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U.S. Open 2019: Ian Poulter takes wild stance, fails to advance ball from impossible lie, makes quadruple-bogey 8
However you feel about Ian Poulter, we can all agree that no golfer should have to face the lie he faced at the par-4 third hole at Pebble Beach on Friday at the U.S. Open. Even if he was wearing a pretty questionable, purple on pink outfit.
After starting his second round on the 10th hole, and turning in one-over 37 with a birdie on the 18th, the Englishman made another birdie at the short par-4 first to climb to two over for the tournament. With the cut line looking like it will be right around one or two over, Poults needed to keep it there or pick up another birdie on his way in to feel good about his weekend plans. But a poor drive at the third hole left him in a fairway bunker, and his approach from there ended up in an even worse spot, coming to rest in the high grass just over the face of the front green side bunker.
Facing an impossible lie, Poulter took a wild stance, pointing both feet forward and then turning his body to attempt to hit the shot. What followed could be described as a catastrophe:
As you can see, Poulter failed to advance his first attempt even an inch, then barely got the second attempt, his fourth shot, to go a few yards. You can hear FOX analyst Brad Faxon ponder if there was another way to stand, a fair question to ask after watching those two attempts from the stance Poulter chose. What happened after the fourth shot is unclear, as FOX cameras did not capture the next two shots. According to the shot tracker on the USGA website, Poulter hit his fifth shot 19 yards, what we're guessing was a skull through the green. His next went past the hole to the front of the green, leaving him with 10 feet for his triple bogey. He missed, and walked off with a dreaded snowman:
That dropped him to six over for the tournament, most likely ending any chance of making the cut barring a birdie barrage the rest of the way. To his credit, he nearly drove the fourth green and got up and down for birdie to get back to five over.
UPDATE: How about this finish from Poulter at the ninth? This was his third shot:
Redemption! Unfortunately, it only got him to four over, and the cut line is looking like it will be one over. Think he wants that third hole back?