Golf/Players Championship The 17th hole: For a hole born by accident, the 17th at the TPC at Sawgrass, has become arguably the most famous in golf.
As a player, you either love it or you hate it. "It's almost a novelty hole, it doesn't really suit the rest of the course," said Nick Price, an objector. "It's the greatest hole on tour," said Fred Couples, an advocate.
Whatever your sentiment, nobody can deny the impact this 137-yard par three to an island green has made in evolving the Players Championship into the event it is today. The course designer, Pete Dye, originally intended there to be a small lake adjacent to the green but the soil around the proposed green contained the best sand for filling in fairways on the marshy property and a monster was created.
Before anyone had noticed, three quarters of the area around the green had been removed and, with little option, it was decided to create what would be in effect an island green.
"It's not the best hole in golf, but it is the most famous," said Jerry Kelly. "It's as pure a golf hole as there is out there. Here's the tee, here's the green. Now hit it!"
It's not the toughest hole on the course, generally ranking mid-table. In last year's tournament, 26 players hit their tee shot in the water (two of them twice, Fred Funk and Charles Howell III).
Yet, the 17th hole creates so much tension. "All we get told by our teachers and coaches is to take it one shot at a time, but there's no way I can help taking a look at 17 when I'm on the 16th fairway," said Shaun Micheel.
He's not alone. "There are 361 days a year where it's a very easy hole," said Jeff Sluman, who was involved in perhaps the most bizarre incident on the 17th hole in tournament history when in 1987 a fan jumped into the water as he was about to putt. "In practice rounds, you wonder how you can miss the green. Thursday through Sunday, the week of The Players, it's one of the most difficult shots you can face."
Then there was the case of Len Mattiace, who was challenging for the title in 1998, trailing Justin Leonard by one in the last round, when he twice found the water in running up a quintuple eight.
Of course, it shouldn't be so tough. The hole plays no more than 145 yards (depending on flag location), and the green is one of the largest on the course. For most players, it's no more than a wedge or nine-iron.
So, what are they worried about? Water. Water in front, water behind, water all around. And, at this time of year, the wind is temperamental in Ponte Vedra. It could blow into the players' faces. It could be behind them. It could switch during a round.
And no matter what a contender does on holes from one to 16, nothing is over until the player safely negotiates the Island Green, a 4,000-square foot putting surface that shrinks in the mind's eye when a ball is teed up.
Price doesn't get nervous when he plays the 17th, only frustrated because he thinks the hole's (accidental) design goes against traditional architecture.
"There should always be an opportunity on a hole to take a safer route. It doesn't if the next shot is harder. There's that all-or-nothing aspect of number 17 that is wrong, in my opinion."
