William Mouw laughs off nightmarish octuple-bogey: 'I didn’t have a 13 today'

LA QUINTA, Calif. – William Mouw was pleased with the way he fought Saturday. It didn’t affect the end result, his missed cut was sealed after a nightmare finish to his second round, but in a rookie season that will be filled with ups and downs, it was important to show himself he can respond.

Still, Mouw hopes Friday was the lowest it will get. Playing his second round of The American Express at the Pete Dye Stadium Course, Mouw arrived at the 16th hole 6-under for the tournament, right near the cut line. What he did next garnered millions of video views across the internet.

He made an octuple-bogey, tripped up by the notorious 18-foot-deep greenside bunker. It took him 13 shots to play the famed par 5, most of which were caught by TV cameras. Within an hour, the video was online and Mouw was going viral for reasons he certainly never expected.

“People know that bunker and I’m definitely not the first to get captured by the bunker and make a big number,” Mouw told PGATOUR.COM on Saturday, “and I certainly won’t be the last.

“I’m proud of myself,” Mouw added, moments after shooting a bounce-back 5-under 67 at La Quinta Country Club. “I didn’t have a 13 today.”

The octuple-bogey was memorable enough for a quick play-by-play recounting. After hitting his tee ball in the fairway, Mouw pulled his approach into the daunting bunker that lines the right side of the elevated green. Mouw’s first attempt to get out was successful but carried over the other side of the green and into the rough.

That’s when it started to spiral. Mouw caught his chip, now his fourth shot, a little thin and the ball quickly scooted over the green and back into the bunker. It took him three more attempts to get out again, but it was a case of deja vu. The ball flew over the green once more and his ensuing chip rolled through the green and down into the bunker. From there he played out sideways, chipped onto the green and two-putted for a 13.

“It’s something that when it’s happening you just have to laugh at it and accept it and move on,” Mouw said. “Stuff happens, golf’s a crazy game.”

Adding insult to injury, Mouw then made a triple-bogey on the par-3 17th after hitting two balls in the water.

“Golf is a lot like life, there’s adversity. As a player, a student of the game and a person of life, it’s not about dwelling on adversity,” he said. “(It’s) how can you turn your adversity into positivity to fuel you and get better.”

There will certainly be room for improvement. It’s not the start the rookie imagined to his TOUR career. Mouw missed the cut in his season debut at the Sony Open in Hawaii and the events at the 16th hole on Friday secured another.

Mouw did well to work himself back to even par for the week with a flurry of closing birdies on Saturday. He birdied six of the last seven holes, giving himself a shot of momentum heading into the Farmers Insurance Open next week.