Near the final stretch of his first round of The Masters Thursday, Jose Luis Ballester felt something even stronger than the pressure to perform in golf’s most storied tournament and on the game’s most fabled course.
He had to relieve himself.
Shortly after notching a birdie on the 12th hole at Augusta National Golf Club, the 21-year-old Ballester, an amateur who’s a senior at Arizona State, had forgotten there were restrooms to the left of the 13th hole tee box and went to the tributary to nearby Rae’s Creek to urinate while his playing partner, Justin Thomas, was still on the 12th green.
“I’m like ‘I really need to pee,’’ he said after his round. ‘Didn’t really know where to go, and since (Thomas) had an issue on the green, I’m like ‘I’m just going to sneak here in the river and probably people would not see me that much,’ and then they clapped for me. Probably one of the claps that I really got today real loud, so that was kind of funny.”
Not surprisingly, Ballester wasn’t able to pee in total privacy, with thousands of patrons scattered across the Augusta National grounds.
“They saw me,” Ballester said. “It was not embarrassing at all for me. If I had to do it again, I would do it again.”
Succumbing to a natural and understandable urge may have ultimately paid off for Ballester. After going 4-over on his opening 12 holes of the round, the Spaniard went even par on the final six holes.
Ballester finished the round with a 4-over 76, tying him for 73rd in the 95-player field. He was tied for second among the tournament’s five amateurs.
Adding to the tributary’s liquid volume was the highlight of an eventful day for Ballester.
Without some of the same sponsorship obligations that other golfers have, Ballester wore an Arizona State hat in which “Sun Devils” was written upside down and backwards. While it’s a popular style for Zoomers, the hat drew widespread attention and, in some circles in what can be a stodgy sport, criticism.