Thongchai Jaidee's Adventures at the 2011 Avantha Masters

Just this week, as you may have heard, Kevin Na made a 16 on the Par 4 9th hole at the Valero Texas Open, making history as one of the highest scores on a single hole. That also really inflated the scoring average for the 9th hole, making it the toughest scoring hole in relation to par on the course by a landslide. It was an automatic Na Na Na Na, Na Na Na Na, hey, hey, hey, GOODBYE YOU MISS THE CUT!

That kind of thing almost happened to Thongchai Jaidee at the European tour event Avantha Masters in February, believe it or not.

On the Par 4 5th hole (his 14th hole of the day), of his first round, Jaidee hit his tee shot in the left rough, right behind a giant light pole. He requested for a free drop but the rules official refused to give him it. He tried to hit over the pole but it hit the pole and ricocheted left, out of bounds. 2-stroke penalty. So now it's his 4th shot. Totally angry, ticked off, he continued to try to hit over the pole to prove his point. He hit 3 more shots that both also hit the pole and ricocheted out-of-bounds. So now it's his 10th shot.

Jaidee finally gave up and pitched backwards into the fairway. Now his 11th shot, which landed short of the green. His 12th shot, a pitch chot, landed on the green. Just before he lined up for his putt, his 13th stroke, a rules official came and said that he could go back to the tee, and replay the hole with a fresh start, no penalty.

Which he did. Expectedly, his shot landed right this time in the trees right. He pitched out, hit his third on the green and two-putted for a bogey. Which could have been a hell a lot worse!

And he birdied each of his last 4 holes, shooting a 3 under 69.

It was very fortunate that the rules official informed that he could replay the hole. Otherwise he would have been 9 over par after the hole and had almost no chance to make the cut.

Instead, he was deeply in contention after two rounds after shooting another good round Friday. However, he finished the tournament with a T-22 after falling back at the weekend.