Bailey Chambly, wife of former PGA Tour player and Golf Channel/NBC analyst Brandel Chamblee, There was a magical moment on Sunday at the Players Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass.
The two were playing a round on the Stadium Course and Bailey Chamblee hit his tee shot into the water. Par-3 17th hole.
Nothing unusual there. It is estimated that about 10,000 balls per year are taken from the waters around Green Island.
But Bailey, a host on the Golf Channel Morning Drive and former member of the Old Dominion women’s golf team, did the next best thing and captured it on video and posted it to Twitter by her husband.
She laughed briefly after her ball hit the water, then was bowled by a member of her group, teed again, and then hit another shot within 12 seconds.
This time the ball went into the hole as he bore his shot through a strong wind that was blowing from left to right.
“You didn’t do that!” Someone from his group said it twice.
Bailey Chamblee grabbed his head with both hands and walked away a few steps. Two men from the group then hugged her and her husband picked her up and turned her around several times.
“As I’ve tried to tell (Golf Channel colleague Paul McGinley) a million times on #LiveFrom, this is a huge hole,” Chambly said in a Twitter post. “Bells Making a Freddy Couple on 17.”
refers to famous shot two time sports champion fred couple Made it in 1999 when he went into the water on No. 17, teed off again, then slam-dunked his third shot at the hole.
And Chambly was poking fun at himself in the tweet. He has been a frequent critic of the 17th hole and once said that its capricious nature hurt its status as the premier of the Players Championship.
“I think it comes too late in the round,” Chambly said in a 2013 conference call before The Players. “I think it has the potential to play a huge role in the quality of the hole. It’s 130 yards and… sometimes when the wind isn’t blowing it’s not exactly a short iron. But when the wind blows, There is a lot of luck involved in the shot and a lot of penalty for a miss.
“I really think this tournament should be a major,” Chambly continued. “I absolutely think this tournament should be a major. I think the one thing that really keeps it from getting its due is the 17th hole.”
However, there is no doubt that Bailey Chambly will get him because of his version of the hole-in-three.
This article was originally published in the Florida Times-Union: Golf Channel host Bailey Chambly matches Fred Couples’ ‘hole-in-three’
