LOOK: Russell Knox goes full Tin Cup, hits three into water for sextuple bogey
Russell Knox was cruising through his third round until he reached the par-3 17th and put three tee shots in the water en route to a sextuple bogey 9.
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Russell Knox arrived at The Players Championship's famous 17th hole at 8 under for the tournament, five strokes off of Jason Day's lead at the time. When he walked off the Island Green, he was 2 under for the tournament after dumping three tee shots into the water and posting a sextuple bogey 9 on the par 3.
On a day when TPC Sawgrass showed its teeth, Knox felt the full fury of the 17th hole. There may not be a more difficult pound-for-pound hole on the PGA Tour than the short par 3, which clearly got into Knox's head on Saturday.
Russell Knox. 🙈 https://t.co/cx1COrlUU6
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) May 14, 2016
After his first shot bounced off of the front of the island into the water, Knox shanked his second far right and then blocked his third tee shot out to the right of the green as well. The ProTracer tracking of his three tee shots is a bit gruesome.
Hard Knox. pic.twitter.com/Z6ywEfGLKn
— SkratchTV (@skratchTV) May 14, 2016
"That was an epic fail," said Knox. "Until you're in that position you don't understand what it feels like. I thought I hit a good first shot. I thought I'd stuffed it. After that, I mean, it just goes so quickly. It's hard to describe how you feel. hat's the first time I've ever hit it in the water on that hole. The only other time I've ever hit it in the water, I did it on purpose the week before the tournament two years ago because I had never hit it in the water before. That's the first, second and third time I've ever done it.
"It's such an easy shot when you have no nerves or adrenaline. A pro would never miss that. I mean, we should know what we're doing. But it's a different story once you've hit two in a row in the water. The green felt like it was the size of a quarter."
After hitting the green from the drop zone on his fourth effort, Knox was able to take his issues in stride, acknowledging the cheering crowd with a smile and wave. He two-putted from there, finishing with a sextuple bogey 9 on the hole to drop back to 2 under for the tournament.
Knox's 9 on the 17th tied him for the fourth worst score ever on the island green. The three with worse scores on the par 3 in The Players history were Bob Tway (12), Robert Gamez (11) and Phil Blackmar (10).
