PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — Russell Knox must have felt like he played the 17th hole with his pants around his ankles on Saturday.
Knox arrived to the 17th tee at 8-under par, tied for fifth place, five shots out of the lead and he took a 9 on the hole after hitting three balls into the water. He walked to the 18th tee at 2-under par, tied for 34th place and 11 shots out of the lead.
Knox, a Scotsman who makes his home in Jacksonville, hit his first tee shot short of the green. Instead of hitting his next one in the drop area, he opted to re-tee and he shanked his next shot into the water. He hit a third ball from the regular tee and hit that one short in the water.
Finally, he went to the drop area and chipped onto the green, two-putted and walked off the green to a huge ovation, playfully raising his arms, and flipping the ball to someone in the crowd.
Before Saturday, Knox, who entered the week ranked third on the PGA Tour in greens in regulation, was 1-under on No. 17 in 10 career rounds.
The highest score ever recorded on the hole was a 12 by Bob Tway in 2005, when he hit four balls in the water and three-putted.
“I don’t know what to say,’’ Knox said. “I mean, that was an epic fail. 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. And then after that, I mean, it just goes so quickly.
“It’s hard to describe how you feel. Your whole body is like just … I don’t even know, where your blood is just pumping through your brain. I should have went to the drop zone after the first one. I’ll learn. [It] cost me four shots. I’ve never shanked a pitching wedge off a tee before, so that was a first.”
“You’re so nervous. You’ve got thousands of people laughing at you. It’s a very uncomfortable feeling. Once you’ve hit two in a row in the water … the green felt like it was the size of a quarter.’’
Knox said he probably will “be terrified’’ to play the hole on Sunday.
The Players Championship is becoming a thing for Phil Mickelson.
Mickelson, the 2007 Players champion, missed the cut on Saturday, making it four years in a row he has failed to make it to the third and fourth rounds.
This one particularly was disappointing, because at one point in his second round Mickelson was 5-under, seemingly in no jeopardy of not staying inside the 2-under cut.
After play had been suspended by darkness Friday night, he began the completion of his second round Saturday morning standing at 1-under par with Nos. 17 and 18 to play. But Mickelson was unable to birdie either hole and went home early.
“I haven’t played well,’’ Mickelson said. “It’s critical that you strike the ball well and I didn’t do that off the tee. I drove it … pretty poorly. But I like the golf course. It rewards great play and I think it punishes poor play. It’s a sign of a great golf course.This is a great golf course to identify how well you’re playing. And it tells me that I’ve got some work to do still.’’
Mickelson, who has four top-five finishes this year but has not won since 2013, insisted his game “is not far off.’’
“I’m not overly concerned because I missed the cut this week,’’ he said. “I’m excited about the prospects of the summer, but I do need to start putting it together.’’
One day after he was one of he stars of the day, carding the first hole-in-one on the famous par-3 17th hole since 2002, Will Wilcox hit his tee shot into the water on No. 17 on Saturday. Wilcox, who took a double-bogey 5 on the hole, shot a 10-over-par 82 for the day.