The Player Championship is almost always labelled ‘The fifth Major’. Is it only a matter of time before men’s golf adds another tournament to the ‘Big Four’?
The event, with its famous island-green 17th hole, has all the trappings of a Major and is regularly touted as deserving equal status as the game’s big four tournaments. But The Players Championship is never seen quite in the same light as The Masters, the US Open, The Open Championship or The PGA Championship.
The Players, held at TPC Sawgrass in Florida, is the PGA Tour’s flagship event. It boasts arguably the strongest field in golf, prize money on a par with the Majors, a stunning, fan-friendly layout in the purpose-built Stadium Course, and unsurpassed hospitality for the players.
According to former US Open champion Geoff Ogilvy, it is only a matter of time before The Players is elevated to Major status. ‘Time does a lot of things. The Masters evolved into a Major; it wasn’t meant to be one,’ he says. ‘There is a strong likelihood that in 20, 30, 40, 50, 100 years’ time The Players might be the most important tournament in golf.’
Rickie Fowler, who won in 2015, is already convinced. ‘I look at this event as basically like a Major,’ he says. ‘It has the Major feel; obviously one of the best fields we play all year, ona tough golf course.’
The tournament began in Atlanta in 1974 before settling, in 1982, into the new Pete Dye-designed Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass on 415 acres of swampland bought for $1 near Ponte Vedra Beach.
This year, in its 44th edition, the winner will take home a whopping $1.8-million, a payout matched only by the three American Majors – and a little more than The Open. The overall purse is the richest of all golf’s Tours, with a prize fund of $10.5-million available, the biggest by $500 000.
Alongside the bumper payday is the claim that whoever wins will have beaten the strongest field in golf as The Players features the top 144 players on the planet. The Masters, on the other hand, is invite-only, based on certain qualifying criteria and a field of about 90. Past champions and a smattering of amateurs and international players make up the numbers.
Then there is the course. The layout is hailed for its design, with no two consecutive holes running in the same direction – making it a tough test for players of all styles – and stadium-style vantage points for huge galleries.
And there’s the iconic 17th green. It is almost surrounded by water, which seemingly acts as a magnet to balls. A total of 45 balls ‘drowned’ there in 2015, much to the delight of the baying crowd.
‘I would say it’s fifth on the list of tournaments most guys want to win, except maybe their national Open,’ Ogilvy says.
THE COURSE
The Players Stadium Course, designed by Pete Dye with input from his wife Alice and PGA Tour commissioner Deane Beman, opened in October 1980. The course is balanced with a combination of short, medium and long holes, and a route in which each hole is played in a different direction.
The course has been renovated over the years, the last time in 2016, when five greens were made larger, a lake was created between the 6th and 7th fairways, greens rebuilt and regressed, and all bunkers rebuilt. The hole where the action will come is the 12th, which has now been redesigned into a driveable par four at 302 yards.
THE DEFENDING CHAMPION
Jason Day opened with a 63 in the first round, equalling the course record. He followed with a second-round 66, taking a four-shot lead at halfway and breaking the tournament 36-hole record on 129. He stayed four shots clear after three rounds, despite carding a 73, although it was on a day when the greens were the stuff of nightmares.
There were some tense moments on the front nine on the Sunday when Day went two over, but he dropped a nine-footer for bogey on the 9th, which could have been worse. On the 10th he drained a 17-footer as he went three under for the home nine and a four-shot win over Kevin Chappell. Day’s 15 birdies and no bogeys meant he had the tournament won at halfway.
– This article first appeared in the May issue of Compleat Golfer, now on sale
