A flyover posted to Eagle Crest Golf Club’s website describes the course’s par-5 fifth hole as featuring a “large green that slopes severely from left to right and has many challenging hole locations.”
It wasn’t kidding.
The NAIA then seemingly found the most challenging pin placement for Tuesday’s opening round of its women’s golf national championship in Ypsilanti, Michigan. So challenging that the governing body had to issue an apology.
“We regret to confirm that an unfortunate situation occurred at the NAIA Women’s Golf National Championship,” the NAIA said in a statement. “The hole on No. 5 was incorrectly placed in a challenging position. We take this matter seriously and have taken immediate steps to ensure this type of situation will not happen again. The NAIA is committed to the student-athlete experience.”
A video posted to X by Cumberlands head coach Aaron Watkins shows one of his players hitting a 20-foot putt from just a few paces on and to a right hole location. The putt has pace on it, lips out on the right side and then makes its way back to the player’s feet.
Worst nightmare for tournament director. I know I have spent close to 15 minutes on one green to make sure this does not happen. Have to be very careful at Red Sky, but can happen anywhere. pic.twitter.com/GpQYNBVWOc
— Lance Ringler (@GolfweekRingler) May 13, 2025
The PuttView mapping of the green shows about 5-7% slope around where the hole appears to be.
Unsurprisingly, the fifth hole ranked as the toughest hole on the day. The 460-yarder was playing nearly two shots over par (+1.97) when the round was suspended for darkness (only one player in the 156-player field had yet to post a score on No. 5). The hole yielded 90 double bogeys or worse, 47 bogeys, 15 pars and three birdies, one of which was made by British Columbia’s Jessica Ng, who sits second individually at 3 under, four shots behind leader Sharon Shan of SCAD Savannah.
British Columbia, the top-ranked team in the country, leads Marian (Indiana) by four shots in the team standings.
This isn’t the first time a questionable hole location has overshadowed a national championship in women’s golf. Two years ago, the NCAA scrapped the third round of its Division-III women’s national championship because of an “unplayable hole” caused by a severe pin placement. The sixth hole at Mission Inn’s El Campeon Course in Howey-in-the-Hills, Florida, featured a hole cut similarly to Tuesday’s hole at Eagle Crest, and it had played about a shot and a half over par with 29 triple bogeys or worse before inclement weather suspended the round with about 60% of the field in the clubhouse. The NCAA also made a cut to the top 15 teams using 36-hole scores from that championship. “They just said they were sorry and they felt bad,” one coach said then.
Even Phil Mickelson commented on Tuesday’s setup debacle.
“I have a suggestion,” Mickelson wrote, alluding to his infamous hitting of a moving ball on the green during the 2018 U.S. Open at Shinnecock.
The fifth hole’s flyover ended with the statement, “A ‘5’ on No. 5 is an excellent score.”
No kidding.
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