round of the 2018 Shaw Charity Classic in Calgary, facing an 14-inch putt for par. Just trying to get out of the way and clean things up, Durant took an awkward stance and prepared to tap in. Then he struck the putt, and it lipped out.
The crowd reacted with the kind of heartbreak way too many of them personally know far too well. At that point, Durant re-gathered himself, marked and then came back to make the equal-length bogey putt, dropping to 13-under total and needing an eagle at the closing par 5 to get back into a share of the lead with Scott McCarron.
Durant could only manage birdie on the final hole, leaving him a shot behind the successfully defending champion and tied with last week's winner Scott Parel and Kirk Triplett for second place.
Oh no!
Durant misses a short one at 17 and falls out of a share of the lead. @ShawClassic pic.twitter.com/3IXLGWd2iW
— PGA TOUR Champions (@ChampionsTour) September 2, 2018
It's absolutely hard to watch, but these things do happen from time to time. It was part of a string of bogeys at the 13th, 15th and 17th holes to set up a final-round tally of 67 and for McCarron's 63 to be enough on Sunday to pull off the unlikely win.
Afterwards, Durant had a hard time explaining how that actually happened.
"That's uncharacteristic for me to do something like that," he said. "I guess I just was nonchalant and took it for granted that I was going to tap it in. Putter got stuck when I went to take it back and I just flat missed it. I mean, it lipped out. Disappointed."
