Last year at the Saudi International, the bunkers at Royal Greens G&CC caused Sergio Garcia, one Spain’s all-time greats, to lose his damn mind. This year, another Spaniard, Adri Arnaus, ran into some serious trouble in a bunker as well, though he somehow managed to keep his cool.
That’s nothing short of a miracle judging by what happened to Arnaus at the 18th hole, where he arrived at the tee having just made back-to-back birdies to climb back to one-over on his round and four-under for the tournament. A birdie or a par at the closing par 5 would have kept him in contention heading to the weekend, with leader Victor Perez sitting at 10-under. Instead, Arnaus walked off with a triple-bogey 8.
How did he build that snowman? After finding a fairway bunker off the tee, Arnaus attempted to play a low iron out, a dangerous play considering the face of the bunker was pretty high. As Arnaus began his downswing, his right foot slipped and he caught the shot a bit thin, hitting it directly into the face of the bunker, where it remained rather than rolling back to his feet. Have a watch if you dare:
You won't see a shot this unlucky all year 😲@AdriArnaus #SaudiIntlGolf pic.twitter.com/8qkVCiqpmv
— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) January 31, 2020
Brutal, though calling it unlucky might be a stretch. It was a poor decision and and even worse strike, and Arnaus paid for it. He even said so himself on Twitter:
Not my best decision to go for it there… Also a couple other things that I would certainly like to change on today's round! Luckily two more days to go 💪💪⛳️ #VamosAA https://t.co/XICweOw3Vc
— Adri Arnaus (@AdriArnaus) January 31, 2020
Got to love the honesty, and you’ve got to love the reaction too:
Arms folded. Pure disbelief. Just about sums it up.
