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WATCH: U.S. Open Champion Gary Woodland blades shot into the clubhouse at East Lake

August 24, 2019

File this one under golf shots you don’t see very often, not just on the PGA Tour, but anywhere. U.S. Open champion Gary Woodland hit one of the worst wedges of his life on Friday at the Tour Championship. All you need to know to determine that is where his ball ended up: inside the clubhouse at East Lake.

By the time he reached the 18th hole in Friday’s second round, Woodland was one under on the round and looking to cap off the day with a red number on the closing par-5. Unfortunately, the opposite happened.

Woodland’s second shot found some thick rough on the right side of the hole, 55 yards from the green. The newly-minted major champion was forced to make a swing with lots of velocity to escape the poor lie. But the face of Woodland’s wedge unexpectedly caught the ball clean, sending his ball soaring over the green and apparently into the clubhouse behind the hole (or, at the very least, the landscaping right in front of the clubhouse).

The shot left Woodland with a confounded look on his face. Check it out below.

It didn’t get much better from there. After taking a penalty stroke and dropping into more thick rough, Woodland needed two shots to reach the green. A two-putt followed, leaving him with an ugly triple-bogey 8 on the hole.

That gave Woodland a score of two-over 73 for the second round, dropping him from the brink of contention to 11 shots back through 36 holes. It was not the finish Woodland was looking for, and it likely ends his hopes of a come-from-behind Tour Championship victory.

But at least he has the fresh memories of Pebble Beach to comfort him.

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