Charl Schwartzel putted for eagle on Sunday... and walked off with a 7
Charl Schwartzel was putting for an eagle at Trump National Doral on Sunday, but he damaged Stinger's chances of glory with a putting horror show.
Stinger had an impressive first season on the LIV Golf Tour, mainly due to the exploits of Charl Schwartzel and Branden Grace who respectively won the London and Portland Invitationals.
However, it wasn't to be for the South African side, made up of Schwartzel, Grace, Louis Oosthuizen and Hennie Du Plessis, in the final of the Team Championship at Trump National Doral.
All four scores counted in each team and Stinger finished well off the winning score of 7-under set by 4 Aces. Grace struggled to an 8-over-par 80 and Du Plessis carded a 76. The whole team finished on 10-over.
Every shot counted in the four-team finale worth $16 million and although Schwartzel shot a solid score of 1-under, he had a nightmare on what we assume was the the par-5 8th hole which pegged his team back significantly.
"Charl Schwartzel, I don't know what happened, he five-putted. He was putting for eagle and five-putted," said LIV Golf's on-course reporter Troy Mullins.
"It's just like they're nervous and they're not getting their games together. I hope we see better golf."
We have heard of players four-putting in previous years on the PGA Tour and the DP World Tour, but a five-putt is certainly a new one. Schwartzel double-bogeyed the hole as a result of this calamity.
There were many ups and downs in the final nine holes of the Team Championship, but Patrick Reed rolled in a decisive birdie on his final hole to effectively seal the deal for 4 Aces.
The team made up of Reed, Dustin Johnson, Talor Gooch and Pat Perez won four events in the team format in the regular season and were largely the dominant force.
"It's been amazing. Obviously, the fans make it - this week's been incredible. The whole season has just gotten better and better and then this finale has been unbelievable," Johnson said after also being presented as the first LIV Golf individual champion.
"I got a lot of support out there. The fans have been amazing. Coming down the stretch here, you couldn't draw it up any better with me and Cam battling it out to win the Team Championship."
