I sense a trend brewing, and it's not pretty. Some of us can relate.
Georgia native Franklin Langham, playing on a sponsor exemption in the PGA Tour event in Atlanta this week, teed off on the 10th hole in the first round Thursday and left a few souvenirs behind for the fans and neighbors. He swatted four straight tee shots out-of-bounds on the left, made a 13 on his opening hole and was 22-over for the day when play was suspended because of darkness.
If he makes a bogey, he shoots a 95, one of the worst scores on the PGA Tour in years.
So, just to make it worse, he has to come back at dawn to complete the round. And it isn't like he can withdraw with one of those curious, "wink-wink" back injuries, because he was generously given an exemption by AT&T, the sponsor. He played for the college team at nearby Georgia and was raised in Augusta.
Langham, who plays on the Nationwide Tour afler spending several years on the PGA Tour, has professed to having a case of the yips with the driver, a la former British Open champion Ian Baker-Finch, whose erractic tee balls drove him from the game.
It's not getting any better, it seems. In April, Langham shot 90 in a Nationwide event after hitting three balls O.B. on a single hole. Thursday, he played the par-5 holes in 11 over, with a birdie.
