Jose Luis Ballester caught urinating in Rae’s Creek during Masters round

AUGUSTA, Ga. — The natural beauty of Augusta National is breathtaking.

And sometimes, nature calls.

That was the case Thursday for Jose Luis Ballester, who couldn’t find a bathroom near the 13th tee at the Masters so he unzipped his fly and urinated in Rae’s Creek.

“I completely forgot that we had those restrooms to the left of the tee box,” the 21-year-old told reporters after his round.

The Spaniard felt the urge while waiting for Justin Thomas to putt out.

“I’m like, ‘I really need to pee,’” said Ballester, last year’s U.S. Amateur champion, who didn’t realize he was in the sight line of thousands of people.

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“Didn’t really know where to go, and since JT had an issue on the green, I’m like, ‘I’m just going to sneak here in the river and probably people would not see me that much,’ and then they clapped for me. Probably one of the claps that I really got today real loud, so that was kind of funny.”

On Monday, Ballester’s coach, Matt Thurmond, was politely removed from the practice area for wearing shorts, which are only permissible for patrons, not players and coaches.