A European Tour Golfer Had To Hop Into A Boat To Play His Ball After Hitting It Onto An Island In The Middle Of A Water Hazard

If you play golf, there’s a good chance the mere mention of the 17th hole at TPC Sawgrass is enough to make your heart rate elevate and cause your sweat glands to kick in as you stare blankly into space while a montage of every ball you’ve watched disappear into a water hazard over the years runs set to that Enya song plays in your head.

One of my favorite parts of golf is that every round is chock-full of new and exciting opportunities to ponder why you insist on subjecting yourself to the tortured existence that comes with playing the game. Voluntarily exposing yourself to so much constant misery in pursuit of the occasional moment of joy is the textbook definition of “chasing the dragon,” and while it’s probably one of the healthier addictions out there, it’s also one of the more masochistic hobbies you can have.

I spent four years as one of the least valuable players on my high school team, and for a long time, I had trouble understanding the people who use golf as a way to relax and are able to find enjoyment in the game regardless of how their scorecard looks at the end of the day. This may have had something to do with the fact that drinking during a teenage tournament is generally frowned upon, but over time, I got to a point where I could walk off the course in a good mood by focusing on the one or two positive moments to come out of a round as opposed to the negatives that typically abound in much greater quantities.

This is obviously easier to do when there’s nothing on the line, but at the same time, I keep the same mindset when I’m playing in some sort of competition. There was once a time where I’d have to fight the urge to walk off the course after watching a ball disappear into the trees or splash into a pond but I’ve found that turning to whoever you’re playing with and saying, “Welp, I’m never seeing that thing again” is a much healthier coping strategy.

However, the only thing that I’m really ever playing for is a free beer after the round, meaning I’ll never go to the lengths others do when the stakes are a bit higher. The only time I’ll consider trying to retrieve a ball from a stream is if I made the rookie mistake of using a Pro V1 when water was in play and there will never be a scenario where I care so much about saving a couple of strokes that I wade into the water while barefoot in an attempt to salvage a shot.

However, when you’re playing in a tournament with a huge chunk of cash on the line, you’ll do whatever’s necessary to preserve your score, which is what Swedish pro Joel Sjöholm did at the European Tour Hero Open over the weekend.

Sjöholm had already recorded three bogeys on the back nine at the Forest of Arden in Birmingham, England on Sunday before seeing his second shot on the 17th hole make its way to Henderson’s Island, a nice little plot of land located in the body of water next to the green.

Thankfully, Sjöholm didn’t have to pop his shoes off and roll his pants up, as there was a boat located at the shore for his convenience, and after hopping into it with a few clubs in tow and pulling himself across the water, he managed to reunite himself with his ball.

After doing a bit of reorganizing to deal with the giant signs that littered the island, he successfully recovered before making his way back to the mainland to ultimately bogey the hole.

Sjöholm came into the day four shots off of the lead but would wind up finishing nine back and tied for 22nd when everything was said and done. However, it doesn’t appear any other players got to take a boat ride during their round so he’s the real winner in my book.