Hoffman Tosses Putter Into Drink After Throwing Away Round

by Mulligan Stu on May 9, 2008 10:47 PM EDT in News

It was already a bad day for Charley Hoffman at The Players Championship on Friday when he reached the 13th hole. He was already 7-over.

Then, he stood over a 1 1/2 foot bogey putt on No. 13. And missed it.

His reaction? He threw his putter into the greenside lake, a reaction "that delighted the crowd," the AP notebook says. Given that Hoffman wound up with an 83, it was probably the biggest cheer he received on the day.

"I had thoughts of diving in front of it," caddie Miguel Rivera said. "I did actually think about going in, but the water looked a little funky."

Hoffman used his sand wedge and a hybrid for the remainder of his putts today.

I'm reminded of two other incidents. A couple years ago Ian Poulter, disappointed with his shot, reached down to mark a ball on the green and angrily swiped the ball up. But he didn't have a firm grasp, the ball shot backwards and into a canal. A member of his entourage dove in and actually managed to find the ball. Good thing, Poulter would have been assessed a penalty had he not been able to hole out with the same ball he used on the tee.

In a 1987 Ryder Cup match, a frustrated Ben Crenshaw snapped his putter over his knee. (Crenshaw's nickname is "Gentle Ben," which most people think he got because of his soft-spoken and gentlemanly nature. Not so. It's one of those opposite nicknames, you know, like the fat guy who's called "Tiny." Crenshaw had a terrible temper in his younger days, which he often displayed on the course. So his fellow junior competitors started calling him "Gentle Ben.")

Crenshaw had to finish out the match putting with his sand wedge and 1-iron. He lost the match, but only 1-down.

Crenshaw said that U.S. captain Jack Nicklaus approached him after the hole, unaware of what had happened, to offer encouragement. Crenshaw sheepishly told Nicklaus, "Jack, I snapped my putter." Jack replied, "You what?" I'd like to have seen the look on Nicklaus' face.

Update: Here's a YouTube clip of the incident:

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didn't they fix that ?

I thought the situation of a ball being lost in a hazard after it had been marked had been fixed.

One of Harvey Penick's books (I think it's "And if you play golf, you're my friend), one of his players marked his ball and rolled it to his caddy, who missed the easy grounder and let it roll into the lake.

The player was assessed the penalty for a lost ball - but I thought the rule was changed after that since the ball was technically still on the green at the place it was marked.

"this ball will fit in that fairway"

by courtgolf on May 10, 2008 8:41 AM EDT reply reply 0 recs