Island Green Madness: When Unlucky Gets Confused With Unfair

An intense Saturday of rain-delayed play saw high winds after a front moved through Ponte Vedra. Temperatures dropped and the TPC Sawgrass’ 17th saw one of those days of trouble, with 19 water balls spread between first and second round play.

While that’s nothing compared to the all-time worst of 50, Kevin Kisner said the conditions produced “pure luck” and impugned The Players Championship’s “integrity.” Other players seemed to take things in better stride if you read Adam Schupak’s Golfweek wrap of the antics. Credit to players like Collin Morikawa who said he just missed his shot and while difficult, the task was doable.

And if you take a look at PGA Tour’s compilation of all 19 water balls—drop area shots included—it’s staggering how many shots were dead just a few yards off the club face. Or how many purely awful strikes were made trying to play the ball down. I estimated 9 of the 19 just were unlucky due to a gust or just missing the 3,912 green. The rest never had a chance.

On Golf Channel’s Live From, it was nice to have some sparring back on set that’s been lost since Frank Nobilo and David Duval left.

Paul McGinley held firm in believing the conditions were tough and nothing more than a “freak day”.

Brandel Chamblee insisted the day was unfair. Most surprising were Chamblee’s claims that a tournament he calls a major also has “far too capricious of an element to have at the end of a major championship.”

There goes the major status!

The element he’s referring to: the par-3 17th, playing 136 yards for second round play.

Chamblee insisted that all efforts are made to have a sameness throughout the course in the name of fairness—a topic to debate for another day—and that “sport begins to break down if it’s seen as unfair.”

McGinley pushed back that “you can’t standardize golf” as an “outdoor sport.”

Chamblee countered that the 17th green was far too penal and “tilts the tournament more toward chance” before citing the shots of talented iron players like Morikawa and Scottie Scheffler.

I was surprised he went to those. Both hit shots that looked like trouble right after impact.

Anyway, Rich Lerner countered with some of the chance on 12 at Augusta National by Chamblee argued there is a difference Alister MacKenzie’s diagonal green backed by bunkers and TPC Sawgrass’s 17 with water all the way around (and suggested that would be a good fix for Pete Dye’s infamous hole).

It’s a lively discussion worth watching. But McGinley ultimately won the match by pointing out how players who “flighted” their shots below the wind reduced the element of chance. And his case was backed up by ShotLink data in a graphic.

The full Live From discussion: