Grind City, USA
Palm tree totally screws Daniel Berger at Cognizant Classic, but he saves par anyway
Just last Sunday, a tree literally changed Brian Campbell's life at the Mexico Open, his ball knocking off one back to safety in a playoff, helping him to victory. Four days later, a tree swallowed up Daniel Berger's golf ball at the Cognizant Classic, literally. The trees giveth, and they taketh. It's true for both hackers and tour pros alike.
Berger's day began at PGA National's par 5 10th, which the entire field seems to be making birdie on. Even thought he hit a wild drive left of the fairway, his birdie dreams surely weren't dead. Knock one back out into the fairway, wedge one on and make a putt. That outcome was not out of the question.
But what Berger came to find out is that his ball wasn't there to be simply punched out. His ball was stuck in one of the many palm trees lining the rough on The Champion Course. This meant Berger had to make the cart ride of shame back to the 10th tee box, where he'd be hitting three. Ouch.
With 256 yards left, Berger took aim at the green, hoping to make a miraculous up-and-down par. Instead, he flew the putting surface, bring bogey and worse into play. Naturally, Berger chipped in for what is already the par of the week:
A nice lesson to all the kids out there - you are never out of a hole. Of course, it helps when you can fly a green from 256 yards away and rely on an all-world short game.
The sensational save has propelled Berger to a three under through eight start, with th four-time PGA Tour winner getting through the infamous Bear Trap in two under par. Somehow, he not only is going to shoot a few under par on the back nine (his front) barring disaster at the par-5 18th, he might go bogey-free despite one of his tee shots getting stuck in a tree. It's no wonder Justin Thomas has said multiple times that Berger is the one guy he can never win money off of during games down in Florida. The grinder's grinder.