The 17th's Hole's Victims: Koepka And Blackmar Edition

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The atmosphere around the TPC Sawgrass's 17th hole was electric Thursday, marking a nice departure from recent years when things have felt flat and lightly attended at golf's ultimate Thunderdome. Thank you Tiger. And the weather Gods, who delivered a crisp, comfortable day to open the 2015 Players.

Folks were astonished that Brooks Koepka hit two balls in the water at 17 but as the PGA Tour's ShotLink folks noted in their round up, the lake got much more action than normal:

But the longer I do this blog the more I'm amazed how quickly people forget about the past.

Thankfully, Phil Blackmar penned a nice blog entry on his struggles with 17 and even his view that the Golf Gods cost him a Players Championship for karmic reasons.

As I aimed at the middle of the green, the golf Gods entered my head and convinced me to aim closer to the hole and picture a flight where the ball landed on the slope just left of the hole ‘which would then spin down with another chance for birdie. Thanks for that one golf Gods. Well, there was no way the golf Gods, Karma, NBC or anyone else for that matter, was going to let a bouncer for a heavy metal group who finished 6-10-8 for a 51 the year before win the “5th major”. So, on cue, the shot found the water to the right and I had to settle for a 3rd place finish. And the golf Gods ROARED in delight, clinking wine glasses in toast of their charades.

In retrospect, it would have been my 3rd win in 7 years with a 10 year exemption on tour, a 5 year exemption into the majors, a few million dollars in endorsements etc. It’s really amazing I don’t hardly remember a thing about the week given the circumstance. For 10 years NBC would lead with infamous shots on the 17th, which of course, included mine. Finally, though, enough time passed that I fell from their masochistic grace and the events have drifted into serene forgetfulness. It’s as if nothing happened, except, when I get in my boat to go fishing, I am reminded I would have a bigger boat.