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PGA Tour Tweaks Boundary at Players Championship After DeChambeau Comments
March 9, 2021
Bryson DeChambeau will apparently not be blasting his way over any more water at this week's Players Championship.
The PGA announced Tuesday that the ninth fairway would be out of play on hole No. 18 after DeChambeau speculated about potentially trying to take the water out of play.
"In the interest of safety for spectators, volunteers and other personnel, the Players Championship Rules Committee has installed an internal out of bounds left of the lake for play of hole 18," the PGA Tour said in a statement. "Similar instance of internal out of bounds for safety purposes have occurred at The Open Championship [hole 9] in 2017, the 2021 Sony Open in Hawaii [hole 13 and 18], and, most recently, the 2021 Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard."
DeChambeau made headlines by blasting his tee shot over the water at the 531-yard, par-5 sixth at Bay Hill, taking advantage of his strength off the tee to shorten the hole and give himself an advantage. He went on to win the Arnold Palmer Invitational by one stroke, thanks in part to the strokes gained on that hole.
After winning at Bay Hill, DeChambeau said he'd previously considered doing something similar on 18, a 439-yard par-4 that doglegs around a lake. Most golfers lay up with an iron off the tee to play it safe and avoid the water.
"I have thought about sometimes on 18 going left into 9,” DeChambeau said. "But we'll see, with the stands and everything, if it's even worth it. But that's really the only one that I could see being unique and a little different as of right now. There's really not another hole."
DeChambeau said he wasn't sure what type of competitive advantage he would gain by going far left and hitting his shot onto the ninth fairway across the water. It seems he won't get a chance to find out.