LOOK AT THIS F***ING SHANK

The Masters is mostly a showcase of the world’s best golfers playing some of the world’s best golf. This pitch by Hideto Tanihara on the 15th hole at Augusta on Friday does not fall under that classification.

Somehow, this ball didn’t go into the water hazard in front of Tanihara.

One of my favorite pastimes is to watch professional sports, pick out a given play, and determine, “Oh, I could definitely do what that millionaire athlete just did.” That’s almost always a ridiculous opinion, because professionals are elite at what they do even on their worst days. I’m just a guy who eats a Chipotle bowl up to three times per week. In reality, I can do almost nothing a pro athlete does in competition.

This is the biggest exception ever. I have never in my life seen a golfer in any televised event shank a shot that badly — not even off the tee, let alone on a short-range wedge. That thing’s going almost 90 degrees in the wrong direction. I have hit golf shots exactly that poorly on so many occasions that I feel Tanihara’s almost doing it just to boost my self-esteem. This is a golf shot every weekend hacker can relate to.

A plot of his hole, via ESPN:

Here’s an illustration I made, to make things clearer:

Tanihara proceeded to make bogey on the par-5 15th. He will not make the cut.