50 ways to lose your golf ball

Camilo Villegas dropped his club, then dropped his head. His ball dropped a few seconds later -- right into the lake surrounding the famed 17th hole at the TPC Sawgrass.

Villegas hit one of 50 balls into the water surrounding the island green Thursday, helping break the single-round Players Championship record of 45 set in 2000.

“That was certainly the toughest shot,” said Phil Mickelson, who made par.

Davis Love III, Ben Curtis, Kent Jones and Trevor Immelman couldn’t even hit the green from the drop area, needing a third tee shot to find the 90-by-85 foot putting surface. They finished with quadruple-bogey 7s.

The 128-yard hole played tougher than any other Thursday, mostly because wind gusts reached 39 mph and swirled in different directions.

There were 12 birdies, 70 pars, 26 bogeys, 23 double bogeys and 12 “others” at No. 17.

By comparison, 54 balls were hit in the water at 17 last year -- in four rounds. The hole played at an average of 3.693 strokes, on pace to shatter the tournament record of 3.368 set in 1984.