Ben Silverman’s travails Friday into Saturday were cinematic. A golf drama.
It was also wild.
There was:
— A hero? That was Silverman, a 36-year-old Canadian pro. This week, he was debuting at the Players Championship. His story is also inspirational. He started golf a bit later. Shot 118 at his first junior event. But stuck with it. And there he was, at TPC Sawgrass, at the PGA Tour’s showcase event.
— A buildup? Silverman gave us that. On Thursday, during the Players’ first round, Silverman shot an even-par 72. On Friday, during the second round, he made a move. Birdie on 10, his opening hole. Bogey on 14, but then three more birdies, on 15, 16 and 18. But then came trouble. Silverman was wayward on his second shot on 2, and he bogeyed. He missed the green on the par-3 3rd and bogeyed. He hit into the water on the 4th and double-bogeyed. A chance to make the weekend was looking dim. And so was Sawgrass itself. Silverman was part of the last group off, at 2:46 p.m. local time, and it was getting darker.
— A decision? Silverman had that. On the 582-yard, par-5 9th, his final hole, he was two strokes off the cut line and needed an eagle to play on — when the darkness horn rang. He hit two shots and was 109 yards out. He also had two choices: Play on, and keep the playing momentum he’d built up throughout the day; or stop, and come back with clear daylight. He picked the latter.
— Suspense? Silverman created that. How do you sleep if you were Silverman, knowing you had to make one shot, from just over a football field away? He believed, though, his best play was not to continue on Friday. He certainly could have, though, and no one would have blinked.
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— The training montage? Silverman was part of that. The PGA Tour social media team eventually caught wind of the story, and they had a camera on Silverman when he returned to the Sawgrass range. All he did, according to a Twitter post, was hit 56-degree wedges. The Tour showed seven. The first, according to Silverman’s caddie. Bryan Kopsick, went into a hole. The sun was starting to rise.
— The moment of truth? It finally came.
Silverman went to the hole on the 9th and gave it a look. He placed his ball back down in the fairway. He hit.
He ball finished to the right of the green. He lowered his head.
No weekend. No made cut. He fell short. Notably, playing partner Ryo Hisatsune, who needed a birdie to reach the weekend, also returned to the hole on Saturday morning, but made only a par.
Silverman was satisfied with it all, though.
“We stopped because I wanted ideal daylight for that third shot, knowing I needed to make it to make the cut,” Silverman said on the Tour video. “There’s no point in putting so much pressure on it. Just do the best I can. Didn’t go in. If it went in, great.
“You know, but I tried my best this week.”