CROMWELL, Conn. — A few minutes before 4 p.m. EDT on Saturday, Zack Sucher was running away with the Travelers Championship. He was surprisingly leading by five and seemingly cruising toward a potential career-altering victory after a slew of injuries the last couple of years that led to surgery to fix two ligaments and a tendon in his ankle (not to mention currently playing with a torn quad tendon in his knee).
Not so fast.
After going out in four-under 31 at TPC River Highlands, the 32-year-old’s implosion started on the 10th when he blew his tee shot into a tree just 150 yards off the tee. He went on to make bogey, but that was just the beginning.
One hole later, Sucher dumped his tee shot into the bunker on the par 3, then left his next in the sand before blowing his third 30 feet past the hole and two-putting for a double bogey.
Warning: Viewer discretion is advised.
The double-bogey train kept going on 12, where Sucher drove into a fairway bunker, pulled his second shot left of the green, caught his third heavy and left it in a bunker, hit his fourth to 12 feet and two-putted.
“I’ve never seen a five-shot lead disappear faster on the PGA Tour,” Jim Nantz said during CBS’ broadcast. “It’s just lightning quick.”
If you’re timing at home it was just over 30 minutes. Ouch.
Sucher’s collapse got even worse as Reavie, seeking his first PGA Tour victory since 2008 and coming off a great T-3 finish at the U.S. Open last week, started to build on his own momentum, making birdies on Nos. 10, 11, 12, 13 and 15. In a six-hole span, Reavie went from five down to four in the lead.
Check out Golf Digest Schools for the best in video golf instruction