AUGUSTA, Ga. — U.S. Amateur champion Jose Luis Ballester had to take a kind of relief Thursday at the Masters, just not the kind found in the Rules of Golf.
Ballester, a 21-year-old from Spain, had to use the restroom in the worst way on the par-5 13th hole, where Justin Thomas in his group had hit into the azalea bushes behind the green.
Ballester felt his only option was to turn his back to the grandstand and go in Rae’s Creek.
“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,” he said.
That seemed like a good plan until he got a round of applause when he was done.
“Probably one of the claps that I really got today real loud,” Ballester said after opening with a 76. “So that was kind of funny.”
His big mistake was not realizing there was a restroom near the 13th tee box. This the first Masters for the Arizona State senior.
Using the course to relieve oneself is not all that unusual in golf; players often will duck into the woods or go somewhere away from the crowd. But there’s no hiding at Augusta National, and for Ballester, this was no time to wait.
“It was not embarrassing at all for me,” he said. “If I had to do it again, I would do it again.”
