Golf gods cruelly punish Sungjae Im, then instantly bless him

Is golf a brutal game, or a beautiful one? The answer is "yes"—just ask Sungjae Im. Late in the third round at the Wells Fargo Championship, Im stood on the par-3 17th tee just four shots behind leader Xander Schauffele. His towering shot went right at the hole, and when we say right at the hole, we mean right at the hole. Watch what happened next:

GROSS. But despite allowing a moment to stare in disbelief, Im composed himself to chip to 10 feet and convert the par putt. Perhaps it was this composure that made the golf gods smile on him on the very next hole. It started inauspiciously, with Im pushing his tee shot to the right rough. He was forced to pitch out into the fairway, and his third wasn't much better, finding the front bunker. But then the great wheel of luck that bedeviled him on 17 spun around and turned misery into joy:

We know the golf gods give, and we know they take away, but rarely do they do so in such close proximity. Those two adventurous pars left Im at 8 under, still four shots behind Schauffele heading into Sunday. He broke even this time, and we have a feeling he'll be happy with something a little less exciting tomorrow.