For the 40th time the best players in the world will attempt to earn the coveted title of PLAYERS Champion. Since 1974 this title has been contested, and it moved onto another level in 1982 when it moved to its permanent home of TPC Sawgrass. The event has had an intriguing and unpredictable history in relation to players and fans alike. For some, the Players Championship is perceived as being the unofficial “fifth major”, while for others its simply an amped up Tour event played on a course which is on the wrong side of quirky.
However, whichever side of the fence you fall on, the Players does generate significant interest, more so than any other regular Tour event, and than in itself is a testament to its continuing progressive development, dating back to 1974.
The inaugural Players Championship was contested at Atlanta Country Club, with Jack Nicklaus claiming his 54th of 73 PGA Tour titles after defeating J.C. Snead by two shots. Nicklaus would follow that up with two further victories, in what was then termed the Tournament Players Championship, as the event shifted between various venues throughout the 1970s, including Colonial and Inverrary. Lee Trevino, Lanny Wadkins and Raymond Floyd were among the winners during this period, but the Championship didn’t yet have a unique feature to it given its fledgling history.
It was at this point, in the early 1980s, that PGA Tour Commissioner Deane Beman enlisted course architect Pete Dye to create a venue befitting the flagship event of the worlds biggest professional Tour. When creating this layout, they had two objectives. Firstly to create a venue with strategically positioned mounds and elevations to allow for the ultimate experience for attending spectators, and to create a challenging golf course suited for the status of the event. Certainly, that first objective was successfully achieved, as the TPC Sawgrass, on its opening in 1982, a revolutionary experience for fans on the grounds in Ponte Vedra Beach. They had successfully created a “Stadium Course” that would allow for optimum viewing and providing a spectator experience unrivalled by any other event. However, the course itself received a lukewarm reception from the players at best, and that has been a common theme throughout its various adjustments over the subsequent 30-year-period.
Pete Dye’s designs are, to put it mildly, imaginative, and the Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass is no exception. From its early days, when the cool and wet March weather damaged the conditioning of the youthful venue, the course has progressed to being an ultimate representation of Dye’s consistent vision of when it comes to designing golf courses. As Golf Digest’s Ron Whitten has noted when evaluating Dye’s body of work: “He rarely builds a golf hole that is straightaway. Most have kinks and twists in them, especially at TPC Sawgrass. And many of the hazards and greens are set on diagonals. His idea was to force golfers to work the ball both ways: a draw off the tee, followed by a fade to the green, or vice versa”.
Simply put, the Stadium Course places a welcome emphasis on shot making, an unfortunately dying art in the game, for that the course has to be praised. A common theme you’ll hear all week is that the course favours no particular type of player, and it is certainly an accurate assertion. Throughout its 30-year-history at TPC Sawgrass we’ve seen an extraordinary variety of champions: Ranging from long hitters such as Fred Couples, Davis Love III and Phil Mickelson, to Fred Funk and Tim Clark, who find themselves at the opposite side of the spectrum when it comes to driving distance. That is an appealing aspect to this Tournament, and it’s a certainly a prospect that excites the players.
Throughout the 1980s and 90s, as the Tournament remained in its March position on the schedule, the list of winners continued to be extremely impressive. Coming two weeks before the Masters Tournament, the Players served as almost the official signalling of the major season, and thus attracted incredible fields of competitors who were preparing for their annual visit to Augusta National. During this time Hal Sutton, Fred Couples, Sandy Lyle, Nick Price, Davis Love III and Greg Norman, all won at the TPC, and the tournament grew in stature to such an extend that it become colloquially referred to as the “fifth major”.
It must be said, that simply put, there is no such thing as the fifth major. The fact that is constantly mentioned and debated each year is testament to the fact that it quite simply doesn’t have such status. However, the Players Championship is a fantastic event, and boasts the strongest field of the season. But that doesn’t make it a “major”. It would be best advised to its most ardent supporters to resist trying to promote the event to be something that it is not, but rather focus on its many positive qualities.
At the turn of the 21st century, the Players Championship continued to boast of exciting finishes and winners, with Hal Sutton famously facing down Tiger Woods in 2000. The current world number one would win his solitary Players title in 2001, before the unknown New Zealander Craig Perks won in astonishing fashion, playing the final three holes in just nine strokes.
At the Stadium Course, you just don’t know what you can expect.
As NBC’s Johnny Miller noted on Tuesday: “It’s a course you have to tippy toe around. Tiger has won it, but he’s struggled here. Phil’s won it, but he’s struggled here. It’s a really fun event, but you just don’t know what’s going to happen.” Brandel Chamblee added that: “It is a confounding golf course to try to predict for the analysts and it's a confounding golf course to play having played it a number of years.”
Confounding indeed, but what isn’t quite so indiscernible is the obvious challenge facing the players in the final three holes. With water being in play on all three, most obviously on the “island green” 17th, no lead is truly safe on Sunday. That makes the finish exciting and controversial at the same time, particularly the aforementioned 17th, which is certainly the indelible image of the Players Championship, and one of the most famous (or is it infamous) holes in all of golf. For some the 17th, with its “island green”, is one of the most truly thrilling holes in the game. While for others, including the author of this article, it as an utter abomination. Either way, it certainly provides intrigue.
In 2007, with the establishment of the PGA Tour’s Playoff season, The Players Championship was relocated from March to May in the schedule. Warmer and dryer weather has certainly improved the conditioning of the course, while also making the course play firm and fast, which further places an emphasis on shot making.
However, it could be argued that this schedule alteration, although popular with players and attending fans, has actually removed much of the stature from the Players Championship. It doesn’t “open” up the season any longer, but rather finds itself sandwiched between the Masters and U.S. Open. A tasty sandwich filing it may very well be, but with the continuing rise in stature of the World Golf Championships, the Players is struggling to an extent to further its progression as one of the biggest events in the game, no matter how much the lucrative prize money would let you believe.
But certainly the Players Championship remains one of the truly great highlights of the season. It’s had a unique and progressive history, which, on its 40th playing, is sure to continue into the decades ahead. The very best field in the game will compete on one of the most unique and recognisable courses in the world. Despite its many failings, the event is an intriguing proposition.
The Players Championship is certainly not in any way a major, officially or unofficially, although it occasionally does give the impression of being one. Enjoy it for what it is.