Danny Lee had an all-time collapse on the 18th green at Winged Foot on Saturday.
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U.S. Open courses are known for their capacity to throw haymakers at the best players in the world. On Saturday, one of the best players in the world called off the fight early.
Danny Lee approached the 18th green in the third round at Winged Foot in solid position. Part of the morning pairings who dealt with brutally tough, chilly conditions, Lee walked toward the clubhouse at three over for the day. An up-and-down for par from 75 feet might have been challenging, but certainly wasn’t out of the question.
In fact, after Lee knocked his chip to four feet from the pin, an up-and-down for par seemed likely. PGA Tour pros make 91.4 percent of their four-footers. No sweat.
Lee lined up his putt, made a stroke and absorbed a knockout blow.
The 30-year-old New Zealander missed the four-footer. Then the five-footer coming back. Then he hit a putt that traveled 4.2 inches before bombing the ensuing six-footer 10 feet past the hole.
We’ll spare you the rest of the details, because, well, it wasn’t pretty. When the dust finally settled six putts later, Lee penciled in a quintuple-bogey nine.
The implosion dropped him down to the bottom of the leaderboard, tied for 59th with Rory Sabbatini. But even that lasted only about 90 minutes, and that’s because, shortly before 5 p.m., the USGA announced that Lee had withdrawn from the U.S. Open with a wrist injury.
Lee can take solace knowing that U.S. Open implosions are far from uncharted territory. Just two years ago, at the 2018 Open, Phil Mickelson famously flirted with a DQ after backstopping his own putt to keep it from running off Shinnecock’s lightning-quick greens. But still, as Lee departs New York, one thing is clear:
Carnage-lovers, you’ve landed at least one victory at Winged Foot.
