Drama, Heartbreak Aplenty on 10th Episode of Big Break Myrtle Beach

It was semifinal Tuesday on Big Break Myrtle Beach, and the episode delivered the expected drama as Anthony, Emily, Jimmy and Toph battled for a coveted spot in the show finale.

After the obligatory breakfast table talk, Emily opened a letter that informed players that their first swing of the day might be their most important.

The quartet arrived at Barefoot Resort’s Dye Course and each had to hit a shot from 100 yards. Closest to the pin was going to win something, but they didn’t know what.

Emily opened the challenge by hitting the ball to 9 feet, but Jimmy quickly stuffed his ball to 6’7,” a total that easily withstood the efforts of Anthony and Toph. Tom Abbott and Paige Mackenzie, our fearless hosts, informed Jimmy that he got to choose his opponent for the first three-hole match that would determine who advanced to the finale.

At that point, Anthony said, “Pick me.” Jimmy obliged and the semifinals were set.

Jimmy vs. Anthony

Toph vs. Emily

Winners advance, losers go home.

Referring to himself in the third person, Anthony says that when Anthony says he is going to do something, he does it. And he says he is going to win the match. Ugh.

The match opened on the par 4 fifth hole at the Dye Course, and Anthony recovered from a poor tee shot to make a three-foot par putt, good enough to give him a one-stroke lead going to the par 3 15th hole.

Both players hit nice tee shots on the 15th but failed to convert decent birdie opportunities, and Anthony went to the par 5 eighth hole with his slim lead intact.

Anthony, with honors, hit another horrendous drive, hooking the ball into the middle of the fifth fairway. Jimmy pushed his shot off the fairway and ended up with a poor lie in the rough.

Two hundred eighty-seven yards from the hole, Anthony couldn’t go for the green, but with a one-stroke lead and a fairway lie he wasn’t in trouble.

Then he hit the shot that changed the match.

He inexplicably hit the ball into the middle of a pond separating the fifth and eighth holes. The shot wasn’t close to dry land. Anthony said he took a bad line. Whatever the case, it was a momentum swinging shot.

Jimmy, facing a bad lie, advanced his second shot toward the hole and hit his third to approximately 12 feet for birdie.

The ever-brash Anthony was in trouble, but he wasn’t finished. He took a drop and hit his fourth shot 20 feet above the hole. He narrowly missed the par putt and tapped in for bogey.

Jimmy had a birdie putt to dispatch Anthony and he drained it, much to the delight of his good buddy Toph.

The second semifinal followed the same hole rotation. Toph immediately seized control, birdieing the fifth hole while Emily made bogey after thinning a shot out of a fairway bunker.

Toph maintained the two-stroke lead after both made par on the 15th, and the match seemed to be over when Emily nearly pulled her tee shot into the water on the eighth hole. She had no chance to advance the ball to the green because the lie would force her to stand on the side of the hill with her feet nearly in the water.

Needing only to play it safe and make par, Toph, who hit a near perfect drive, pulled a hybrid and went for the green. It was a mystifying decision made worse when he yanked the ball into the water.

Meanwhile, Emily advanced the ball toward the hole on her second shot and hit her third shot to four feet, setting up a very makeable birdie putt. It was a stunning turn of events.

After taking his drop, Toph hit the ball approximately 12-15 feet from the pin, but missed his par putt. Emily, somehow, went to the final hole with a two-stroke deficit, hit a poor drive, and still found herself with a short birdie putt to square the match.

And she pulled the putt.

Toph advanced with a one-stroke victory. It was a tough finish for Emily, who played well throughout the season.

A pair of dramatic matches set up a Big Break Myrtle Beach championship showdown between friends Jimmy and Toph.

We can’t wait to see who wins.