A Pro, a Major and a Quadruple Bogey

I watched with shock as Lorena Ochoa quadruple bogeyed a regulation par 3 while she was three under par and only one stroke off the lead in the Kraft Nabisco, the LPGA's first major of the year.

Ochoa hit a 6 iron off the tee, which puts the hole roughly a hundred and seventy to hundred and eighty yards away, as she pulled her tee shot to the right. Though not the most benevalent of lies, but not the most horiffic, she hit an attrocious pitch which overshot the green and landed in what looked like really deep rough and an unplayable lie.

Then she did something not expected of a tour player, much less the LPGA player of the year last year. She whiffed her third shot!!! Whiffed it! The club slig neatly under the ball and the ball was still there!

Her next shot got the ball out of the rough, but rolled more than 30 feet from the pin leaving a really tricky putt for double bogey. And from there, she three putted!

So right then and there, on that one hole, she went from being one shot from the lead with a fighting chance to win her first major to being five shots behind going into the final round. And with the course playing to more than 74 for a regulation par 72, it would be really tough for Ochoa to get her first major title in this event.

Interesting thing was in the way she made tha game played by these high profile tour players look very much like the game some of us mere mortals play. I don't even remember the last time I whiffed my chip shot. Sure I three putt a lot, but that's because I play once in a few weeks. Not like these people who practice the whole day and then some. But mostly, I was amazed at the errant tee shot she hit which got her into all this trouble.

We've all hit that dasterdly shot at least once in a round. In my last round, I hooked two consecutive tee shots out of bounds and that was the only sore quadruple of my round. But for heavens sake, this is the Kraft Nabisco on the LPGA tour!

But then again, I guess it just goes to show that these people are still human.