Golf

Tiger Woods Hit A Shot Out Of The Water To Save Par

Tiger Woods has led somewhat of a hazardous life recently, so it should come as no surprise that he’s become accustomed to evading such hazards and making the best of a bad situation. He did that Thursday during the first round of the Honda Classic, where he took off his shoes, donned his galoshes, and ventured into the water to splash out a submerged ball. He made par, for the hole and the round.

He shot the partially submerged ball on the par-4 sixth hole with a 9-iron back onto the fairway, then got it up and down for par. Here’s how Tiger dissected his waterlogged shot (via ESPN.com):

“It was only half submerged, so I could play some kind of explosion shot and get it back in the fairway. I got in there and I wasn’t trying to advance it very far, just make sure I got it back in the fairway and give myself some kind of wedge shot in there, which I did, and I got it up and down.”

“I was 1-over at the time, and if that ball is not playable from where it’s at, where I crossed (the hazard) was pretty far back and I would have had to have dropped — I couldn’t even get an angle in the first cut and had to drop in the primary and had to lay up and didn’t get that up and down … I’m looking at a 6, 3 over.

“All of a sudden I flip it, make par there and birdie the next. Could easily have been 3 and all of a sudden I’m even.”

Woods finished the round at an even 70, six shots behind leader Camilo Villegas.

[ESPN.com, Getty Images]