17th At TPC Sawgrass: 23% Of Balls Miss The Island On A Pretty Calm Day
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Antics on 17? On a pretty calm day by Ponte Vedra standards? Fun! Unless you were playing.
The 2021 first round antics will go down in Players history as one of the stranger days on this much-studied hole. Similar carnage has occurred but never on such an agreeable day weather-wise.
From Ryan Lavner’s GolfChannel.com report:
The 17th hole measured 143 yards in the opening round and was the second-hardest hole on the Stadium Course. On a teeny par 3 that required no more than a 9-iron, and oftentimes just a pitching or gap wedge, the hole surrendered just 30 birdies, had an average proximity of 27 feet and doled out plenty of pain.
There were 13 double bogeys and nine others, two of which were extraordinarily awful. In all, 35 shots – a whopping 23% – found the water.
“That’s not a fun hole today,” Nick Taylor said, and that’s coming from the guy who hit one of the best shots of the day: to 5 feet.
It’s the most talked- and written-about par 3 in the world – and for good reason, amplified by the setting and its position in the round, so close to the finish line, with such potential to be a round-wrecker.
I saw very few shots go in where I thought, oh he was hosed. It appeared most were just a little aggressive or slightly pulled their tee shots. That upper left hole is awkward in that the hole location is just left of center for a righthander, meaning it’s easy to hit a slight (or full) pull.
Ben An was 1 over for the day when he made 11, second only to Bob Tway’s 12, doubled the last for 83.
An’s brush with history got plenty of social coverage:
An posted this later on:
NBC had it’s patented slow-mo reaction cam and boy did it get work Thursday. You can also see Kevin Na’s back went out on him, as it’s prone to do. And before he posted 81 and WD’d. As he’s prone to do.
