News

Players Championship 2017: Adam Scott had no business making birdie from here

May 11, 2017

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. -- The breeze picked up at TPC Sawgrass on Thursday afternoon, making scoring tougher for the later wave of players. Adam Scott had no such troubles, though. Not even when he hit an errant shot.

Scott appeared in trouble when his drive on the par-4 15th ended up right of the fairway bunker. He was in thick rough and had trees in front of him, but he had an opening for a punch shot. A very small opening. And when you're hot, you're hot. Check out this recovery that seemed to go through the trees (they're 90 percent air, right?) and wind up about 10 feet from the hole:

As you can see, Scott converted the putt for one of the more unlikely birdies of the day to grab the early lead at the Players. This, coming on the heels of the Aussie draining a 44 footer from off the green on No. 14.

But the 2004 Players champ cooled off (like so many do) on the par-3 17th when his tee shot -- right after Sergio Garcia's ace -- found the water. Scott made double bogey and then finished with another double bogey after finding the water on 18 with his second shot.

"The putter's been feeling okay, it's really been my ball striking that's dragged me down this year -- except at the Masters -- and I played really good today, solid, until just the last couple of holes," said Scott, who shot a two-under-par 70. "But really I'm only disappointed with my wedge shot into 17, that's the only one I would really like to have back. Dump it further up in the green and hit it a bit more solid and it might have been a different story at 18."