Lee Westwood has never been known for possessing a brilliant short game, but he produced a bit of bunker magic during the opening round of the 2019 NedBank Golf Challenge.
Faced with a fried-egg lie on the eighth hole, Westwood somehow splashed his ball onto the green and within a few feet of the hole to save par during a bogey-free 68 to start his title defense. It was a fitting first-day highlight for a tournament hosted by Gary Player, arguably the greatest bunker player in golf history. In fact, the nine-time major champ was impressed enough by Westy’s escape to retweet the European Tour’s video of the shot. Have a look yourself:
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Take a bow, indeed.
Despite the sand heroics, Westwood has a lot of work to do to catch first-round leader Louis Oosthuizen. The South African, a day after withdrawing from the pro-am due to kidney stones, fired an opening 63 in Sun City to take a three-shot lead over Thomas Detry.
To learn how to handle a similar situation, here’s Hank Haney on escaping a buried lie in the bunker. Or you can just watch Westy’s masterclass on loop.
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