William Mouw wears a bracelet on his right wrist that says, NEVER EVER GIVE UP.
Talk about practicing what you preach.
Mouw, a 24-year-old PGA Tour rookie out of Pepperdine, went viral on Friday following his disastrous octuple-bogey 13 at the par-5 16th hole at PGA West’s Stadium Course. Mouw yanked his second shot down into the 18-foot-deep bunker that guards the left side of the green – and he’d twice chip back into the bunker after briefly escaping.
That blowup, the highest score ever recorded 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 The American Express.
A day later, Mouw had put the finishing touches on his second straight missed cut, but not without a smile.
“I didn’t have a 13 today, so yeah,” said Mouw, who poured in nine birdies at La Quinta Country Club, including six in his last seven holes, to shoot 67 and finish at even par (the cut ended at 9 under).
“Having nine birdies today and bouncing back in a positive way is meaningful to me,” Mouw added in his PGATour.com interview, “and that’s how I took it.”
As for the eye-popping number, Mouw noted he’s not the first to make a mess in that bunker.
“And I certainly won’t be the last,” Mouw said, before continuing, “Golf is a lot like life, man. There’s adversity, and as a player and as a student of the game and as a person of life, it’s not about dwelling on adversity. It’s how can you turn your adversity into positivity and use that to fuel you to get better and look at the bigger picture. And that’s something I did.”
