вторник, 13 марта 2012 г.

Forsman's Failure At 12 a Watershed

AUGUSTA, Ga. Dan Forsman had closed to within a shot of the leadin his first final round at the Masters.

Coming off a spectacular sand save at the 11th hole, Forsman waspumped up by a rousing ovation as he reached the tee on the par-312th Sunday.

And then it happened.

"I knew my first shot was in the water as soon as I hit it,"said the 6-4 Forsman, in his 10th season on the PGA Tour.

"The ovation was spine-tingling, more than I can explain. Ittouched me so strongly.

"You've got to deal with those emotions, and I didn't. I musthave asked my caddie for the yardage 15 times."

Playing partner Lanny Wadkins fired his tee shot at the pin andhad no problems. That gave Forsman encouragement for his 7-iron teeshot, but didn't help his result.

Not only did his tee shot go in Rae's Creek, but so did hisnext shot.

He took a drop 100 yards from the green on the 155-yard holeand took a full swing with a sand wedge. This time the ball hit thebank before rolling into the drink.

"I was trying to minimize my error with the second one," hesaid, "but I took a bad drop.

"The ball landed in the drop mark. I tried to spin the ball, beaggressive. That was my biggest error."

Forsman emerged from the hole with a quadruple-bogey seven, histitle chances over.

Just a week ago Forsman rented a video that profiled AugustaNational's No. 12. He watched tapes of Larry Nelson, Sandy Lyle,Seve Ballesteros and Tom Kite getting wet in the Masters.

"This time I was living it myself, and it was painful," Forsmansaid. "It's kind of embarrassing. You're playing well. You're inthe hunt. You're a professional. That's the hardest part. I hope Inever have to do that again."

Forsman regrouped, making birdies on the next two holes. Hefinished with a 73 and tied for seventh, which assures him aninvitation to next year's Masters.

"What I've got to remember is that I achieved all my goalswhen I came here," Forsman said. "I wanted to make the cut, makethe top 24 and be in contention on the back nine.

"I learned a lot about myself. I'm disappointed, but whowould have expected Dan Forsman to win the Masters coming into thisweek?"

Not even Forsman, who eventually was able to joke about hismisfortune.

"I wish I had a mulligan," he said. "Next year I'll lay upshort of the water."

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