Tin Cup misses his first attempt at the green, an iron swipe that seems great then rolls into the water. He could have laid up, but instead he goes for it. The crowd moans with displeasure. But rather than walking to the drop zone and attempting a shorter shot after hitting the hazard, Cup simply drops his ball where he stands, attempts the same shot, finds the same result. The water is thirsty, in all contexts really, but especially in this one. Again and again he plunges iron shots into the drink, his Masters hopes sinking deeper and deeper with each drowned ball.
“I don’t know what I’m feeling,” says the announcer, watching Tin Cup bang his head against the wall, over and over, refusing to make things easy for himself. “This is the most painful thing I’ve ever seen.”
It turns out Tin Cup had it easy in comparison to these 2022-23 Toronto Raptors.
The Raptors learn against the Milwaukee Bucks in the fiber of their being that it’s hope that kills you. They have the misses, sure, which hurts, but they pull themselves as close to redemption as physically possible, clawing their way to overtime. Only to lose.
“I don’t think I’ve seen one that weird,” says Nick Nurse after the game.
“That was an experience,” says Fred VanVleet.
