ST. ANDREWS, Scotland -- The Road Hole is among the most notorious par-4s in the world, terrifying because of its length, angles and hazards.
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| Notah Begay III hits out of the burn, his fourth shot on the par-4 Road Hole. |
And yet, none of the above sent Notah Begay III spiraling from the top of the British Open leaderboard Thursday. By trying to avoid the infamous Road Bunker, Begay made a more serious mistake and paid for it with a triple-bogey 7.
"I hadn't been driving the ball real well all day, and it finally caught up with me," Begay said. "I just caught a really bad lie and I wasn't trying to do anything spectacular.
"I acknowledge the fact that the hole had me by the tail, and I approached it that way. One thing led to another. Before I knew it, I was getting wet and getting out of the burn and trying to make a 3-footer for a 7."
Getting into that burn took some doing. It is the famous Swilcan Burn, the one that fronts the first green and is just off the 18th tee.
Begay's third shot on the 455-yard hole from the rough found its way there, and he elected to play the ball from the water, bringing back memories of Jean Van de Velde's misfortune at Carnoustie a year ago. Unlike Van de Velde, however, Begay had a play, and he managed to advance the ball toward the green.
From there, he putted onto the green, then needed two more putts to get down, making a 7 that dropped him from the lead. He followed that with a bogey at the 18th to shoot 3-under 69.
"I thought it was just fun to go in there and get my feet wet and pitch out," he said. "I mean, you just don't ever get a chance to do that much. Once I got in there and both my feet were not totally immersed in water, I know that I could get it out.
"It's something I'll always remember, and it is a lot more entertaining than taking a boring drop."
Based on his recent form, it was no surprise to see Begay get to 7-under through 16 holes, leading the Open Championship with a two-shot advantage.
He won his last two starts on the PGA Tour at Memphis and Hartford, and his four victories in the past year are more than anyone but Tiger Woods. Over the weekend, he was in contention at Loch Lomond, where he tied for fourth.
When he arrived at the 17th, he had already made five birdies on the front nine including four in a row, a bogey at the 11th and a chip-in eagle at the 12th. Another birdie at No. 14 put him ahead by two.
Then it happened. He hit his drive in the rough, tried to play it out with a pitching wedge, then found the rough again. Thinking he had a good lie, Begay believed he could hit a 9-iron to the green. But his club got caught in the rough, the ball shot out to the left and rolled into the burn.
All in all, it was still a good showing for Begay, who is making just his fourth start in a major championship and his first at the British Open.
"I didn't even think twice about it," he said. "I was just playing a round of golf. You can't win the tournament today anyway. It's only my fourth major and I am pretty well accustomed to all the things that go along with it. I've won golf tournaments. And my nerves were not a factor. Everything was in check.
"I just got a bad lie, an unlucky break. But I'm not far out of the lead. We've got three days to go."
And Begay had no ill will toward No. 17.
"It is a good hole," he said. "I just treat the bunker like a water hazard. You just can't hit it in there. Maybe I got a little too conservative. Who knows? If I hit it in that bunker, I might have made 9."
Bob Harig, who covers golf for the St. Petersburg Times, writes a column every Tuesday for ESPN Golf Online.
