Ah, golf. The sport can giveth and the sport can taketh away.
Xander Schauffele found out both Sunday at the Sentry Tournament of Champions.
After bogeying his opening hole of the final round at Kapalua’s Plantation Course, Schauffele birdied four holes in a five-hole stretch on the front nine before holing a chip from 18 yards out for eagle at the par-5 ninth hole.
A strong finish to @XSchauffele's front nine.
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) January 7, 2019
He's one shot back. #LiveUnderPar pic.twitter.com/WRCGrY4JLX
Two holes later, Schauffele, with a wedge in his hand at the par-4 12th, holed out from 107 yards for his second eagle of the day. The shot, at the time, moved him to just a shot back of leader Gary Woodland.
From 3 shots back ... to 1 shot back.@XSchauffele makes his second eagle of the round.#LiveUnderPar pic.twitter.com/Df2qOU8baK
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) January 7, 2019
But then on the very next hole, Schauffele topped his drive. His ball exited the face at just 158 mph and reached an apex height of just 32 feet. Even worse, it rolled into a fairway bunker.
-8 thru his last 10 holes.
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) January 7, 2019
2 eagles on his round.
1 shot behind the leader.
Just when everything is going your way ...
Golf is hard. #QuickHits pic.twitter.com/6bFGrlCWls
Luckily for Schauffele, he avoided disaster and remained 7 under on his round by two-putting for par from 75 feet on the hole.