Players Championship second-round superlatives: Spieth's eagle awesome on several levels
Shot of the day
Take your pick but they both involved Jordan Spieth on the par-5 ninth hole. Flirting with the 2-over cut line with one hole to play, Spieth hit a wild tee shot to the right. It hit a fan in the knee, keeping it from going in the water. Spieth then muscled a 3-wood short and right of the green and flopped the ball in the hole for an eagle.
Hole of the day
The par-four fourth hole historically isn’t that tough a challenge. It’s only 384 yards and even with an iron off the tee, most players have a wedge over water to a sloping green. The average score in tournament history is 4.043. But mostly because of a wind that blew hard off the exposed area to the left, it tied for the third-hardest hole of the second round, playing to an average of 4.301, almost a third of a shot more than the average, with 15 scores of double-bogey or higher and three triple or higher, led by a 9 by Lucas Herbert.
Stat of the day
89-97—186: The two-round worst-ball score for playing partners Herbert and Aaron Wise. Herbert shot 82-85 and Wise 80-76.
They said it
“It's a good test tee to green. I think what makes me a little nervous is the stuff kind of around.” -- Scottie Scheffler
“If you're a little off, it definitely magnifies where you are off. It's a bit of an enigma. Some years I come here, and like it feels easier than others.” -- Rory McIlroy
“It's The Players. It's not going to be easy. I think just having the mentality of bad shots are going to happen, and just keep plodding along and doing the right things, and hopefully, a good stretch will come.” -- Min Woo Lee.
Island Adventures
The par-3 17th hole was the second-hardest hole on the course, averaging 3.371 because of the increasing winds ahead of the storm front that suspended play Friday afternoon. There were 18 balls hit into the water, the same number as the first round but the number of birdies was cut nearly in half, from 27 to 14 as players had more difficulty with the back-left hole placement, with a left-to right wind.
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Players Championship second-round superlatives: No. 17 played tougher
