Top 10 Major Meltdowns

Mak Lok-lin recalls the occasions when really great players did really bad things at golf’s biggest championships

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Chen Tze-Chung

1985 US Open,

Oakland Hills Country Club

 

TC Chen was having an outstanding US Open at Oakland Hills. He had made the first albatross (double-eagle) in the championship’s history on his second hole of the tournament and finished the day with a 65 and a four-shot lead. Adding two 69s he continued to lead and matched the record score for 36- and 54-holes. In the final round he steadily parred holes 1 through 4 before becoming unglued in spectacular fashion at the 5th. TC, who still occasionally makes appearances on the Asian Tour, posted a quadruple bogey at the hole after incurring a two-shot penalty for a double hit chip when playing from some gruesomely thick greenside rough. Shocked, Chen then bogeyed the next three holes in a row. Finally pulling himself together, he then played flawlessly to par his way in for a 77. It wasn’t enough, however, and the Taiwanese, who would later earn the moniker “Two Chip Chen,” lost the Open by a single shot to Andy North.

 

 

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