Island green 17th at TPC Sawgrass almost unrecognizable after wrath of Hurricane Irma

UPDATE: It turns out the photos you'll see below were from last October when TPC Sawgrass was hit by Hurricane Matthew. You can read about it here in a story by Garry Smits at www.jacksonville.com. PGA.com and many others were fooled by posts on Twitter containing the pictures, including by one phony TPC Sawgrass account. We have reached out to TPC Sawgrass -- our call went unanswered and understandably so considering what the area was dealt on Sunday -- to find out how the course held up.

TPC Sawgrass tweeted out the following statement on Wednesday:

 

 

Thanks to GOLF.com's Dylan Dethier we have a side-by-side look at what the 17th looked like Monday and the older photo that circulated this week:

 

 

The par-3, island green, 17th hole at TPC Sawgrass is one of the most famous holes in all of golf.

Each year during the Players Championship, scores on the hole are all over the place. It's a short shot, which makes you think the world's best players should be throwing darts, but with swirling winds, the daunting water that surrounds the green and the massive crowds, there are factors that players can't control.

RELATED: The famous Fred Couples hole-in-three at the Players Championship

Here's what the beautiful hole looks like during Players week:

 

 

On Sunday, however, TPC Sawgrass, Ponte Vedra Beach and all of the Jacksonville area felt the wrath of Hurricane Irma.

And, because of Irma, the 17th at TPC Sawgrass is now almost unrecognizable.

While those photos from TPC Sawgrass are jarring, it's tiny in scale compared to what many in Jacksonville have experienced. Here's to hoping for a quick recovery.

If you feel compelled to help with the clean up, you can make a donation to the Hurricane Harvey and Hurricane Irma relief efforts by visiting the American Red Cross, here.