Golf Gods
Kevin Na botching his trademark early walk-in was the most stunning sports moment of the weekend
Sports had their fair share of stunning moments over the weekend, most of them NFL-related. Brandon Staley calling that timeout, the Rams blowing a 17-0 lead and Big Ben hanging on for at least one more week all qualified in the "shocking" department.
And yet, none of those happenings left our jaws on the floor quite like something that went down at the Sentry Tournament of Champions, and were not talking about Jon Rahm shooting 33 under and losing. No, we're talking about Kevin Na, who went for his trademark early walk-in on a putt during his final round at Kapalua. That he went for it was not all that surprising, as it's something he does regularly on television.
You see, what had happened was ... Na missed the putt. We all knew this day would eventually come:
For the Na walk-in haters, this must have felt like a delicious bit of karma. The golf gods way of saying "hey, chill out bud." When you win five times on tour, though, it's hard to have any chill, especially when you're walk-in success rate is so good that you get Tiger Woods to emulate it:
Na, who shot a final-round 68 to tie for 13th, has botched the early walk-in before, though he claims it was only once. "It was my 10th hole in the second round of Colonial, last year [2019] when I won," Na said. "I had about a six-footer for a birdie on a back left pin, and I hit it and went and reached for it and it lips out. I look around and I go, ‘Oh my God, that’s embarrassing.’ Not many people were there, it was in the morning round, no cameras, so I was like ‘thank God.'"
Unfortunately for Na, the cameras were on this time, making this the first botched walk-in that was captured on television* and the second of his early walk-in career.