Watch: Watery triple at 17 knocks Harold Varner III from Players lead

Harold Varner was cruising Thursday at The Players Championship – until he wasn’t.

Varner had birdied six of his last eight holes when he stepped on the tee box at the 146-yard, par-3 17th hole at TPC Sawgrass. Varner went with pitching wedge and landed it on the left side of the green. However, he failed to control his spin, and the ball ripped back off the front, through a thin cut of secondary rough, across the bulkhead and down into the water.

Varner then went to the drop zone, where he nearly spun his 88-yard shot off the green. After chipping from the second cut to about 7 feet, Varner missed that and ended up carding a triple-bogey 7.

The triple dropped Varner from the leader by two shots to one back.