The 17th hole at the Stadium Course is where golf balls go to drown. Kevin Na and Ben An washed more than their share on Thursday during the first round of The Players Championship.
Na was the first to use up a sleeve of balls on the hole, playing 143-yards, downwind, a nine-iron or even a pitching wedge for most players in the field. Na’s first went long then he went to the drop area where the players look at an 84-yard shot, an uncomfortable distance for most. There, Na hit two more in the water, his seventh stopped on the back fringe and he chipped in for an eight on the nasty little par three.
Na went on to sign for 83 and promptly withdrew from the tournament but instead of the Rodney Dangerfield broken arm (Caddy Shack) Na cited a bad back. No doubt the quad at the 17th made it pretty sore and he made an early exit from Ponte Vedra Beach.
Things were even more painful for Ben An. An came to the 17th and was just one-over par for his round. But things got really bad for him. His first went ker-splunk. He proceeded to the drop area and hit not one, not two, but three more balls into the water and he would take a whopping 11 on the par three. Obviously shaken, An made double-bogey at 18 and what could have been a round of say, 73 or 74, turned into an 83 as An played the final two holes in 10 over par.
An shook it off and even took to Twitter to sum up his day:
“We all have bad days in our life and we just have to learn to move on — but it was a horrendous f@%#ing tee shot on 17th.”
A total of 33 balls went into the water at 17 on day one, more than 20 percent of that number from Na and An.
But wait, there’s more.
Maverick McNealy only hit two balls in the water but his fifth left him so far from the hole that he three-putted for eight, joining Na in the “Quadruple-Bogey” club. What was worse is that daylight ran out on McNealy when he was ready to tee off on 18. He’ll be back early and needs par there to shoot 81.
Ouch!
Jeff Winther Early Second Round Leader In Qatar:
Denmark’s Jeff Winther got finished early on Friday and was the early leader in the clubhouse at the Qatar Masters.
Winther posted a second straight 67 as the winds began to pick up at the Education City Golf Club.
“It is quite severe now,” Winther said after he finished. “We were lucky, it’s (the wind) really starting to pick up.”
Jamie Donaldson (68-68), Jack Senior (68-68) and Darren Fichart (68-68) were all in at six-under through 36 holes.
