Matt Jones borrowed a strategy from Matt Every.
No, it doesn’t appear Jones will repeat as champion at Bay Hill like he did in 2014 and 2015, but the 41-year-old Aussie let his club fly after a bad start to his Saturday at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, as Every famously did.
Jones didn’t make a putt further than 3 feet on the front nine, except from a 5-footer on the opening hole. So, frustrated, he missed an 8-foot birdie putt on No. 11, tapped in for par, and then scooped up his ball and shot putted his flatstick into the lake.
“Did you pay attention to what he said? ‘I’m done,’ he declared, ‘I’ve had enough of it.’ “Following the episode, Steve Sands said on the NBC broadcast.
Jones was forced to putt with a sand wedge for the rest of his round, and after flinging his putter on the first hole, he was 1 foot away from hitting a 41-foot birdie putt. He didn’t make another birdie or better the remainder of the day, finishing 64th in strokes gained: putting on Saturday on way to a 76. He is presently T-58 and 5 over.
The two-time Tour winner had a tough round, but everyone has had a bad day on the course.
On the call, NBC commentator Peter Jacobsen remarked, “I think every golfer out there has had some fit of wrath at some point and threw a club.”
