The 17th hole at TPC Sawgrass is arguably the most famous in all of golf. The 132-yard par 3 with an island green is iconic, a hole that even the most casual of golf fans is aware of.
The hole itself isn’t all that difficult, as it’s a large target with a wedge in your hand, but there’s a weight you feel walking to the tee box, amplified during The Players Championship when massive galleries surround the hillside. Add in windy conditions and the result is one of the most difficult wedge shots in all of golf. Thursday’s opening round of the 2021 Players Championship brought those blustery conditions, and as such 17 and 18 played as the two most difficult holes of the day.
No player was on the receiving end of the brutality 17 can inflict like Byeong Hun An, who arrived at 17 at 1-over on the day, and walked off the island green a 9-over. The back pin location and downwind conditions meant the real danger on Thursday was having the ball bounce over the green and into the water, which An found an almost incomprehensible four times — once from the tee and three times from the drop zone — on his way to an 11.
https://twitter.com/PGATOUR/status/1370095434002276352
The shot-tracker of the hole is really something to behold.
It is the golfing trainwreck that you simply can’t look away from, as An pumps golf ball after golf ball into the water, living every golfer’s absolute worst nightmare. He would follow that up with a double bogey on 18 after driving one in the water off the tee, going 11-6 to close out his round and effectively end his week on the first day. He’s not the first to have a disastrous visit to the final two holes at Sawgrass, but for this week he will be the posterchild for what can go wrong at the island green.
