U.S. Open: Sepp Straka suffers an awful break, then drains a perfect ace

PINEHURST, N.C. — The U.S. Open taketh away, and the U.S. Open giveth back.

Sepp Straka sufferedeth perhaps the toughest break of the first day-and-a-half of the U.S. Open on Friday morning, and then just six holes later, enjoyedeth the finest hole of anyone in the tournament to this point.

First, the bad news. On his approach at the third, Straka fired a shot that was, quite literally, too perfect. He hit the flag stick, and then watched as his ball rolled all the way back off the green and into one of those infernal sand traps:

Straka would go on to make a triple bogey on the third, and here’s how. Viewer discretion advised.

But just when Straka was surely ready to burn Pinehurst down, the course rolled over and welcomed him back:

Don’t need to worry about putting when you don’t need to use your putter. The ace put Straka back down at +2, inside the current cut line, which could make it a very profitable ace indeed … at least until Straka has to buy a drink for all of the 25,000 or so people on the course.