Errant tee shot sends Fowler’s round off the rails
Unable to identify ball, fan favourite forced to return to tee box
Rickie Fowler spent several minutes searching for his ball. He even borrowed binoculars to peer high into a palm tree as several spectators furiously shook it.
At one point, Fowler looked like a seasoned bird watcher.
A few minutes later, he was staring at a double bogey.
Fowler’s errant and unlucky tee shot at the par-4 sixth proved the turning point in his round Friday and his week at The Players Championship. Fowler’s ball landed in the 40foot tree and never came down, prompting a penalty stroke that sent him back to the tee box and left him clearly flustered.
With three birdies in five holes to start his back nine, the 2015 Players champion was making a move up the leaderboard and providing some rare highlights from a mega grouping that featured fan favourites Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson.
But Fowler’s unfavourable landing spot led to the first of consecutive double bogeys, leading to a 1-under 71 on the Stadium Course at TPC Saw- grass. He will miss the cut at 1-over 145.
“Kind of bad break in timing this year,” said Fowler, who also landed a ball in a tree at No. 18 last year. “Kind of had got things going, was in a good spot and would have been nice to kind of finish off the round where we were, try and get one or two more coming in.”
Fowler lamented his luck by saying the shot was only a few yards right of the fairway, with volunteer marshals and fans nearby. All of them, he said, saw it land in the tree. That wasn’t enough. “Unfortunately, the part of the ball that was showing was just all the white and dimples,” Fowler said. “I couldn’t see any of my markings and so, yeah, couldn’t identify it, so back to the tee.”
Fans did all they could to get the ball to drop, with more than a dozen of them pushing the tree back and forth. It didn’t work.
Fowler feverishly tried to find some markings by grabbing binoculars and steadying them on chief rules official Mark Russell’s left shoulder for a better look. Had Fowler been able to ID the ball, he would have been able to drop from there with a one-stroke penalty.
Webb Simpson is the tournament leader. He shot the lowround of the day with a 63 that included an eagle, nine birdies and a double bogey. He is at 15-under five strokes ahead of a trio at 10-under that includes Charl Schwartzel, Patrick Cantlay and Danny Lee.
Chesson Hadley, Charles Howell III and Alex Noren are a stroke further back in a threeway tie for fifth.