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PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. (AP) -Charley Hoffman missed a 20-inch putt, then did something just about every golfer has at least considered after one shot or another.
He threw his club.
He whipped it actually.
Hoffman flung his putter into the murky water next to the 13th green Friday, a frustrating response to a double bogey that delighted the crowd and sent the 31-year-old player into a tailspin. It was a fitting highlight to Friday's second round of The Players Championship, which was played in gusting wind.
"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 declined comment after he shot 11-over 83 in the second round and badly missed the cut at 15 over. He was 7 over when he reached the par-3 13th and needed a few birdies to make it to the weekend.
Instead, he missed what would have been a gimme on any municipal course and ended up shooting 8 over in the final six holes.
He used his sand wedge and a hybrid club to putt the rest of the round and actually had a few nice shots with them. Not knowing what to do with the head cover for the putter, Rivera threw it on the sand wedge for the final five holes "just to make sure we designated it as our putter."
A volunteer eventually retrieved the putter, taking off her shoes, rolling up her pants legs, then tiptoeing along the edge of the water and pulling it out with an extendable ball retriever.
There was no word whether the volunteer planned to return it to Hoffman.
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PRESIDENTIAL VISIT: After knocking his tee shot into the murky lagoon, Billy Mayfair walked to the drop area at No. 17 and found two dignitaries watching from the front row.
Former President George H.W. Bush made a brief visit to The Players Championship on Friday. Accompanied by PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem, Bush spent a few minutes on the practice range and then headed to the famed island green at TPC Sawgrass.
