By Rory Carroll
AUGUSTA, Georgia (Reuters) -Jose Luis Ballester’s performance in the first round of the Masters offered fans little to get excited about but the Spanish amateur drew loud applause after relieving himself in a creek within view of spectators at Augusta National on Thursday.
The 21-year-old said he had been desperate to answer the call of nature and thought a lull in the action while playing partner Justin Thomas dealt with an issue on the 13th green presented an ideal opportunity.
“I’m like, I’m just going to sneak here in the river and probably people would not see me that much, and then they clapped for me,” he told reporters.
“Probably one of the claps that I really got today real loud, so that was kind of funny.”
Ballester, who was also grouped with defending champion Scottie Scheffler, said he was not worried about potential blowback from officials over the incident at Rae’s Creek.
“It was not embarrassing at all for me,” said Ballester, who won the U.S. Amateur last year to qualify for his first Masters.
“If I had to do it again, I would do it again.”
After a rough front nine that included two bogeys and a double bogey, Ballester fared much better coming home, delivering pars on holes 13-18 to sign for a four-over 76 and is tied for 73rd place.
Briton Justin Rose tops the leaderboard after posting a 65.
(Reporting by Rory Carroll; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
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