Rory McIlroy's debated penalty drops made for an undebatable top storyline on Day 1 of the Players Championship. On our website alone you can read about what happened on those two holes, a further explanation of what happened on those two holes, and a column about how the uncomfortable situations could have been avoided. But Golf Channel took things to the next level with a reenactment. Sort of.
The network's "Live From" show is a staple for golf fans during important tournaments and Thursday's drama led to one of the wildest—and most entertaining—segments in the program's history. With the sun setting on Thursday, Golf Channel analyst and former PGA Tour player Johnson Wagner went out to the seventh hole—the site of McIlroy's second drop—and started throwing golf balls into the water.
The point of this exercise wasn't just to show off Wagner's arm strength, but to try to replicate the bounce McIlroy's tee shot on the par 4 took before finding a watery grave. And Wagner—and the rest of the "Live From" crew—come away feeling good that McIlroy took the right drop. Have a look for yourself:
"Well, I'd say the middle on, Johnson, but you do have a cannon for an arm," Brandel Chamblee says in the clip. "You're going to have to ice that baby down later." Talk about going the extra mile to break down the action!
Fascinating stuff (even though we still don't really know where Rory's ball bounced), but imagine trying to explain this to a non-golf fan? In any event, Golf Twitter certainly got a kick out of it.
Fingers crossed for more TPC Sawgrass carnage—and reenactments—on Friday!
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