WATCH: PGA Tour pro continues tradition of smashing clubs at The Players Championship

In 2023, Keith Mitchell started a tradition of smashing a golf club at the Players Championship. In 2025, he's done it again during the first round. While it may have been in reference to his now-iconic moment from 2023, the club took a hit seemingly full of frustration.

Mitchell took his shot on the 11th hole, a par-five attempt. After his initial drive, he didn't feel like he made good contact and slammed his club into the ground in anger.

The ball, after Mitchell was done harming his driver, landed near the cart path and forced the golfer into a difficult position moving forward. Despite the difficulty, the American did make par on the hole.

Unfortunately, he also recorded three bogies on his opening nine holes. Mitchell did save a birdie on the par-5 16th, and his final score from the front nine was a +2.

After nine more holes, Mitchell was able to shave off those two strokes and end the day even. He's tied for 46th right now, six back of leader Lucas Glover. He initially teed off at 7:51 a.m. EDT with hole partners Justin Lower and Nicolai Højgaard.

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Revisiting Keith Mitchell's epic club slam from 2023 Players Championship

In 2023, with Players Championship play nearing an end due to darkness, Keith Mitchell stepped up to get one last hole in before the round was suspended. He narrowly got his drive off before the horn sounded, but that resulted in a hilarious moment.

Keith Mitchell reflected on his epic club slam at the Players Championship (Image via Imagn)

Mitchell swung the club and got immediately frustrated and smashed his club into the grass. It made a rather loud sound, and that was momentarily followed by the horn. The horn was then momentarily followed by the splash of Mitchell's ball landing in the water.

Mitchell said (via The Golfer's Journal) :

"I had to come back out the next morning to finish. You can see that I didn't drop the ball in the tee, I dropped in the first cut on the downslope. Why? It's because I was hitting a three-wood off the ground, it's kind of tight, narrow up there and the first cut was just the right height that it wasn't ever going to sit down."

Mitchell revealed that it ended up being a fortunate situation. The grass slope allowed him to hit it well and get it to the fairway, where he wedged onto the green and made a putt for par.

Two years later at the Players Championship, Keith Mitchell recreated his iconic moment and similarly saved himself from bogeying, so whether it was intentional or not, the golfer truly did everything almost the same as two years ago at TPC Sawgrass.