Sergio Garcia sees 13 on No. 15 sink hope of Masters repeat

Sergio Garcia grasped and grasped for an answer before finally settling on a conclusion.

"Unfortunately, the ball just didn't want to stop," he said.

It was a huge dose of misfortune indeed for the reigning Masters champion during Thursday's first round at Augusta National Golf Club, and perhaps fittingly he was fishing for a response. Sitting at 2-over for his round going into No. 15, Garcia put five — yes, five — balls into the water in front of the green.

Garcia walked off the green with an 8-over 13 on the par-5 hole, effectively sabotaging his first round since winning his first green jacket a year ago. Garcia finished at 9-over 81 — the worst first-round score by a defending champion in Masters history. The next highest was 78, made by Gene Sarazen in 1936, Seve Ballesteros in 1981 and Larry Mize in 1988.

Garcia's 13 matched the highest score posted on any hole at Augusta National during Masters play, equaling the 13 Tom Weiskopf recorded on No. 12 in 1980 and the 13 Tommy Nakajima took on No. 13 in 1978. It also surpassed the previous high score on No. 15 by two shots, with Jumbo Ozaki (1987), Ben Crenshaw (1997) and Ignacio Garrido (1998) all taking 11s on the hole.

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"I don't know what happened, I don't know," Garcia said. "It's one of those things, I don't know. It's the first time in my career where I've made a 13 in competition. I felt like I hit a lot of good shots, but unfortunately the ball just didn't want to stop."

Coming off a bogey on No. 14 that dropped him back to 2 over for the day, Garcia had 206 yards out after a solid drive, setting up a 6-iron approach to the front-right pin location.

Playing partner Doc Redman had already flirted with the water, but his ball stopped on the bank. Garcia's approach landed in the wrong spot, drawing back into the pond.

"You could carry it two more feet and it's probably good," Garcia said. "And if it carries a foot less, it probably doesn't go off the green and stays on the fringe like Doc's ball did. Unfortunately, I landed it on the perfect spot for it to come back."

That was only the start of the adventure. Garcia took a drop and his wedge hit pin high before spinning back into the pond. Another drop, another pin-high wedge, another spin to the water.

Rinse and repeat.

"I kept hitting good shots with the sand wedge and unfortunately, I don't know why the ball just wouldn't stop," he said.

Garcia had already had a somewhat adventurous round to that point. After making a birdie on No. 2 to start the day in the red, he followed with bogeys on Nos. 4 and 5, then took a double bogey on No. 7 to fall to 3 over.

He righted the ship a bit with a birdie on No. 8 and then got back to 1 over with a birdie on No. 12 before his collapse on the 15th.

"I was fighting hard and was doing quite well and had a good possibility to get back to even on 13 and keep my round going after not having a great start," he said. "Unfortunately we didn't hit the right club there and didn't give myself a good putt. The putt lipped out and then I bogeyed the next one, and then the rest is history."

Garcia did make birdie on No. 16, but the damage was already done.