At country clubs and municipal courses across the nation, what Jeff Maggert did at the Masters was nothing unusual.
But at Augusta National? Not acceptable.
Maggert's otherwise solid performance was doomed Sunday by a ball that hit him, and two more he hit into Rae's Creek.
He made an ugly 7 early and an even costlier 8 -- the dreaded snowman -- late. The third-round leader shot a 3-over 75 and wound up finishing fifth.
``It was a very strange day,'' Maggert said.
The trouble began at No. 3, where Maggert blasted the ball from a fairway bunker, hard into the lip of the sand trap, only to have it ricochet back and hit him in the chest -- a two-stroke penalty.
After that bizarre scene, Maggert stepped back into the bunker to hit to the back fringe of the green. He needed a 18-foot putt to save triple-bogey 7.
He rallied and actually made it back to third place, but the rally stopped where so many do at this tournament -- in the waters of Rae's Creek on the 12th hole, courtesy of an odd rake mark in the back of the bunker where his tee shot landed.
Kneeling into the trap to reach the ball in the rake mark, he skimmed it out, over the green and into the water.
Because there was no place to take a legal drop near the green, Maggert had to take a walk of shame, back across the Hogan Bridge, where he dropped and immediately put that one in the water, too.
He took another drop, and without even taking a practice swing, he dejectedly knocked it onto the green.
He needed a long putt to ``save'' the 8. It dropped him from third, all the way off the leaderboard.
Still, he didn't quit -- playing well enough to finish among the top five for the fifth time in a major.
``Funny things happen sometimes,'' he said.
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