Tiger declawed by TPC’s island green

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — For the first time in his career at the Players Championship, Tiger Woods put two balls in the water at the par-3 17th hole, ruining an excellent start to his second round.

Woods pulled his first shot on the hole surrounded by water with a short iron, as it went long and left and rolled into the water. The hole was playing 146 yards. Then from the 100-yard drop area, he did it again, leading to a quadruple-bogey 7 — his highest score in 69 holes at the TPC Stadium course. Woods had to take penalty drops after each water ball and then two-putted from 20 feet.

It was the only ball in the water on the hole to that point.

Woods, who started on the back nine, had birdied the 12th, 13th and 16th holes to get to 5 under and tied for eighth in the tournament, two shots behind the leaders. The quadruple-bogey dropped him back to 1 under and a tie for 57th, just one shot inside the cut line.

The 80-time PGA Tour winner opened the tournament on Thursday with a 2-under-par 70. In 17 previous appearances at the tournament, Woods, 43, had five top-10 finishes, including victories in 2001 and 2013.

Entering the day, Woods had hit just four balls in the water over his career at the 17th.