Masters

Despite finishing in a tie for 38th place, Haotong Li managed to put together one of the most memorable weeks in modern Masters history. Rory McIlroy winning his second consecutive green jacket is the lead storyline out of the 2026 edition of the tournament, but Li's efforts should get a special place in the history books as well.Li, a four-time winner on the DP World Tour, qualified for the 2026 Masters by finishing T-4 in the 2025 Open Championship and was making what was his third start at Augusta National in his career. Things got off to a magical start for the 30-year-old, but then a toilet got involved, some wayward shots were hit, and the man from China cost himself a huge chunk of change during Sunday's final round.READ: Masters Parting Thoughts: Rory's Memory, A Bad Broadcast, And The Passage Of TimeFollowing rounds of 71-69 to put himself in a tie for seventh heading into the weekend, Li explained that he had spent Thursday night and Friday morning on the toilet due to what we can only assume was a battle with food poisoning. He even admitted he thought he'd pull out of the tournament on Friday, but he stuck it out and shot 3-under in the second round.He hit copy-paste on Saturday with another round of 3-under and found himself paired with World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler on Sunday, just four shots behind the leaders. Li played his opening 11 holes of the final round at even par, and seemed well on his way to a Top 12 finish to earn an automatic invite into the 2027 Masters as well as a sizable payday.But then he had to play the 12th and 13th holes, and that did not go well. He found the water with his teeshot on the Par 3 12th before walking off the green with a triple bogey. Although his name was still in the Top 20 on the leaderboard at that point, things were officially bad, but quickly got far, far worse.Li went for the Par 5 13th green in two, pulled his fairway wood left, and his golf ball appeared to hit a rock in the creek that runs along the hole, pushing his ball deep into the pine trees and azaleas. It looked as if he was transported from Augusta National to a random forest in East Georgia.Somehow, he was able to find his golf ball in the shrubbery. He attempted to hit it, failed, took a penalty, and eventually hit an approach shot long of the green before proceeding to putt his ball into the creek. Yes, putt. It was an adventure that ultimately ended with him taking a 10 on the hole.READ: No More Questions, Only Overwhelming Comfort In Rory McIlroy’s New Augusta EraLi managed to play his final five holes at even par before signing for a final round 80. He went from standing on the 12th tee at 7-under for the tournament to closing his week out at 1-over.If Li had managed to play the final seven holes of his final round at even par, he would have finished in a tie for 11th and earned more than $500,000. Instead, he finished just inside the Top 40, will have to find a way to qualify for next year's Masters, and took home just over $105,000.Li may have become a bit of a cult hero of the Masters with his efforts and memorable adventure around Amen Corner, but man, was it ever costly.