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PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — Shortly after noon ET on Saturday, the first victims of the 17th hole of the Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass arrived.
Scottie Scheffler, who had won in two of his past three starts on the PGA Tour, drew the short straw as the Players resumed and was the first player to hit a tee shot on the par-3 17th, which is either one of the most entertaining or infamous holes in golf.
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Scheffler stepped off the tee box for the correct distance and gauged the 35 mph wind blowing in his face as he looked at the island green (really a peninsula) at No. 17. The Texan settled on a 7-iron and hit a low bullet. His shot was too long. The ball bounced once before dropping into the pond behind the green.
Told you 😨 pic.twitter.com/Ge4W4dpgRV https://t.co/ER2hqtc73L
— THE PLAYERS (@THEPLAYERSChamp) March 12, 2022
After watching what Scheffler did, Xander Schauffele, the seventh-ranked player in the world and the Olympic gold medalist, elected for an 8-iron. The wind gusted as his ball was in flight, just as it had on the 16th hole in the final round of the 2021 Masters, and his ball fell into the pond short of the green. He then went and quadrupled the 18th hole.
Brooks Koepka, a four-time major champ, also chose to hit an 8-iron. Like Schauffele’s, his shot was woefully short and ended up wet.
Just like that, three of the best players in the world saw their chances of winning the Players Championship (or even making the cut) evaporate on the 17th hole. Schauffele, who was 4 under after carding a birdie on the par-5 16th, ended up making a bogey. He made a quadruple-bogey 8 on the 18th hole.
Xander went from T9 to T90 in two holes to start his Saturday. pic.twitter.com/64gQaFsfNM
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) March 12, 2022
“There’s nothing you can do,” Koepka said. “We hit a gust. I don’t think it was going harder for anybody else out here than when me, Scottie and Xander played it. When we first teed off, that was my…
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Source : espn
