Rory McIlroy / Getty ImagesRory McIlroy's used to being in contention on the weekend, but for the third consecutive time at the Players Championship, he'll be packing his bags and heading home early.

Very few courses have McIlroy's number, but based on his track record at TPC Sawgrass, it's clear the course is winning the head-to-head battle.

With a 4-over 76 on Friday, he's now failed to break par in six rounds at the Players Championship — a staggering figure when you look at the success he's had abroad in the last year-plus. But as the 23-year-old mentioned on Thursday, there's something about the course he can't figure out.

"It doesn't," McIlroy said, when asked if the course suited his eye. "It's very tricky.  I find it very tricky.  I really have to think about what I'm hitting off the tee.  Second shots and stuff are fine, it's just tee shots for me that I struggle with."

[Related: Tiger Woods gets a new tee shout at The Players: 'Light the candle!']

There's no question TPC Sawgrass doesn't suit his eye.

There's only so much you can glean from looking at a golfer's scorecard. A par on a hole may look like another ho-hum score, but unless you witnessed it for yourself, you likely have no idea if it was a two-putt par, or a hole-out from a greenside bunker.

The fact that Jhonattan Vegas walked away with three on the treacherous par-3 17th hole at TPC Sawgrass on Thursday was certainly viewed as a success. But if you saw the way he went about recording the score, you'd understand why the three probably should've had an asterisk mark next to it for the luckiest par of the day.

Vegas, who finished his first round of the Players Championship at 4-under, was certainly living right on the island hole. After hitting what he assumed was a tee shot destined for the water, Vegas watched as the ball landed within a couple feet of the hazard, took a soft bounce and rolled onto the walkway leading to the green.

Lucky shot, right? It was until Vegas chipped his next shot past the hole into the fringe ... and then rolled in his putt for par.

Yep, just another ho-hum three. It may not be the most memorable par on the hole in tournament history, but it was a pretty impressive one nonetheless.

Brian Harman / Getty ImagesAs the first alternate in The Players Championship field, Brian Harman had to figure there was a pretty good chance he'd be teeing it up at TPC Sawgrass this week.

So he showed up on Thursday morning and hung around the clubhouse, cell phone in hand, waiting for the green light from tournament officials. Only the call never came.

The unfortunate thing for Harman was he actually made it into the field at 8:39 a.m. ET, when D.A. Points withdrew from the tournament with a back injury. But tour officials never informed Harman of his tee time.

Why? Because they didn't have any idea that last week's runner-up at the Wells Fargo Championship had pulled out. Points decided to inform his playing partners, Carl Pettersson and Robert Garrigus, that he was a no-go on the first tee ... right as his name was being announced.

Garrigus and Pettersson, who had already teed off, decided to go ahead as a twosome, leaving Harman in a lurch. As soon as officials got word, they rushed to inform Harman, who was playing ping-pong with caddie John Davenport, of the good news.

The only problem was Points' late WD meant that even though Harman was in, there still wasn't a spot for him in one of the upcoming threesomes. After discussing the issue for three hours, PGA Tour VP of Rules and Competition, Mark Russell, decided to let Harman go off as a single at 12:05 p.m. ET, right before the afternoon wave.

Not even the hammer of Thor could help Tiger Woods. (Getty Images/Devil Ball modifications)If Tiger Woods' return to the golf summit is a "process," it's a process that's taking a lot longer than anyone expected.

One week after uncharacteristically missing a cut at the Wells Fargo, Woods is in the same danger again at The Players Championship following an unspectacular 2-over round that left him nine shots behind leader Ian Poulter.

"Any kind of momentum I'd build, I would just shoot myself in the foot on the very next hole," Woods said. "One of those days." One of those years. Woods hasn't missed two cuts in a single season since 2005, and absent a strong surge on Friday, he'll miss two in a row.

Woods started out with a bogey on the 10th hole, where he began, and then swapped birdies and bogeys for many of the next 11 holes. He brought home his final six holes in even par, but kept giving back the strokes he'd earn with every birdie. He rarely looked at ease with his swing, his putts or his decision-making, and it showed in the final score of 74.

Every time we return to Sawgrass, I feel obligated to post that video above, the shot of a seagull swiping Steve Lowry's ball back in 1998. It's one of the many bizarre elements of golf's most famous hole ... or, at least, the one most likely to show up in motivational office posters. While we wait for the day's results to arrive, let's look back at a few other strange elements of the Island Green:

• There's a dude buried at the 17th. Well, not really buried, more like "spread." Longtime caddy Brad "The Russian" Krosnoff requested that his ashes be scattered in the waters around the 17th, and after his passing in 2003, friends complied.

• More than 120,000 golf balls hit the drink around the 17th every year. And who fishes 'em out? Divers, who re-sell them for up to a buck apiece and can earn six figures for the salvage effort.

[Slideshow: See images of first-round action at TPC Sawgrass]

• Several replicas of the hole exist. One's out in Texas, part of the infamous Tour-18 course,

Rory McIlroy / Getty ImagesAs one of Ireland's top courses, Ballybunion Golf Club is used to hosting some of the biggest names in golf. So when club officials received a call from a man purporting to be Mark O'Meara's agent, they never had an inkling that anything was wrong.

As the Independent in Ireland reported, the man on the other end of the phone told the club that he was trying to set up a round of golf for O'Meara and Rory McIlroy, who were going to be in Dublin for the Heineken Cup semi-final rugby match between Ulster and Edinburgh.

Word traveled fast that McIlroy was going to be at the course, and within hours Ballybunion was scrambling to get everything in order for the two-time major winner, and the current No. 1-ranked player in golf.

Saturday rolled around and everything was in place for O'Meara and McIlroy's arrival. But there was just one problem: The entire phone conversation was part of an elaborate hoax that left course officials feeling silly, and young fans let down.

c0509symetraInteresting change in the world of golf today, as the Symetra Tour, the LPGA's developmental tour, will permit the use of push carts in competition.

Numerous smaller tours and college conferences permit the use of carts, of course, but their use at the highest levels of golf has always been a point of contention. (This isn't really a case of golfers getting out of carrying their own bags; they do have caddies for that, remember.)

What this effectively means is less expense for golfers, who now can avoid the paycheck-devouring cost of paying a caddie for an entire tournament. Consider: at last month's Riviera Nayarit Classic, the lowest finisher to cash was Lauren Doughtie at 75th. And for her efforts, she received a check for $342. No, there are no zeroes missing from that figure. The winner, Esther Choe, earned $18,750, or one-tenth what both Stacy Lewis earned for winning the Mobile Bay LPGA Classic, and also what Trevor Immelman earned for finishing last inside the cut at Augusta.

Lee Westwood / Getty ImagesSo in an attempt to inject a bit more life and interest into tournaments, and because we're all inveterate gamblers who are one bad card from being out on the streets, Jay Busbee and I are playing a golf version of a football suicide pool: We each pick one golfer per tournament and see how they do against each other, straight up. Victory over the other guy gets one point, victory in the tournament gets three points, and a tie between two of the three lands you half a point. (Double for the majors.) And when we burn a golfer, he's done for the year. We turn our attention to one of our favorite tournaments of the year — the Players Championship

Wall: I don't know about you, but I'm feeling mighty confident in my pick this week. That's usually the kiss of death for any golfer I tab, but I'm still going to stick to my guns and roll with Lee Westwood. As I mentioned in the Players preview, four of the last eight winners at TPC Sawgrass have led the field in GIR for the week; and three of the past seven have also led the field in driving accuracy. To me, Westwood seems like the perfect pick. He's currently leading the tour in GIR this year and ranks 33rd in driving accuracy. Plus, he finished fourth the last time he teed it up in 2010. I'm feeling unbeatable this week.

Busbee: Rory McIlroy. Yeah, I know I'm picking chalk here, but so what? McIlroy appears in command of both his head and his game, and while the course is going to play hot and fast this weekend, McIlroy seems able to adapt to changing conditions ... except when he isn't and he falls apart. Hopefully that Rory stayed over in Northern Ireland. Swing away, Rors!

Last Week: It's actually been a while since there was a "last week." After a lengthy hiatus, we're brining Showdown back, starting with one of the highest profile events on the PGA Tour schedule. We'll see how long it takes us to knock the rust off.

Current Score: Wall - 1.5, Busbee - 1.5.