Doug Ghim in contention after chip-in that has commentators reaching for iconic Tiger Woods call

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – Doug Ghim is in contention once again at THE PLAYERS Championship, thanks in part to a long chip-in from across the island green. Dare we say, it was better than most.

After his tee shot rolled through the 17th green and into the back fringe, Ghim chipped in from 63 feet for his sixth birdie of the day. With the hole in its traditional Saturday location, Ghim’s shot traversed a similar path to Tiger Woods’ famous putt in the third round of the 2001 PLAYERS.

"Shane (Joel, Ghim's caddie) told me that, 'It seems like you have the 'better-than-most' shot coming up,'" said Ghim. "It seemed like ours was a little harder because it was in the rough and it was a chip and it was not a great lie. But man, it looked better on TV than it did in person."

NBC's broadcast team saw the similarities to Woods' famous shot, which was part of his first PLAYERS win in 2001, but were hesitant to recreate Gary Koch's famous call. Koch returned to the booth this week to celebrate THE PLAYERS' 50th anniversary.

“That’s the back area there and the general hole location of the 'better than most' moment, the famed Tiger Woods putt that Gary Koch called, the 60-footer,” Mike Tirico said on the NBC broadcast. “We do make a couple of points. They have softened the area around there and it’s not the exact hole location, but it’s close enough in the neighborhood that it gives you the ‘better than most’ feels.”

Brad Faxon followed by saying, “With all due respect, I’m not going to use that line ever in deference to Gary.”

Like Woods, Ghim took several steps as his ball rolled across the green and towards the hole, then unleashed a fist pump as it rolled in the hole.

Ghim said he wasn’t channeling Woods with his celebration, though. He was just happy he didn’t have to putt for par or worse.

“I didn’t have a very good lie, so I was actually contemplating whether or not to be too aggressive with it because it’s easy to chip it in the water,” Ghim said. “I was just somehow trying to somehow make par, and when it went in … you kind of let it all out.”

Ghim’s chip-in was the second-longest shot holed for birdie on No. 17 in the ShotLink era (since 2003), surpassed only by Jhonattan Vegas’ 70-foot putt in the final round of 2019. Ghim parred 18 for a bogey-free 66 that put him in the top 10 of the leaderboard when he finished his round. He shot 71-70 in the first two rounds.

Ghim has been a consistent presence in contention at THE PLAYERS. He was T3 through three rounds of the 2021 PLAYERS, playing alongside eventual champion Justin Thomas in the penultimate pairing. Ghim shot 78 that day to finish T29, but he returned to TPC Sawgrass the following year and finished T6 after playing in the final group of the final round. Now he’s in the top 10 again after a chip-in that was better than most.

“It didn’t feel like there was a better year to do it than the 50th anniversary of the event,” said Ghim, “but I wouldn’t want to hit it again.”