Golfers try to avoid splashdown at the Players Championship
It’s one of golf ’s most scenic and iconic holes, one that even non-golf fans recognize. But the No. 17 island green on the Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass, home of the Players Championship, has claimed more than its share of victims over the years.
On paper, it seems like a pretty non-threatening par3 – a 133-yard shot onto a wide green that narrows to the right side, where a bunker lies. To any PGA pro or weekend duffer, that’s an easy 9-iron or wedge, after which the putter comes out. But throw in the water that surrounds about 90 percent of the green and the head games begin.
Many golfers start thinking about it on the previous hole, where they catch sight of No. 17 off to the right and the thousands in the gallery. As they tee it up, “don’t hit the water” becomes their mental mantra, especially if the March winds of Northern Florida are swirling. It can be worse if they’re already having a tough day.
And so the meltdown ensues.
Kevin Na knows. In the first round of last year’s tournament, his first three shots at No. 17 found water. In all, four of Na’s shots wound up swimming with the fishes as he rang up a quintuple-bogey 8 on his way to an early exit. That score was eclipsed only minutes later by Byeong Hun An’s 11.
Tournament history is littered with such performances. And there will likely be more to come when the 2022 version of the Players Championship tees off from Ponte Vedra Beach, just south of Jacksonville, and airs Thursday through Sunday,
March 10-13, on Golf Channel and NBC and streams on ESPN+.