THE PLAYERS Championship is one of the most illustrious event on the PGA Tour. Regarded as the unofficial fifth major, this year marks the 50th anniversary of the championship. Every year, the strongest field of 144 players is set which is then joined by the fierce golf fans at the TPC Sawgrass Stadium Course. The event presents the highest prize money for any PGA Tour event, with $25 million up for grabs this year.

But with big rewards come bigger challenges, and that is what the TPC Sawgrass can be accounted for. Being one of the oldest courses on the Tour, it never disappoints in challenging the pros. How well does it account for the difficulty?

The men behind making the TPC Sawgrass Stadium Course

TPC Sawgrass is situated in the northeastern terrain of Florida, in Ponte Vedra Beach. The course was constructed after former PGA Tour commissioner Deane Beman wanted to introduce a “stadium golf” concept. His idea flourished with the help of renowned course architect Pete Dye. The designer made the golf course such that it favored no particular style of game.

Over the years, it has been through various revamps; however, nothing has changed the aura that the course always had. It was inaugurated in 1982, and since then, THE PLAYERS Championship has been played on the Stadium Course. The course has 18 holes spread over 7,275 yards. It has four par-3 (holes 3, 8, 13, and 17).

There are ten par-4 holes, starting with hole one, which has a water hazard with a sand bunker on the right. Then four consecutive par-4s from hole four to the 7th. The rest of the par four are holes 10, 12, 14, 15, and the final hole. The par-5s start from the 2nd and move to the 9th, 11th, and 16th holes. Interestingly, holes one and ten are doppelgangers, appearing to be mirror images marveled by Dye.

Among all the 18 holes, the most remarkable and famous hole on the Stadium Course is the par-3 17th hole and even is a part of the iconic golf trophy. The hole was thought to have been inspired by the designer’s wife Alice Dye, and has a quite intriguing story of how it came to be.

The story behind the 17th hole at TPC Sawgrass Stadium Course

The Stadium Course was started as swampland and an excavation site in northeast Florida. The course was once filled with mud and just sand. Pete Dye had the task of converting it into one of the most beautiful courses on the PGA Tour. On the way to do that, Dye started digging the land around the 17th hole to use it on the course for sitting.

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However, after inspection, he observed that there was now a huge pit around the 17th green. Dye couldn’t understand how to further the process, and that’s when his wife chimed in with a brilliant idea. Alice Dye told her husband, “Well, you’ve taken all the sand out, so make a lake and just leave the green on and sand out there.” Thus, the iconic island green was formed.

Though the par-3 17th is a comparatively smaller hole of only 137 yards, the water surrounding the green can give any golfer a hard time. THE PLAYERS Championship will start in just a few days, with its defending champion, Scottie Scheffler, returning with a recent win at the Arnold Palmer Invitational.

At the Stadium Course, no one has ever won the event back-to-back; will Scheffler break that spell? Stay tuned to find out.

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