Michael Bradley’s mistake was the reason you might’ve seen Louis Oosthuizen, your reigning British Open champion, dangling from his feet above a water hazard on Friday.
Bradley dropped his driver in response to a hooked tee shot into the water left of TPC Sawgrass’ seventh hole. The club then bounced into a water hazard some 8 feet below the tee box.
“I looked around, and guessed that I was the lightest of the six of us (players and caddies), so it would be better if they tried to hold my legs,” said Oosthuizen, who’s listed at 5-foot-10, 170 pounds. “I looked at the scores, and they were making the cut and I was missing it, so I was probably the one that was going to get wet.”
Oosthuizen was unable to recover the driver. A fan, Norman-Gerard Merizzi, was the next to be lowered into the hazard. He was able to reach Bradley’s driver after hooking it with the head of another club. His reward? A signed glove.
Bradley missed the cut by one shot after making triple bogey on No. 7 (his 16th hole).
“I didn’t realize that I was so close to the water,” Bradley said. “When I dropped it, it kind of bounced, and I thought, ‘Oh crap, what did I do?’”
For more on The Players Championship, go to Golfweek.com.
