Jose Luis Ballester defends decision to take a leak in Rae’s Creek at the Masters
Amateur Jose Luis Ballester was caught short during his opening round (Picture: Getty) Amateur Jose Luis Ballester was unapologetic after he was spotted urinating into Rae’s Creek in the first round of the Masters on Thursday. Playing alongside defending champion Scottie Scheffler and Justin Thomas, Ballester was caught short playing the par-five 13th during his opening 76 at Augusta National. ‘Well, I completely forgot that we had those restrooms to the left of the tee box and then I’m like, I really need to pee,’ Ballester told reporters after his round. ‘Didn’t really know where to go, and since JT 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.’ It is understood the applause came from the grandstand behind the 14th tee, which Ballester had his back to. Asked if he was concerned about any repercussions, the 21-year-old Spaniard added: ‘They saw me. They saw me. Jose Luis Ballester was spotted urinating in Rae’s Creek during his opening round (Shutterstock) ‘It was not embarrassing at all for me. If I had to do it again, I would do it again.’ Round one of the heavyweight battle between Scheffler and Rory McIlroy, meanwhile, went to the tournament’s defending champion, who managed to avoid any major damage, while the Northern Irishman took some heavy blows late on Thursday. A Sunday showdown between the top two players in the game remains possible, but McIlroy, who is trying to complete an elusive career Grand Slam, will first need to pick himself up off of the floor. Rory McIlroy pays for late first round errors Rory Mcilroy paid dearly for some late first round errors (Credits: AP) McIlroy, who went out later in the day as wind picked up, looked confident as he carded four birdies through his first 14 holes before suffering double bogeys on 15 and 17 to drop back to even par. It is McIlroy’s 11th attempt at becoming only the sixth player in history to triumph at all four of golf’s majors. Scheffler, by contrast, signed for a bogey-free round of four-under 68 to sit in a three-way tie for second place behind leader Justin Rose, who is seven under par. Although the No.1 one appeared to move effortlessly through Augusta National, he said the firm greens were making him work. Masters first round leaderboard -7 J Rose (Eng); -4 C Conners (Can), S Scheffler (US), L Aberg (Swe); -3 T Hatton (Eng), B DeChambeau (US); -2 A Rai (Eng), H English (US), J Day (Aus), A Bhatia (US) Selected others: -1 F Couples (US), M Fitzpatrick (Eng), S Lowry (Ire); Level C Morikawa (US), S Garcia (Spa), R McIlroy (NI); +1 T Fleetwood (Eng); +3 D Willett (Eng), R MacIntyre (Sco), J Rahm (Spa) Scottie Scheffler makes impressive start Scottie Scheffler looked in ominous form at the Masters (Credits: REUTERS) ‘I would have felt pretty good about it,’ Scheffler said when asked how he would have felt about the round if he knew ahead of time. ‘I had a feeling the golf course was going to get pretty firm. The areas to hit your irons out here are pretty small and they get even smaller when the greens are firm, so there’s definitely some challenge to the golf course today.” McIlroy, who suffered a heartbreaking final-round collapse at the 2011 Masters that began with an errant tee-shot on 10 that led to a triple-bogey, did not speak to the media after Thursday’s round.
Amateur Jose Luis Ballester was unapologetic after he was spotted urinating into Rae’s Creek in the first round of the Masters on Thursday.
Playing alongside defending champion Scottie Scheffler and Justin Thomas, Ballester was caught short playing the par-five 13th during his opening 76 at Augusta National.
‘Well, I completely forgot that we had those restrooms to the left of the tee box and then I’m like, I really need to pee,’ Ballester told reporters after his round.
‘Didn’t really know where to go, and since JT 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.’
It is understood the applause came from the grandstand behind the 14th tee, which Ballester had his back to.
Asked if he was concerned about any repercussions, the 21-year-old Spaniard added: ‘They saw me. They saw me.
‘It was not embarrassing at all for me. If I had to do it again, I would do it again.’
Round one of the heavyweight battle between Scheffler and Rory McIlroy, meanwhile, went to the tournament’s defending champion, who managed to avoid any major damage, while the Northern Irishman took some heavy blows late on Thursday.
A Sunday showdown between the top two players in the game remains possible, but McIlroy, who is trying to complete an elusive career Grand Slam, will first need to pick himself up off of the floor.
Rory McIlroy pays for late first round errors
McIlroy, who went out later in the day as wind picked up, looked confident as he carded four birdies through his first 14 holes before suffering double bogeys on 15 and 17 to drop back to even par.
It is McIlroy’s 11th attempt at becoming only the sixth player in history to triumph at all four of golf’s majors.
Scheffler, by contrast, signed for a bogey-free round of four-under 68 to sit in a three-way tie for second place behind leader Justin Rose, who is seven under par.
Although the No.1 one appeared to move effortlessly through Augusta National, he said the firm greens were making him work.
Masters first round leaderboard
-7 J Rose (Eng); -4 C Conners (Can), S Scheffler (US), L Aberg (Swe); -3 T Hatton (Eng), B DeChambeau (US); -2 A Rai (Eng), H English (US), J Day (Aus), A Bhatia (US)
Selected others: -1 F Couples (US), M Fitzpatrick (Eng), S Lowry (Ire); Level C Morikawa (US), S Garcia (Spa), R McIlroy (NI); +1 T Fleetwood (Eng); +3 D Willett (Eng), R MacIntyre (Sco), J Rahm (Spa)
Scottie Scheffler makes impressive start
‘I would have felt pretty good about it,’ Scheffler said when asked how he would have felt about the round if he knew ahead of time.
‘I had a feeling the golf course was going to get pretty firm. The areas to hit your irons out here are pretty small and they get even smaller when the greens are firm, so there’s definitely some challenge to the golf course today.”
McIlroy, who suffered a heartbreaking final-round collapse at the 2011 Masters that began with an errant tee-shot on 10 that led to a triple-bogey, did not speak to the media after Thursday’s round.
