'One Of The Worst Breaks I've Ever Seen' - Casey Suffers Brutal Plug Mark Lie

The Englishman's drive on the 16th at TPC Sawgrass ended up in another player's plug mark

Paul Casey pictured
(Image credit: Getty Images)

Paul Casey suffered a brutal break on the 16th hole during the final round of the Players Championship when his drive ended up in another player's plug mark in the middle of the fairway.

The Englishman rifled his drive 307 yards down the centre of the 16th to leave himself just 209 yards into the par-5 green but his fate was sealed when he walked up to his ball to discover it was in a plug mark.

As Casey's drive didn't 'plug' when it landed and simply rolled into another golfer's mark, he was unable to move it under the embedded golf ball rule and his only option was to knock one down the fairway 121 yards.

He was just two back of Cameron Smith at the time, who was struggling himself after a hooked drive, and an eagle or birdie would have boosted his chances of a victory. He went on to par the hole.

No Laying Up described the lie as "honestly one of the worst breaks I've ever seen."

Graeme McDowell also tweeted: "Ouch."

Two-time Korn Ferry Tour winner JJ Killeen called it "the worst break in the history of sports."

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Elliott Heath
News Editor

Elliott Heath is our News Editor and has been with Golf Monthly since early 2016 after graduating with a degree in Sports Journalism. He manages the Golf Monthly news team as well as our large Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages. He covered the 2022 Masters from Augusta National as well as five Open Championships on-site including the 150th at St Andrews. His first Open was in 2017 at Royal Birkdale, when he walked inside the ropes with Jordan Spieth during the Texan's memorable Claret Jug triumph. He has played 35 of our Top 100 golf courses, with his favourites being both Sunningdales, Woodhall Spa, Western Gailes, Old Head and Turnberry. He has been obsessed with the sport since the age of 8 and currently plays off of a six handicap. His golfing highlights are making albatross on the 9th hole on the Hotchkin Course at Woodhall Spa, shooting an under-par round, playing in the Aramco Team Series on the Ladies European Tour and making his one and only hole-in-one at the age of 15 - a long time ago now!

Elliott is currently playing:

Driver: Titleist TSR4

3 wood: Titleist TSi2

Hybrids: Titleist 816 H1

Irons: Mizuno MP5 5-PW

Wedges: Cleveland RTX ZipCore 50, 54, 58

Putter: Odyssey White Hot OG #5

Ball: Srixon Z Star XV