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It was not the kind of mission Huston had in mind


Web posted 04/12/97


Once again, John Huston had the most unusual hole of the day at the Masters Tournament.

But this time it was sad, not heroic. Huston made a 10 on the 485-yard par-5 13th hole on the way to a 5-over-par 77. That followed a day where he holed his second shot on 18 for an eagle, a 5-under 67 and the first-round lead. Friday's round dropped him to even-par 144, eight strokes behind leader Tiger Woods.

``All I can is it's pretty embarrassing,'' Huston said. ``I mean, if you're afraid to embarrass yourself then I guess you're at the wrong tournament. So you take it and you do the best you can.''

It wasn't the first time the 35-year-old former Auburn golfer has made a 10 recently. Two weeks ago, at the 438-yard par-4 14th in the final round of The Players Championship, he dunked two tee shots in the water, hit two bunkers and three-putted on the way to double digits.

On Friday Huston was 4-under for the tournament and 1-over for the day entering the par-5 13th. He laid up in two shots, then pitched his third into the water hazard guarding the front of the green. He then chose to drop on the adjacent 14th tee and hit his fifth and seventh shots in the creek. He found a dry spot with the seventh shot, blasted the eighth out of a sandy lie and two-putted for 10.

``I'm not stupid,'' Huston said. ``I was trying to hit right past the pin. If it went over the green, fine. It was way softer than I thought underneath (his lie on the pitches) and it went right under the ball, which I didn't think was possible.''

He did finish with birdies at No. 16 and No. 18, but that was not enough to save his round.

Huston was joined in his misery on No. 13. Defending champion Nick Faldo made a 9 there, on 13 Friday, also with two pitch shots in the creek, on the way to shooting 81 and missing the cut. Vijay Singh made an 8 on the hole and fired a 74.

The Masters record for the highest score on the 13th hole is a 13 by Tommy Nakajima in 1978.

Huston's score on 13 was the fifth-highest in Masters history. Only Nakajima, Tom Weiskopf's 13 (on the par-3 12th in 1982) and Frank Walsh's 12 (on the par-5 eighth in 1935) were higher, and Sam Byrd's 10 (on the par-5 second in 1948) equaled Huston's misery.

Friday marked the sixth time in eight appearances that Huston has had a chance to shoot back-to-back 60s in the Masters.

The best he has shot after a 60s round was an even-par 72 in 1995. He had a 66 in the second round in 1995 and followed that with a 72 in the third round on his way to a tie for 10th place. He shot a 69 on the final day in 1992 and followed that with a 68 in the first round of the 1993 Masters.

Huston has missed five of nine cuts this year but kept alive his streak of making eight Masters cuts in as many attempts.

``It's going to be difficult,'' said Huston of catching Woods. ``He's playing a different golf course. You've got to get it in the hole and Tiger is no different from anybody else. There could be some strange things that happen to him. You never know what's going to happen; there is still a long way to go.''

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