Apr 6, 2024; Augusta, Georgia, USA; Jasmine Koo tees off on no. 1 during the final round of the Augusta National Women’s Amateur golf tournament at Augusta National Golf Club. Mandatory Credit: Michael Madrid-USA TODAY Sports
By Andrew Bucholtz on

Jasmine Koo was one of six amateur golfers playing in the LPGA Tour’s first major of the year this weekend, The Chevron Championship at Carlton Woods in The Woodlands, Texas. She was one of two of those amateurs to make the weekend cut. And she produced the most memorable shot of the tournament, and maybe of the year so far.

Koo didn’t win the overall title; Nelly Korda took that with a -13 for her record-tying fifth-straight LPGA Tour win, while Koo finished T-13 with a -3. But she did win the low amateur title. And to do so, she made one of the most unusual golf shots ever on the 18th, with her ball hitting a floating ad board in the water and bouncing on to the green, where it settled on the fringe:

That really is a highly unusual bounce. NBC play-by-play voice Terry Gannon laughs disbelievingly as it happens with “Oh! It hit the board, and hopped over! All right, this is the first time I’ve seen that.” And analyst Morgan Pressel goes further still, adding “That is something I have never seen in all of my years playing and watching golf.” This also drew quite the reaction on Twitter/X: here’s some of that.

https://twitter.com/aki11meyer/status/1782161158918586838

Koo would wind up carding a birdie on 18 after that bounce. That put her two strokes ahead of the other low amateur still involved, recent Augusta National Woman’s Amateur champion (and No. 1-ranked women’s amateur) Lottie Woad, and gave her the low amateur title for the event. And she was rather matter-of-fact about this shot afterwards, as per Matt Cradock of Golf Monthly:

“I was really in between clubs, so I went with my 5-wood and chunked it because the ball was above my feet. Thankfully it finished on the fringe and I managed to get up-and-down for the birdie.”

Koo (seen above at that Augusta National Women’s Amateur Championship) is the 20th-ranked amateur in the world, and also a senior at Cerritos High in Southern California. She was a captain’s pick for the U.S. team in the Junior Solheim Cup last fall, and was a key contributor for them there. She is committed to USC. We’ll have to see if she makes any more crazy shots going forward.

[Awful Announcing on Twitter/X]

About Andrew Bucholtz

Andrew Bucholtz has been covering sports media for Awful Announcing since 2012. He is also a staff writer for The Comeback. His previous work includes time at Yahoo! Sports Canada and Black Press.

View all posts by Andrew Bucholtz