Ted Potter Jr’s Four-Putt Cost Him a Whopping $68,000 Payday

If you’ve been golfing for a while, I’m sure you’ve had an experience of completely choking in a big spot, whether that be in a tournament or just a quick round with friends. Well, Ted Potter Jr. just had one of those moments himself on a huge stage.

The longtime PGA TOUR veteran was ready to start his 2019 season on a positive note and his game was certainly cooperating with that goal. After three rounds at the Sony Open in Hawaii, Potter was one of the top players in the event. He was cruising in the top-ten, even contending for the title at some points. But the final round is where disaster struck.

It wasn’t even the entire final round that doomed Potter from a high finish. The biggest issue for Potter came on the 13th hole after finishing up his front nine. At that point, Potter was still cruising, as he was three-under par for the day.

The par-4 12th had played tough all week, however, surrendering a lot of bogeys. Potter’s result was much worse than a typical bogey, however.

Ted Potter, Jr. of the United States plays a shot from a bunker on…

Ted Potter, Jr. of the United States plays a shot from a bunker on the 18th hole during the third round of the Sony Open In Hawaii at Waialae Country Club on January 12, 2019 in Honolulu, Hawaii. Get premium, high resolution news photos at Getty Images

Potter hit a booming drive down the middle of the fairway and then followed it up by a lackluster second shot that ended up in the greenside bunker. It appeared that he had a good save, however, after hitting his bunker shot to just 13 feet from the cup for par.

The putting is where everything went awry. Potter missed the first putt for par, not a gigantic shock by any means, but his follow up putts were worse. He missed his bogey putt from just two feet out and then followed that up with a miss from three and a half feet for double bogey.

The triple bogey he netted pushed him out of the top ten for the tournament and ended up costing him a whopping $68,000 in prize money.

That is obviously a big blow for any player to take, especially with such gimmes being missed. But all in all, Potter still performed really well to start the new year. He’ll hope to build on that momentum as the season goes on, maybe putting up his best statistical season to date.

Cover Image via Twitter