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Billy Casper scores a 14 at 16th, 106 for round
Former winner Billy Casper returned the highest score in U.S. Masters history on Thursday, battling to a 34-over-par 106 in the weather-delayed first round.
The 73-year-old American, Masters champion in 1970, eclipsed the previous high of 95 carded by Charles Kunkle in the final round of the 1956 tournament.
Casper's score included a record 11-over 14 at the par-three 16th, where he hit five balls into the water.
He was successful with his sixth attempt off the tee there before running up the highest score ever achieved on a single hole at Augusta National.
"I just kept hitting it to the left," Casper told reporters. "I got five balls within a nest there. I was very accurate with every one!"
The 170-yard 16th, named Redbud, requires an exacting tee shot played entirely over water.
American Tom Weiskopf produced a 10-over 13 at the par-three 12th during the 1980 Masters while Japan's Tommy Nakajima ran up an eight-over 13 at the 13th during the 1978 tournament.
Casper, playing at the Masters for the first time since 2001, was eight over for his round before his tale of woe at the 16th hole.
A winner of 51 titles on the PGA Tour between 1956 and 1975, he last made the cut at the Masters in 1987 when he tied for 50th.
"I couldn't get off my left side," he added.
"It happened yesterday. I just woke up with it. I don't have any pain but I couldn't make a swing."
Casper, U.S. Open champion in 1959 and 1966, did not submit his score at the end of the round and has withdrawn from the tournament.
"I have the card in my pocket and I'm going to frame it," he said. |
