Carnage
Players 2022: The 17th hole has been an absolute carnage-fest from the start on Saturday
PONTE VEDRA BEACH—It took one group for the par-3 17th at TPC Sawgrass to deliver on all the promise of carnage that was expected on Saturday at the Players Championship.
Having restarted their first round on the 16th green at noon ET, the group of Scottie Scheffler, Xander Schauffele and Brooks Koepka were the very first victims of the treacherous par 3, normally a flip wedge or a 9 iron on a benign wind day. On Saturday, though, with winds blowing 20-30 mph, it has become a borderline impossible tee shot.
Here's how it went for Scheffler, Schauffele and Koepka:
The trio combined to go four over on the hole, with Koepka's double bogey the high score. That's certainly not going to help his scoring average at the 17th, which was already frighteningly bad.
The bloodbath has continued for the groups behind. Emiliano Grillo just made a quadruple-bogey 7, hitting both his tee shot and his shot from the drop zone into the drink:
It's getting ugly out there. This is one of the handful of times during the year where we don't envy PGA Tour pros. Have fun guys!