PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — After his first round at this week’s Players Championship, Sam Burns was asked about TPC Sawgrass. The question was more or less this: Once things go wrong here, is it tough to keep the train on the tracks? He gave a little grin.
“The golf course is very demanding, so if you’re going south—…” He paused for a minute, considering the idea. “It’s not like you’re going to have a ton of chances to make a bunch of birdies.”
Burns is the master of understatement. That’s okay; the leaderboard would underscore his point. Every golf course on the PGA Tour has its challenges. Some are even harder than TPC Sawgrass. But perhaps none have such a fine line between going low and going whoa. Between playing incredible golf and looking incredibly dumb. For pros fully in control of their carry yardages, trajectories, shot shapes, and good bounces, there are plenty of birdies available. But as the winds swirl and the greens bake and the ball hooks just a little extra, big numbers follow. That’s because of water. That’s because of weather. That’s because of severe runoffs and thick rough and precarious pins.
Jason Day finished his second round midday Friday. He played well, making five birdies en route to a second consecutive round of two-under 70 that put him inside the top 10 heading to the weekend. Day was pleased; his swing coach Chris Como is in for the week and their work together seems to be paying off.
“I feel like that stuff is coming around nicely,” he said.
But even Day wasn’t immune to the course’s pitfalls.
“Stupid enough, I was walking up 7 and I was talking to Luke, my caddie,” Day said. “I said, ‘It’s really easy to make a quick double here.'” Sure enough, Day found the rough with his approach and walked away with a double-bogey 6.
“It doesn’t take much to get yourself out of position, and when you are out of position, then it’s not like an easy bogey. Most of the time you’re staring at a double.”
Even with the double, though, Day’s steady play was the exception rather than the rule — especially in his turbulent threesome.
Let’s start with Aaron Wise. On Thursday, Wise battled through 16 holes in challenging afternoon conditions and arrived at the 17th tee at a respectable score of one over par. His tee shot came up just short of the iconic island green and became part of an unfortunate group: his was one of 17 balls in the water on Thursday. Still, Wise did well to get up and down from the drop zone to save bogey. Par at 18 would put him at 74 with a good chance to make the weekend.
It didn’t work out that way.
Wise’s tee shot at 18 never crossed land and drew gently right to left before finding a watery grave in the lake. Splash. His second tee shot flew on a similar line. Splash. His third flew slightly straighter — but not straight enough. Splash. He did well to come away with a sextuple-bogey 10 and posted 80. His second-round 76 left him near the bottom of the leaderboard.
But Wise still fared far, far better than the third member of their tee time. Lucas Herbert’s day started poorly with a double bogey at 3 and another bogey at 4. He added bogeys at 8 and 9 and made double at 10. Bogeys at 12 and 13 didn’t help. He found some positive mojo with birdies at 16 and 17 — but gave it right back with a tee shot in the water at 18 en route to triple bogey and 82.
Herbert’s Friday was somehow even more painful. At No. 17 he hit two balls in the water and walked off with a quintuple-bogey 8. At No. 4 he hit three approach shots in the water before getting up and down from 57 yards for a 9, his second quintuple of the day. A double and a few bogeys later and Herbert walked off with a second-round 85. The sight of their walking board must have caused some double takes:
DAY -4
WISE 12
HERBERT 23
Day admitted he did his best to block out his playing parters’ tribulations.
“I just didn’t try and pay attention too much to how those guys were going. I know that they struggled, and I just feel bad for them because Aaron was obviously trying to play his hardest. He had a bit of a struggle on 18 yesterday that kind of kicked it over the edge. Lucas — he just looked like he was just struggling with his overall game.”
Surprisingly, Herbert’s 85 wasn’t even the high round of the day. That dubious honor belonged to Max McGreevy, whose first-round 69 had him in prime position before giving way to a steady drumbeat of misery on Friday: He made six bogeys, three doubles and two triples before knocking in his lone birdie of the round at No. 9, his final hole of the day, to shoot 17-over 89.
But only citing scores in the 80s ignores the ubiquity of Sawgrass’ punishment. After playing to an average of 72.4 on Thursday morning, Friday morning’s wave shot scores that were more than two shots higher (74.5). Pros were hardly immune Friday afternoon: first-round leader Chad Ramey, who held a three-shot lead coming to No. 17, flighted a draw at the back left pin only to watch it skitter over the green and into the water. His next attempt from the drop zone went long and right and wet. He made 7. His lead? Gone.
Dan Hicks punctuated the moment on the broadcast. “No other hole like it,” he said. “That can just take the wind out of your sails in a heartbeat and just totally turn the whole feel of the championship around.”
Big names suffered numerous indignities, too. Rory McIlroy showed the pitfalls of short-siding yourself around the Stadium Course’s firm, slippery greens; he really struggled chipping and putting. Jordan Spieth needed a short-hop off a man’s kneecap followed by a chip-in for eagle just to guarantee he make the cut. Keegan Bradley and Matt Kuchar were among those who followed up strong first rounds with second-round detonations; both shot 78 and will miss the cut. Stars like Tony Finau, Shane Lowry, Xander Schauffele, Justin Thomas and Will Zalatoris sit on the cut line while Tom Kim, Sungjae Im and Matt Fitzpatrick seem to be on the outside looking in. And while Jon Rahm’s withdrawal had nothing to do with the course (he cited “illness” as his reason for WD) it underscored the fact that we’re set up for a weekend that won’t include some of golf’s biggest names. But it’s guaranteed to include plenty of drama.
It was just a year ago this week that the Players got truly nutty; extreme winds had pros guessing and hoping at No. 17 — plus everywhere else. Moving the event back to March has meant introducing additional uncertainty and variability. Last year, the first round didn’t conclude until Saturday and the cut happened Sunday afternoon. By those standards, this year’s edition seems relatively tame.
On Friday, play was called for the day at 4:27 p.m. local time because of storms in the area. TPC Sawgrass had been deemed too electric. As a result, pros who were on the course will return Saturday morning, when the weatherman promises clearer skies, gentler winds and easier conditions. There will be a cut; half the field will head home. The others will stay and play some more, gunning for greens even as they know disaster lurks just beyond.