Fowler saves par at final hole after ball hits Masters patron

Rickie Fowler needed a par at No. 18 to ensure his making the cut in his second Masters and he did it in unorthodox fashion.

Fowler hooked his second shot into the gallery. When cries of “fore” rang out, Augusta native and Bradenton, Fla., resident Jay Denton instinctively ducked and the ball hit him in the back of the head, ricocheted up, hit a cross-beam on the bleachers behind him, and caromed back into the crowd, where it came to rest under a patron’s chair.

Fowler had to aim his chip a good 30 feet to the left of the hole to play it off the bank, and the shot worked to near-perfection, landing off the slope and rolling down to about 3 feet from the hole. He made par for 74 and 4-over 148 total.

The ball broke the skin on the back of Denton’s head and he showed a small spot of blood on the inside of his hat. He declined medical attention.

“I’m fine,” Denton said. “I heard everyone yell ‘fore,’ ducked and it hit me. I didn’t see where it went after that.”

“That’s one hard head to go that far,” said Denton’s friend, Scott Bettger.

Fowler autographed a glove and had a marshal deliver it to Denton.

The kicker is that Denton and Bettger are both golf instructors at the IMG Academy in Bradenton. But Denton didn’t have a tip for Fowler on how to avoid wild hooks.

Denton said he’s been hit by a golf ball in play one other time, when he worked on the range at Augusta Country Club.

“That caught me in the chest,” he said. “It hurt way worse than this one.”