Emiliano Grillo Handles Wild 72nd Hole Meltdown With Utmost Class, Karma Rewards Him With Playoff Victory
I'm not sure roller coaster even begins to describe the ending to Emiliano Grillo's Charles Schwab Challenge victory on Sunday evening. I'm going to do my best to recap the craziness, but I'm not sure I have the linguistic skills to truly capture the insanity.
Heading into the final hole of his tournament, Emiliano Grillo held a two-shot lead over Harry Hall and Adam Schenk. With his competitors still on the course, Grillo thought he needed to lock in that -10 score.
He needed to hit the ball into the fairway, get it to the green, two-putt for par and force one of the chasers to make two birdies coming home.
But things did not go according to plan. In fact, with one thousand guesses, I'm not sure I could have predicted exactly what happened to his tee.
You have to see it to believe it.
The tweet says it all, but the video is WILD. Grillo pushed his tee ball way right and into a penalty area. Then, the ball found a small stream and started moving back towards the tee box. Grillo wanted to wait to see where the ball stopped to see if he could hit it.
Eventually, the rules official determined he needed to take a penalty stroke and play it the ball from where it last crossed the penalty area.
He eventually made a double-bogey and dropped into a three-way tie.
Emiliano Grillo of Argentina hits a shot on the 18th hole from the cart path during the final round of the Charles Schwab Challenge at Colonial Country Club on May 28, 2023 in Fort Worth, Texas. (Photo by Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images)
Despite the disaster, Grillo handled the situation with incredible grace. He headed over to the practice area to hit balls because he needed to prepare for a potential playoff.
The CBS broadcast cut to Grillo as the commentators discussed how hard it would be for Grillo to shake off what just happened.
With that backdrop, viewers probably expected to see a dejected Grillo. Instead, he called over to a pair of young fans and offered to let them hit balls with his club.
Yes, at a time when he needed to keep his game sharp, and was probably disappointed in himself, instead of working on his own game, he gave two young golfers a rare opportunity.
Meanwhile, his two competitors -- Harry Hall and Adam Schenk -- came to 18 in a three-way tie at -8 with him.
Hall proceeded to hit his tee shot into a penalty area, though his went into the left side water. Schenk, though, managed to get his ball to the green and had a 15-foot putt to win the tournament.
Unfortunately for Schenk, but fortunately for Grillo, he missed that putt. Hall made bogey following the penalty, leading to a two-man playoff between Grillo and Schenk.
The two men headed back to hole 18, which made it even worse for Grillo. He had to replay the hole that kept him from winning the tournament.
Both players hit the fairway -- Grillo with a little help from a friendly bounce -- both players hit the green and both players just missed their birdie putts.
So, they headed to hole #16 to continue the playoff.
That's when karma came into play for Grillo. Do good deeds, get rewarded. The 16th hole is a Par-3 and Grillo left his tee shot out to the right. It appeared headed right for the greenside bunker.
But it cleared the bunker -- just barely -- and took an INCREDIBLE bounce to the left and rolled to within five feet of the hole.
Adam Schenk's tee shot flew the green, leaving him in terrible position. But he made an excellent chip shot to get up-and-down for par.
But it didn't matter. Grillo calmly stepped up and knocked in the tournament-winning putt.
No lie, when I saw Grillo invite those kids into the practice area to hit shots, I immediately placed a bet on him to win the tournament at +180.
Glad I did. Good for Emiliano Grillo.
He deserved that victory.