Nick Ticked, Heading Home After Masters Of Disaster

Nick Price gathered up his two major titles and bid adieu to the Masters with a hearty “good riddance” Friday.

There would be no spot in the record book for winning three consecutive majors, a feat accomplished only once in the modern era. There would be no green jacket. There would be no more golf.

“This course and I don’t have a very good relationship right now,” said Price, who failed to make the cut in his attempt to to add the Masters to the British Open and PGA Championship he won last year. “I wish someone would help me. I don’t know what goes on here.”

If a white flag had been available in the scoring tent, Price certainly would have been waving it. “I’ve tried everything,” he groaned.

Price added a 1-over-par 73 to the 4-over 76 he shot in Thursday’s opening round. It was a dismal two days, capped by a wild up-and-down trip around Augusta National Golf Course on Friday which included six bogeys, a double bogey, five birdies and an eagle.

“I didn’t drive the ball very well, I didn’t hit my irons very well, I didn’t chip very well and I didn’t putt very well. Other than that,” Price quipped, “it was a pretty good week.”

Price, amazingly, holds the course record at Augusta, shooting a 63 in the third round of the 1986 Masters. He went on to place fifth that year, his best finish. “It seems about 400 years ago,” the two-time PGA player of the year said.

The past two years have been more indicative of Price’s play in the Masters: He missed the cut in 1993 and tied for 35th last year.

“That 63 ruined my scoring average here,” he said, breaking into a grin. “I’ve been around 74, 75 the last few years.”

This year, though, the course seemed more suited for Price, who’s usually bedeviled by Augusta’s notoriously slick greens. A steady drizzle on Thursday softened the grass and sent scores plummeting under par.

But not for Price, who was all over the course on the front nine. He three-putted at No. 1, hit a bunker on 2, fired his approach shots over the green at 3 and 5, and found a fairway bunker with his tee shot at 8 to take a double bogey. He made the turn with a 5-over 41 for the day - 9 above par overall - and realized that any chance of making the cut was lost.

“The damage was already done by then,” Price said.

A fan tried to perk him up as he headed to the sixth tee. “Go get ‘em Nick,” he yelled. “You’re the man.”

Price returned the compliment with a blank stare that revealed the soul of a man who knew this wasn’t his day at all. Then he uncorked a baseball-like swing that sent his ball careening over the green and nearly into the crowd.

“Golf does that to you,” Price would moan afterwards.

He recovered on the back nine, making long putts for a birdie at No. 14 and an eagle on 15. But Augusta National had the last laugh, at 18. Price’s tee shot landed in a sand trap, and he wound up with a bogey.