Tiger Woods came to the par-three 17th at TPC Sawgrass on Friday two shots off the lead. He didn’t leave it that way.
The “Island Green” at TPC Sawgrass can lay claim to being the most recognizable hole in golf. Unfortunately for Tiger Woods, he’ll be having nightmares about it Friday night.
Woods went to the 137-yard, par-three 17th on Friday coming off a birdie at the par-five 16th to go three-under for his round at the Players Championship. He had already birdied the par-three 13th, rolling in a 15-foot putt, and the short par-four 12th. As Woods stepped to the tee on 17, his eighth hole of the second round, he found himself just two shots off the lead at five-under.
That’s when his tournament came undone. His tee shot to the back hole location flew over the flag and rolled down the walkway leading to the green before finding the water. Woods had to take his third shot from the drop area, an awkward 90-yard chip. This, too, went too far and into the water.
Now playing his fifth shot, Woods finally found dry land and faced a 21-foot putt to save triple bogey. He missed the putt before tapping in for a quadruple-bogey seven, plummeting him down the leaderboard. From being two shots behind, Woods fell back to one-under for the tournament and seven shots behind leader Kevin Kisner.
For his career at the notorious Island Green, Woods had only put it in the water four times before Friday. He hadn’t made quadruple-bogey on a par-three in 20 years, since the 1999 Byron Nelson Classic. That was 3,974 par-threes ago. He had never made quadruple-bogey on any hole in his career at TPC Sawgrass.
Woods rebounded by saving par at the difficult 18th after missing the fairway. He got back to even-par for his round with a birdie at the par-five second and is now at two-under for the tournament, six shots behind Kisner as he tries to win his third career Players Championship.