Tiger Woods walked away from the 17th hole at the Players Championship with a quadruple bogey on Friday when he hit two in the water.
However, because Tiger’s first tee shot landed on the walkway out to the green, Golf Channel’s Brandel Chamblee believed he may have been able to drop from the point it crossed into the hazard. Chamblee, David Duval, and Frank Nobilo headed down to the 17th after the round concluded to test the theory out.
Sure enough, Woods could have dropped because his ball landed on the green and crossed the yellow penalty area. This would have left him with about a 30-foot putt through the fringe that likely would have saved him two strokes.
Preparing for our segment last night, I sent this pic to the rules official to make sure we had it right. Tiger could have had a 30 foot putt for par through the fringe on 17 yesterday. The most dangerous hole in golf addles the brains of all us sooner or later. pic.twitter.com/0UKOGWNN60
— Brandel Chamblee (@chambleebrandel) March 16, 2019
Apparently, Tiger wasn’t aware of that option, which brings up a good question posed to Brandel on Twitter:
From the tee, the point of entry over the green is blind-it’s impossible for any player to know that he may have a relief option closer to the hole. There are marshals everywhere else on course to mark such a point. Why not on 17?
— Olin Browne (@OlinBrowne) March 16, 2019
Having walked this hole many times, it’s true, there are no marshals in that area to point out where the ball lands.
Maybe there should be from now on.
David Duval also mentions in the clip that he spoke to Tiger after his round and Tiger didn’t realize that was even an option.
I just want to point out that the new drop from knee-height rule would have helped Tiger out here.
