William Mouw wears a bracelet on his right wrist that says: NEVER GIVE UP.
Talk about practicing what you preach.
Mouw, a 24-year-old PGA Tour rookie from Pepperdine, went viral Friday after his disastrous octuple-bogey 13 at the par-5 16th hole at the Stadium Course at PGA West. Mouw fired his second shot into the 18-foot-deep bunker that guards the left side of the green – and he twice returned to the bunker after briefly escaping.
That blast, the highest score ever at No. 16, plus a triple at the par-3 17th would lead to a 9-over 81, all but guaranteeing Mouw an early exit from American Express.
A day later, Mouw put the finishing touches on his second missed cut in a row, not without a smile.
“I didn’t have a 13 today, so yeah,” said Mouw, who made nine birdies at La Quinta Country Club, including six in his final seven holes, to shoot 67 and finish in a tie (the cut ended at 9 under).
“Making nine birdies today and bouncing back in a positive way is big for me,” Mouw added in his PGATour.com interview, “and that’s how I took it.”
As for the staggering figure, Mouw noted that he was not the first to do damage in this bunker.
“And I definitely won’t be the last,” Mouw said before continuing: “Golf is a lot like life, man. There is adversity, and as a player, a student of the game and a person in life, it’s not about dwelling on adversity. It’s about knowing how to turn your adversity into positivity and use it to inspire you to improve and see the bigger picture. And that’s something I did.
