Hayden Buckley didn’t stick around for the weekend at the 3M Open, but before he left town, Buckley turned in one of the wildest two-hole stretches in recent memory.
Buckley had already carded three double bogeys in 15 holes of 6-over golf when he narrowly missed driving it into the water at the par-4 16th hole. His second shot from the edge of the penalty area struck a red stake and ricocheted into the lake. A frustrated Buckley then picked up the stake and spiked it on the ground.
“Really didn’t have a shot, probably needed to chip it out, but at the time I just wanted to try and hit a shot,” Buckley said. “Ironically, my caddie asked me if that red stake was in the way, and I said there’s no chance it’s in the way. It was a good 10 feet left of my ball, and I think it kind of came out low and left and hit the stake. And that point, I was like, all right, I think I’m ready to book a flight out of here.”
After carding his fourth double of the day, Buckley was 8 over stepping on the 17th tee box. And rubbing salt in the wound, he had to wait about 20 minutes to hit. Finally, Buckley took a swing with 8-iron and got both shots right back with an ace from 178 yards.
Double bogey, hole-in-one.
How about that stretch?
“It gave me a little bit of something to smile at on the way home,” said Buckley, who birdied his final hole to shoot 5-over 76 and miss the cut by seven shots. “Overall it was a terrible day, but at least I made a ‘1’ to break 80 and got a little memory to look back on.”
