So, Sergio Garcia five-putted the fifth green on Saturday in the third round of The Players Championship 2016. In fact, it's so painful to watch that there's no need for any kind of witty opening sentence.
Putting is hard.#QuickHits https://t.co/cg1IOjE91b
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) May 14, 2016
Here's what happened:
Garcia found the fringe with his second shot at the 471-yard par 4 with his approach shot. He took putter from just off the green for his third shot, lagging up to 8-and-a-half feet for par. The Spaniard blew that par putt by about 5 feet. He blew the bogey putt by another 5 feet. He missed the next one for double bogey, going 4 feet past the hole. And, why not, Garcia then missed the 4 footer for triple bogey. Garcia finally made a 2-foot putt for quadruple-bogey 8.
While Garcia used a putter from the fringe, that's not considered an official putt, so it isn't a 6-putt. It's the first 5-putt at The Players since 1992.
Garcia isn't the only player struggling on the Stadium Course greens, which have been dried out dramatically compared to the first two days thanks to an uptick in wind and the PGA Tour deciding to use its Sub Air system underneath the putting surfaces to dry them. What's worse for the field is that the Tour will dig up these greens on Tuesday to replant them with a TifEagle Bermudagrass strain. In other words, there's no fear of losing the greens.
Stay tuned.
