Final Round Meltdowns – Five of Golf’s Finest
Frustrations are commonplace on the golf course. But final round meltdowns from the world’s finest on the biggest stage are much rarer. Nevertheless, when things go wrong, they tend to go spectacularly wrong. Here, we revisit five of golf’s biggest breakdowns.
Rory McIlroy in action during the final day of the 2011 Masters. ?Getty
Snatching Defeat From the Jaws of Victory on the Golf Course
A wayward drive lands in the trees, your recovery shot finishes in the rough, and, next up, you find a bunker that swallows your ball like quicksand. Your buddies are ribbing you. Your pride and maybe a wager is on the line. Suddenly, that smooth swing you had on the range is nowhere to be found.
Sounds familiar? ‘The meltdown’ is a curse that has besieged most recreational golfersat least once. But, with crowds lining the course, millions watching at home, and an obscene financial prize on the line, the urge to be swallowed up by the earth below must be enormous when a professional hits the skids on the final day of play.
In truth, snatching defeat from the jaws of victory is viewed as ‘variance’ by seasoned gamblers and specialist golf bookmakers. Have you ever noticed how the bookies never close their market on a golf tournament until the final winning putt is in the hole?
Golf Meltdowns and the Headbangers Ball
Woody Austin’s frustrations at 1997 Verizon Heritage – where a missed put led him to repeatedly bash his putter against his head until it bent – stands out for entertainment value and sheer absurdity.
However, for genuine heartbreak involved with a final round meltdown when victory seemed inevitable, five incidents will live long in the memory.
Few golfers expressed their frustrations as well as Woody Austin! ?? pic.twitter.com/eDRHWNp9pK
— Sports & Betting History by BestBettingSites (@CDCHistory) February 28, 2025
Nasty for Jean Van de Velde in 1999 at Carnoustie
On a dull but noisy Sunday, in the aftermath of winds blowing at 25-30 miles-per-hour for three days at Carnoustie (or ‘Carnasty’ as it has been dubbed), a Frenchman named Jean Van de Velde, world-ranked 152 at the time, started the day with a five-stroke lead.
The eventual 1999 British Open winner Paul Lawrie sat 10 shots adrift on a wing and a prayer. With improving weather conditions factored in, fledgling online betting sites such as William Hill, which was in its first full year of operation, made Van de Velde long odds-on to take the title.
Still, three shots ahead as he approached the 18th tee, Jean Van de Velde was set to become the first French golfer to win the Open Championship since the early nineteen hundreds. A double bogey would have been good enough.
However, at this point, Van de Velde’s golfing brain was in a state of suspended animation, and he was unaware that his closest challenger, Justin Leonard, had been swimming in the Barry Burn going down to hole number 18.
Crash, Burn, and a Meltdown
Needing only a six, Van de Velde could have played safely into the fairway with an iron. Instead, he took out the big stick and sliced one high into the wind. It was a wayward shot that was fortunate to find land. It barely cleared the meandering Barry Burn (it comes into play twice on the hole) and came to rest on the 17th hole.
His second shot was no better. He hit a 2-iron attempting to go for the green rather than lay up into the fairway. The result was his ball playing ping pong with the grandstand and a stone wall around the Barry Burn. It ended up knee-deep hay.
‘Barry’ had yet to have its say as the Frenchman’s club got tangled in the rough, and the Burn was like a magnet to his golf ball. With his faculties now going, Jean pulled up the trousers and entered the Burn, contemplating hitting his fourth shot from the water!
Ten minutes later, he decided to take a penalty drop but chunked this fifth shot into the bunker. From the bunker, Van de Velde blasted to six feet of the flag, giving him a putt needed for a triple-bogey seven to join Paul Lawrie and Justin Leonard in a playoff.
Given all he had endured, Van de Velde was no certainty to make the putt. To his relief, he found the hole, but the Frenchman was spent. He fell behind on the first of the extra four playoff holes and finished three behind Lawrie, who won his first and only major.
Van de Velde’s meltdown has become golfing folklore and gave birth to the phrase “pulling a Van de Velde” – still used today to describe the most outrageous golfing meltdowns.
McIlroy From Four in Front to Meltdown
Rory McIlroy is one major short of a Grand Slam, but the final leg of the accumulator should have been the first he completed. Augusta and The Masters remains untamed, and donning the green jacket would see the Irishman secure all of golf’s major tournaments.
2011 should have been his year. Aged just 21, McIlroy entered the final round of that year’s tournament with a commanding four-shot lead. He had played brilliantly over the first three days, opening with a 65 to share the lead, followed by a 69 and a 70, positioning him at 12-under par and four strokes clear of his nearest challengers.
However, one of the most memorable collapses in golf history was about to unravel. The youngster still held the advantage at the turn, but things were about to go dramatically wrong at the next hole.
His 10th tee shot hooked severely left, ricocheting off a tree and landing in an uncharted area between cabins near the fairway. From there, McIlroy’s recovery went awry: he chipped out, missed the green, hit another tree, chipped again, and two-putted for a triple-bogey seven!
A bogey and a double bogey through Amen Corner (holes 11, 12, and 13) ensued, and with that, his Masters betting odds reached quadruple figures. There was no miracle; Rory shot 80 that day – one of the worst final-round scores in Masters’ history – and ultimately, he tied for 15th place.
Ten Clear Kaymer Drops the ball in Abu Dhabi
Few golf pros have lost a ten-shot lead 54 holes or more deep into a golf tournament. Whatever you do, do not remind German Martin Kaymer of this golfing fact. On the Sunday at Abu Dhabi Golf Club in 2015 – a course he had won at three times before – Kaymer brought a banana skin work and repeatedly tried to stand on it.
Frenchman Gary Stal, who was eight shots adrift after 54 holes, was to be the beneficiary of Kaymar’s almighty collapse. Unfortunately, the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship will always be remembered more for Kaymer’s meltdown than Stal’s victory.
Arguably, course specialist and multiple major winner Martin Kaymer was never the same player after this defeat. It takes a significant collapse in confidence to lose a ten-stroke lead. Even the best online betting sites had quoted the German 1/500 to win the title early into his final round.
A double bogey at the ninth and a triple-bogey at the 13th did the most damage, but Kaymer’s woes around the green were plain to see as he duffed his way to the finishing line. A year earlier, Kaymer had famously used his putter for most of his shots around the green to capture the US Open at Pinehurst No.2.
In the history of golf, this is as big a collapse as we will ever see. “I am surprised and a little shocked. I started well, then hit a couple of bad tee shots, and they cost me,” said Kaymer as he tried to dampen the magnitude of his collapse. Third was his eventual finishing position, with Rory McIlroy snatching second after shooting a 66 compared to Kaymer’s 75.
Spieth’s Prayers Not Answered at Amen Corner
Jordan Spieth did his best to follow in the footsteps of Rory McIlroy on Masters Sunday in 2016. Masters’ winners are usually from the top of the Masters golf betting lists. But this time, Danny Willett – offered at triple-figure odds by the best online betting sites pre-tournament – was handed the victory down the stretch.
Spieth held a five-shot lead heading to the 12th hole at Amen Corner with a hungry Rae’s Creek seemingly sleeping silently. With one hand on the trophy, the Texan stepped onto the infamous short hole with just a 9-iron in his grip. It was only 150 yards on the card, but Spieth’s heart sank along with his golf ball one swing later. Rae’s Creek had awoken, and Spieth provided breakfast.
The American’s heart fell deeper and deeper as what can only be described as a ‘pure choke’ saw his next shot find Rae’s Creek once more after a massive chunk carried more mud than ball.
A seven was circled on the card, and a now broken-hearted Jordan Speith – the defending champion that year – went into meltdown mode in what was described by Nick Faldo as a mixture of disaster and torture.
Willet’s participation in the Masters that year was confirmed late, and with Spieth closing out the front nine with four birdies for a five-shot lead, the Englishman could never have envisaged what was about to happen.
Scott: Four Straight Bogeys With Four to Play
In 2012, Adam Scott lost out on an Open Championship title as big Ernie Els took home his second Claret Jug. Many people watching felt for Scottie, who was arguably the best player never to win a major at the time. He must have wondered if his chance would ever come again.
Standing on the 15th tee at Royal Lytham and St. Annes, Scott had accrued a four-shot lead. For those into their golf trivia, the probability of the Aussie finishing with four bogeys was in the region of one percent. Nevertheless, he did just that, handing the Claret Jug to his friend and almost apologetic Ernie Els.
Scott missed a seven-footer on the last green that would have forced a playoff. “I’m a little numb at the moment,” said Els after collecting his prize. “First of all, I feel for Adam Scott. He’s a great friend of mine. Obviously, we both wanted to win very badly.”
There would be better times ahead for Scott. The following year, he and his team, led by caddy Steve Williams, defeated Angel Cabrera in a playoff to win The Masters.
