Austrian rues eager ball-spotter after running up 12 in Rolex Grand Final

The 26-year-old suffered his horror hole the day after Halloween on the par-4 eighth at Club de Golf Alcanada in Port d’Alcudia, where he was in contention in the third round of the HotelPlanner Tour’s season finale.

“Yeah, I’ll have to think about it,” he replied to being asked about it by Scotland on Sunday at the end of his round, having signed for a 77 to sit 13 shots behind the leader, James Morrison, after starting one behind the Englishman.

“Well, I hit the first one right then we found it. It was not playable, so I had to go back to the fairway on the seventh hole. From there, I hit it in the trees and lost that ball. From there, I thought I hit a decent one but we lost that ball as well.

“We were looking for that one near the green then went back to the seventh fairway again. From there, I clipped the top of the trees and lost the ball again. Then I finally hit it over the trees on the fairway then on to the green and two putts.”

‘Stupid situation coupled with some bad shots’

Steinlechner, who started the week sitting second in the Road to Mallorca Rankings, had the comfort of knowing his card was still secured but, nonetheless, it was one of those experiences that hurts like hell.

“It was just a stupid situation coupled with some bad shots and I kind of want to throttle that spotter as he went in there,” he added, obviously feeling he’d have preferred if the ball had been deemed lost from the outset.

“If he’d thought a little bit about the situation, he’d have left it as I had a second ball in play. I don’t think I have ever made a 12. I have now and it just sucks!