Max Homa has spoken of his relief at avoiding what could have been a fatal disaster during his third round at TPC Sawgrass after a wayward shot narrowly missed a spectator on the 14th hole.
The American was having a difficult day on Saturday as he attempted to climb up the leaderboard.
He was one-under par for the day heading into the hardest hole on the course - the par-four 14th.
Homa sent his initial tee shot left straight into the water and didn't fare much better with his next attempt.
The drive was pushed right into the trees with the ball coming to rest on the pine needles.
Max Homa came agonisingly close to crushing a spectator in the head
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He ended up carding a tournament-wrecking quintuple bogey to move him four-over par for the day.
But it wasn't until later in the weekend that it became clear what exactly happened on the 14th hole.
A clip went viral on social media of Homa standing over his ball under the trees on the 14th with some spectators standing in his line of sight.
Homa bladed his iron shot and the ball flew much lower than he would have anticipated.
The angle of the video appeared to suggest the spectator was a matter of inches from being hit in the head.
There were loud 'oos' and 'aahs' as the ball struck something before the video ended with someone screaming.
Homa confirmed after his final round on Sunday that the ball had hit a branch and not a spectator.
Homa said: "Yeah it hit a tree."
When asked whether he thought people stand too close to players sometimes, he added: "Yeah mostly.
Max Homa ended up carding a quintuple bogey on the 14th
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"I asked them to back up and they backed up around three or four steps.
"I was trying to go much higher than that but... I guess I should have asked them to move more but I didn't know I was going to knife it.
"Typically you ask them to move and and it's like two steps back.
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"I just think they're throwing caution to the wind at times with their own safety.
"I'm glad I did not hit anybody. It was scary.
"I was trying to go significantly higher than that."
