Golf can appear to be a simple game, especially in the hands of the best players in the world.
Just step up, hit the ball straight and knock it in the hole. Grip it and rip it.
Meanwhile, it’s a different issue for a weekend golfer aiming at a green 81 feet wide and 78 feet deep nearly surrounded by water.
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Ninety-five amateurs received the privilege of playing the Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass, the site of this week’s The Players Championship. Their challenge was to take on the 17th hole with its island green, one of the PGA Tour’s most iconic holes.
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As the second round of The Players Championship got underway Friday, the tour’s X account shared a video showing how the amateurs fared.
Not surprisingly, the results were less than stellar. The 95 amateurs who played the par-3 hole hit a total of 102 balls in the water and recorded an average score of 5.37, or a composite 225 over par. Also, at least one player in each group splashed a shot, and 10 players hit three or more shots into the water.
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“It’s an intimidating shot,” one of the amateurs said, “but it’s also one of those iconic shots. So you get kind of anxious because you’ve seen the [pro] players do it.”
By contrast, the PGA also showed a couple of birdies from the amateurs, in the interest of fairness.
During Thursday’s first round of The Players Championship, the 17th hole played as the third-toughest hole on the course, according to the PGA Tour. Inclement weather and windy conditions added a degree of difficulty as the day progressed.
The 143-yard par 3 played to an average of 3.338 strokes. Pros recorded 11 birdies, 80 pars, 18 bogeys, eight double bogeys and five dreaded “others.”
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The shot of the day on No. 17 came from Ludvig Aberg, whose ball ended up 1.5 feet from the cup for a tap-in birdie.
Not shown here is the quadruple-bogey 7 by Jhonattan Vegas, who entered the hole at 3-under par. He hit two shots in the water and left the green at 1-over par.
That result probably looked familiar to the amateurs who tried their hand at the island green.
Meanwhile, The Players Championship continues Friday with coverage on The Golf Channel and streaming coverage on ESPN+. Weekend rounds will be on NBC and Peacock beginning at 2 p.m. ET Saturday and 1 p.m. ET Sunday.
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