WATER, WATER everywhere, bemoaned a drouthy ancient mariner as he gazed out at the undrinkable salty stuff that surrounded him.
It could’ve been worse. He could’ve been standing on the 17th tee on the Stadium Course at Sawgrass.
The devilish par-3, with its island green and abundant perils, continues to be adored by those ghouls in the galleries who whoop and holler as countless balls gurgle their last in a watery grave.
Russell Knox certainly made a splash in The Players Championship last year when the Scotsman plonked three balls into the lake en route to a crippling nine.
With Sergio Garcia making his first start since winning the Masters, Rory McIlroy competing for the first time since his wedding and world No 1 Dustin Johnson back in action after his painful tumble on some Augusta stairs, the great and the good of the global game have gathered in Florida this week to form one of the strongest fields of the season in golf’s unofficial fifth major.
Sandy Lyle, meanwhile, will no doubt be peering on and thinking, “where have 30 years gone?”
In 1987, Lyle, who was in the merry midst of his barnstorming period of prosperity which included an Open win in 1985 and a Masters triumph in 1988, ended the US stranglehold of The Players Championship and became its first overseas winner.
It was a success that certainly surprised the Scot. “I often look at a poster that I still have on a wall at home with my winning score of 14-under-par on it and wonder how the hell I got around that course in that score,” reflected Lyle. “It is just relentless and by that I mean relentless trouble, with water everywhere.”
Lyle overcame Jeff Sluman at the third hole of a play-off after the duo finished lokced at the top on 14-under.
It had been an eventful run-in, with Lyle dinking in a chip from the deep fringe grass for a birdie on the 15th only for Sluman to trundle in a 20-footer for a birdie of his own.
Lyle and Sluman were left to slug it out in the sudden-death shoot-out in the fading light. That 17th hole would provide more drama as Sluman hovered over a breaking putt of some eight-feet to win it.
“Just as he was getting prepared to hit the putt, a local jumped in the water which created a bit of havoc,” recalled Lyle of this drunken dive into the pond.
“Sluman sort of withdrew from his putt and then went back down to it again and missed it. He might have missed it anyway, we’ll never know but it was a distraction.
“So we moved on to the 18th hole, and by this time, it was getting very, very dark. I can remember trying to hit my second shot into virtual darkness and I couldn’t really see the green or even the flag. All I could do was line up on the lights in the background behind the green. That to me was probably more of a horrendous feeling of doubt in your mind, not knowing where the ball’s going with a 5-iron in my hand.
“As it turned out, the ball ended up just off the back of the green and Sluman was there too. I got up and down and he didn’t so it was game, set and match.
“People always think that bunker shot at the 72nd hole at Augusta was my toughest moment. But the one that really gave me the heebie-jeebies was the third extra hole to win The Players Championship.”
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