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Players Championship 2019: Tiger Woods makes rally-killing quadruple bogey at TPC Sawgrass' famous par-3 17th hole
(Photo by Richard Heathcote/Getty Images)
The momentum was officially building for Tiger Woods on Friday at TPC Sawgrass. Three birdies in his first seven holes put Tiger two shots back of the lead as he headed to the famous island green par-3 17th. That's when things went terribly, terribly wrong for Tiger.
The two-time Players champion has never had a good history at the hole. Over his career, Tiger entered his second round 11 over par across 68 previous rounds at the Florida layout. Make that 15 over par through 69 holes after Friday.
We'll let the video do the talking, but really, the first shot wasn't that bad. It was just a little long—likely with Tiger fired up after the run of birdies, including one at the previous hole, the par-5 16th hole. All it takes is a little imprecision at Pete Dye's 17th hole, and it will cost you.
That adventure, and the ensuing quadruple-bogey 7, knocked Tiger all the way down to one under on the leader board (after he was T-8 and two back of the lead). Now, Tiger will be fighting to make the cut, as the cut line is currently one under.
Here's how it all looked on ShotTracker. Not good, Bob.
According to golf researcher Justin Ray of the 15th Club, Friday's quad at 17 was his first-ever quadruple bogey or worse in 1,229 holes played at TPC Sawgrass. And according to ESPN's Bob Harig, the last time Tiger made a 7 on a par 3 was the 1999 Byron Nelson. That was a 3,974-hole span, according to Harig. Tiger had only hit four balls previous in the water at 17 at Sawgrass in his career. Then he hit two in the drink on Friday. History has been made—and not in a good way—in this second round for Tiger.