AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) — Si Woo Kim acknowledges that he has broken clubs out of frustration before, with one very significant caveat.
“Not on the course," Kim said.
He can't say that anymore — and had to play the final four holes of his second round of the Masters without his putter.
Kim smashed his putter head-first into the turf at Augusta National after a poor chip on the par-5 15th hole Friday, bending the shaft and rendering the club unusable. He two-putted for par there with his 3-wood, then made three more routine two-putts to end his round.
He shot a 3-under 69 on Friday, getting to 4 under for the week, three shots back of leader Justin Rose.
Kim was coming off a bogey on the par-4 14th when his mood went south. The South Korean — the 2017 Players Championship winner — played his second shot at the 14th to just off the back of the green, then elected to use his putter from there for his third. He rolled the ball within 5 feet, then didn’t have enough speed on the par attempt and watched it lip out.
Then came the 15th, when his chip went past the hole. He slammed the putter not long afterward.
“Just frustration, like 14, 15 chip," Kim said. “That's not on purpose, but it was broken, yeah."
Kim used the wood again on the par-3 16th, narrowly missing a birdie opportunity and making another par. He stayed with it the rest of the way, choosing it over a sand wedge — which some players, without a putter, may prefer.
“I think sand wedge (is) harder and hard to ... control," Kim said, noting that's especially the case on the fast greens of Augusta National.
He made the Masters cut for the fourth time in five appearances. And Kim wasn’t the only player dealing with a little anger during the second round.
Jordan Spieth hit what he thought was a good tee shot at the par-3 12th, only to see it hit the lip of a bunker and fall back into what he described as a rake print. A bad putt followed, leading to Spieth’s lone bogey of the day.
He tossed the ball into Rae’s Creek after that hole. He wasn’t upset with the ball, but it had to go.
“There’s no fans there, a kid to throw it to or anything like that,” Spieth said. “There’s no one there. I don’t want to look at that golf ball anymore, so it goes into the water and then I go to another ball.”
Kim didn’t have that luxury with the putter. And after a few questions following the round, he'd decided that was enough.
“I don’t want to answer any more. Sorry," he said.
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