The island green isn’t a revered “template” like the famous Redan, Biarritz or other designs brought over from iconic Scottish links designs. It was, however, likely first conceived by a Scotsman, George Low, the long-time club pro at Baltusrol Golf Club, who supposedly had the idea ahead of the 1904 US Amateur to create an island green on a par 4 on the club’s now-defunct Old Course (on the site of the current-day 16th hole of the Lower). Not surprisingly, the hole confounded competitors, and after the 1915 US Open, and it was eventually abandoned.

Thankfully for us, initial complaints of TPC Sawgrass and the 17th hole have not only led to an acceptance but also hundreds of iterations of the concept at courses around the world. There are dozens of deserving entries left off this list, so we’ve tried to keep this as a collection of both lesser-known island greens and also important island greens in golf history.

Ponte Vedra (Florida) Inn & Club (Ocean), ninth hole

TPC Sawgrass’ 17th hole is not the only island green in Ponte Vedra Beach and it also wasn’t the first. Some 60 years earlier, Herbert Strong’s Ocean course at the Ponte Vedra Inn & Club opened with the island-green par-3 ninth hole. After TPC Sawgrass was constructed, Alice Dye admitted she was influenced by Strong’s creation here in recommending the island green to her husband, as Alice had played the Ocean course a number of times in competitions.

PGA West (Stadium), La Quinta, California, 17th hole

Just like TPC Sawgrass when it first opened, PGA West received a healthy amount of criticism from tour pros — so much that the PGA Tour event in Palm Springs moved from Dye’s creation in La Quinta for some time. Now it’s back at the Stadium course, and also just like TPC Sawgrass, the 17th hole at PGA West’s Stadium course has developed a reputation for (fairly) testing the pros down the stretch.

The Creek, Locust Valley, New York, 11th hole

The Creek, Locust Valley

CB Macdonald is widely considered the father of American golf course architecture, bringing many classic design templates from the best courses of the UK to the States. In designing the 11th hole at The Creek, not only did he incorporate a classic Biarritz-style putting surface as he often did, but he and partner Seth Raynor built the green on an island — creating perhaps one of the most underrated putting complexes in the “MacRaynor” portfolio.

Coeur d’Alene (Idaho) Resort, 14th hole

One of the more unique experiences in golf can be found in Coeur d’Alene, where golfers hit their tee shot to a large island-green target at the 14th, which is moved back and forth remotely by the resort each day. Then golfers hop aboard a ferry, which transports them to putt out. The hole is located right out back the clubhouse, creating a fun scene at this course, designed by Scott Miller, a former Jack Nicklaus associate.

Cherry Hills Country Club, Cherry Hills Village, Colorado, 17th hole

The island green concept is incorporated into a par 5 at Cherry Hills, the iconic William Flynn and Howard Toomey design perhaps most known for its opening hole, driven by Arnold Palmer in the final round of the 1960 US Open.

East Lake Golf Club, Atlanta, 15th hole

If Baltusrol was the site of the first island green in the US, East Lake might’ve had the second. Before Donald Ross and Bobby Jones redesigned the course in the 1910s, Tom Bendelow (architect of Medinah No. 3 among others) incorporated an island green into his design of the club’s old par-5 seventh hole. When Ross rerouted the course, he decided to make the green a target for a par 3 (on the old front nine, which is now the back nine today for the Tour Championship). Given that Baltusrol’s hole no longer exists, this very well may be the oldest island green still in use today.

Eagle Eye GC, Bath, Michigan, 17th hole

Long-time Dye associate Chris Lutzke called up his mentor when designing Eagle Eye to seek Dye’s opinion on his new creation. Pete and Alice thought the island-green concept could work, so much so that the exact dimensions were lasered and built exactly to the specs of TPC Sawgrass as it existed when the course opened in 2003 — a proper touch at this layout, one of the top-10 public courses in golf-rich Michigan.

Mission Hills Country Club (Tournament), Rancho Mirage, California, 18th hole

Muirhead also designed the Tournament Course at Mission Hills Country Club, which has hosted the first women’s major of the year, now the Chevron Championship, since the event started in 1972. The closing hole is a par 5 with an iconic approach to an island green, which now features grandstands behind the green, taking away a bit of the intimidation of hitting the approach to this par 5 with the tournament on the line. This year’s Chevron will be the last time it’s played at Mission Hills, with the tournament moving to a still-to-be-named Houston-area course in 2023.

The Club at Olde Cypress, Naples, Florida, 12th hole

One of Pete’s sons, PB, has developed his own reputation in the design world. And he describes how the 12th hole at Olde Cypress came to be:

“At the time the developer needed a solution for the drainage and pumping from the surrounding agricultural fields,” PB told us. “So, I said, ‘Why don’t we build an island green.’ We moved a tremendous amount of earth up and down, not side to side, on that hole. Looking out at all those rock boulders from the tee box, it’s a sight to see. It’s one of the only holes of its kind that I know of.”

Secession Golf Club, Beaufort, South Carolina, 17th hole

Though Bruce Devlin ended up getting the job at Secession, Pete and PB Dye had originally done a routing for the club before a dispute ended their relationship. The Dyes’ influence is certainly still on property, and the par-3 17th hole is almost straight out of their playbook, with an island green surrounded by bulkheads. Several holes at the ultra-private Secession actually sit on an island, and the 17th hole can be a true test, particularly when the winds pick up.

Apple Tree Resort, Yakima, Washington, 17th hole

Sitting on a 100-plus-year apple orchard about two hours from Seattle, Apple Tree provides an idyllic setting open to the public. The island-green 17th hole is pretty inviting, too—with nine sets of tee boxes and a putting surface measuring nearly 10,000 square feet and, yes, shaped like an apple.

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That’s how it went on Sunday at TPC Sawgrass: The course doing everything it could to get him sideways, Scheffler remaining steady, giving golf’s big-game hunter the 2023 Players Championship.

“I like it when things kind of get hard, and today was definitely one of those moments,” Scheffler said after a final-round 69 that was good for a five-shot win over Tyrrell Hatton. “So I just tried to stay focused and beat up on the golf course and not worry about what everybody else was doing.”

In a matter of 13 months, Scheffler has gone from “When’s he going to break through?” to “Can he be stopped?” In a way he is Brooks Koepka 2.0 — except Scheffler does not have a bad word to say about anybody while everyone says nothing but good things about him. His greatest sin is an unrelenting niceness that can be misconstrued as mundane. No, the Koepka comparison is distilled to something else: Scheffler is the guy you can bet will play his best in the moments that matter the most.

Last month in the WM Phoenix Open, Scheffler won and defended in front of the rowdiest gallery in golf. A year ago he tackled Bay Hill in conditions so brutal others in the field threatened to protest future events. He’s the reigning Match Play king, a title earned by traversing a gauntlet of seven matches in five days with fortitude, patience, creativity and a little wild cowboy. He won the 2022 Masters with a performance so emphatic that it begged where this Texan could ultimately go. He went 2-0-1 at the 2021 Ryder Cup and took down European dynamo Jon Rahm in Sunday singles.

And it’s not just the wins. Scheffler has six finishes of T-8 or better at majors, including a runner-up at last year’s US Open. Scheffler was in contention at St Andrews before an unfortunate, um, “injury” derailed his weekend. He had 11 top-10s in 25 starts last year and has somehow improved this year with six in eight. To watch him work at a premier event is to watch a rock star on stage. The venues and crowds and background singers change. The song list remains the same.

“I think I get excited for a good, hard test. I feel like that I can find a way to make pars and hang in there,” Scheffler said. “This week I think I had five bogeys for the whole week. Around this place, I would say that’s really hard to do, and that’s probably what I’m most proud of, is just playing so solid. Yeah, I think I just like the challenge of kind of harder golf courses.”

Scheffler is not flawless. He has a penchant for starting slow, like he did during last year’s final round at the Masters, although this week we may have gotten insight into why: Scheffler avoids drinking coffee on game days because he likes making it at home. “I just got an espresso machine and started learning how to use it, and it’s fun,” Scheffler said. He needed a visit to the barista en route to the course Sunday, as he parred the very birdie-able second and bogeyed the third to lose his two-shot 54-hole lead to Min Woo Lee. In that instant it appeared we had a battle brewing.

Only Lee picked the worst time to make a triple, doing so at the fourth, providing breathing room the very moment Scheffler needed to catch his breath. Scheffler traversed the next three holes without incident, then chipped in at the eighth for birdie, beginning a run of four straight birdies that stretched his lead to six. The final 90 minutes were mostly procedural, the outcome never in doubt and made official when Scheffler’s approach at the island-green 17th stayed dry. For posterity, he dropped a 20-footer for par at the 18th, his arms going up as that white sphere went down to punctuate four days of stick-and-ball genius.

“I had some times throughout week where I didn’t feel like I was swinging my best or playing at a hundred per cent, and then I would just kind of wait and pick my moments, and fortunately, I got kind of hot in spurts in each of my rounds,” Scheffler said. “I just found a way to choose my moments and get hot here and there and had four just really solid rounds.”

En route to winning the Players Championship, Scottie Scheffler hit a solid shot on the green at the nervy par-3 17th. Mike Ehrmann

On a tour not short on talent, Scheffler is among its most skillful, possessing the power and precision and touch that allows for few if any weaknesses in his game. He is also among the most even-keeled customers, belied by an imposing stature that makes him look like the dude who comes to the door to collect when rent is overdue. It’s impossible to tell how Scheffler is playing because the man runs cool, forever and always.

There have been stumbles, however, most notably at the season-ending Tour Championsip last summer. Scheffler built a seemingly insurmountable six-shot lead only to surrender the FedEx Cup and its riches to Rory McIlroy. Golf is not a sport that can be judged by non-wins, yet it was a collapse that threatened collateral damage. To his psyche, of course, but also to the air of inevitably he had cultivated over the past year. Golfers can smell blood in the water, and there are names that when plastered atop leaderboards tell those below understand the position is for the taking.

“I feel like a lot of that stuff is just what you go being a professional golfer. It’s a really hard sport,” Scheffler said. He later continued: “But all you can do is just continue to put yourself in position. It’s like volume shooting, I’m just going to try and get up there as many times as I can and see what happens. It’s a lot more fun being in that arena than it is finishing a few hours before the leaders finish. It’s more fun going down the stretch when you make a putt and people are cheering, and going out there and competing against my friends out here. It’s a lot more fun.”

Now, anyone can be the man when things are going good. What makes a bad man bad is standing firm in the storm. Scheffler got knocked down at East Lake. That runner-up at the US Open and playoff loss last year at Colonial still sting, too. Scheffler confessed at last year’s Masters that the gravity of what was on the line forced him to tears just hours before his tee time. Today at TPC Sawgrass, Scheffler said there were no morning cries, but there were doubts.

“This tournament feels like a major championship to me and this morning was tough,” Scheffler said. “I would say that East Lake at the end of last year was pretty challenging for me just to handle. It was obviously very sad and hard, and I didn’t expect things to finish that way, So this one’s a lot sweeter now.”

There will be more storms to come, and Scheffler acknowledges as much. But he survived, and prevailed, at this Players Championship by staring down his recent past and moving forward. That should serve as a warning to the rest of golf. For there is little that can withstand a man — a talented, humble, big-game hunting bad man — who can conquer himself.

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But, boy, was it entertaining this week.

Spieth capped the 2023 Players with an even-par 72 to finish tied for 19th at six-under, a distant 11 shots behind winner and fellow Dallas resident Scottie Scheffler. Then, Spieth fired off this brilliant line.

“You get Sawgrassed sometimes,” Spieth said. The 29-year-old was talking about a bad break in the greenside bunker on the par-5 11th in the final round. But getting “Sawgrassed” speaks to his roller-coaster week.

On Friday, Spieth sat at two-over and on the cutline playing the par-5 ninth (his 18th) when he blocked his drive toward the water. It ricocheted off the knee of a US Marine and into the fairway. Spieth muscled a fairway metal up to the greenside rough and chipped in for eagle. Then, he had that Marine, 47-year-old Lt Col Matt Cutler, hang around for the weekend to watch the golf.

Spieth made the cut, shot 66 Saturday to get somewhat in the mix before a final round featuring three birdies and as many bogeys. In his seven Players starts since that impressive debut, Spieth had missed the cut five times — with a best finish of T-41 before this week.

Jordan Spieth. David Cannon

“It’s a tough track. A top-25 for me out here feels like a win anywhere else,” Spieth said. “It’s just my history. I was kind of half-kidding, but my history here isn’t great.”

But why does Spieth play poorly at TPC Sawgrass? Out of his 26 rounds, only 11 have been under par. Granted, it’s a tough course that usually ranks in the teens for demanding courses on the PGA Tour. On that question, 13-time PGA Tour winner Spieth gave the most Spieth answer.

“I just don’t play with a lot of discipline, and I didn’t today,” he said. “I thought I should have birdied 10 and 11, and so I get on 12, and instead of just bailing out right in the collection area and making birdie, I’m trying to hit a driver on the green and make the birdie easier, have a chance at eagle, and I hit one in the water. I just do that every single year here. [On] 11, I did everything right; there happened to not be any sand in the bunker, so it bounced, and I end up making par.

“You get Sawgrassed sometimes. Actually, every round everyone gets Sawgrassed to an extent … something quirky happens. But my aggressive nature and inability to accept sometimes not making birdie when I thought I was going to, makes me make too many mistakes on a course that you can’t get away with it.”

Spieth now can look ahead to Augusta National next month — where he does have a glittering record. In addition to his 2015 Masters victory, Spieth has two second-place finishes and two thirds.

“[I’m] playing well … I got a couple more weeks [on the PGA Tour] before I got ready for the Masters,” he said.

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Indeed, the top five finishers this week (Scheffler, Tyrrell Hatton, Viktor Hovland, Tom Hoge, Hideki Matsuyama) all banked seven-figure pay days, a remarkable rise when you consider how the purse in this event has evolved since its debut in 1974:

Year: Total Purse/First place
1974: $250,000/Jack Nicklaus, $50,000
1982: $500,000/Jerry Pate, $90,000
1987: $1 million/Sandy Lyle, $180,000
1993: $2.5 million/Nick Price, $450,000
2000: $6 million/Hal Sutton, $1.08 million
2007: $9 million/Phil Mickelson, $1.62 million
2014: $10 million/Martin Kaymer, $1.8 million
2018: $11 million/Webb Simpson, $1.89 million
2019: $12.5 million/Rory McIlroy, $2.25 million
2021: $15 million/Justin Thomas, $2.7 million
2022: $20 million/Cameron Smith, $3.6 million

Twenty-six players made more than $250,000 this week, the total purse from 1974. All but three of the 75 players who made the cut this week earned more than $50,000, the amount Jack Nicklaus took home for his victory that first year.

Here is the prize money payout for each golfer who made the cut this week at TPC Sawgrass:
Win: Scottie Scheffler, 271/-17, $4,500,000
2: Tyrrell Hatton, 276/-12, $2,725,000
T-3: Viktor Hovland, 278/-10, $1,475,000
T-3: Tom Hoge, 278/-10, $1,475,000
5: Hideki Matsuyama, 279/-9, $1,025,000
T-6: Max Homa, 280/-8, $736,607.12
T-6: Justin Suh, 280/-8, $736,607.12
T-6: Justin Rose, 280/-8, $736,607.12
T-6: David Lingmerth, 280/-8, $736,607.12
T-6: Sungjae Im, 280/-8, $736,607.12
T-6: Cam Davis, 280/-8, $736,607.12
T-6: Min Woo Lee, 280/-8, $736,607.12
T-13: Collin Morikawa, 281/-7, $447,916.66
T-13: Adam Svensson, 281/-7, $447,916.66
T-13: Adam Hadwin, 281/-7, $447,916.66
T-13: Rickie Fowler, 281/-7, $447,916.66
T-13: Denny McCarthy, 281/-7, $447,916.66
T-13: Christiaan Bezuidenhout, 281/-7, $447,916.66
T-19: Xander Schauffele, 282/-6, $275,000
T-19: Russell Henley, 282/-6, $275,000
T-19: Tony Finau, 282/-6, $275,000
T-19: Brandon Wu, 282/-6, $275,000
T-19: Jason Day, 282/-6, $275,000
T-19: Patrick Cantley, 282/-6, $275,000
T-19: Jordan Spieth, 282/-6, $275,000
T-19: Aaron Rai, 282/-6, $275,000
T-27: Eric Cole, 283/-5 $167,656.25
T-27: Brendon Todd, 283/-5, $167,656.25
T-27: Danny Willett, 283/-5, $167,656.25
T-27: Ryan Fox, 283/-5, $167,656.25
T-27: Wyndham Clark, 283/-5, $167,656.25
T-27: Si Woo Kim, 283/-5, $167,656.25
T-27: Chad Ramey, 283/-5, $167,656.25
T-27: Tommy Fleetwood, 283/-5, $167,656.25
T-35: Shane Lowry, 284/-4, $114,166.66
T-35: Keith Mitchell, 284/-4, $114,166.66
T-35: Austin Smotherman, 284/-4, $114,166.66
T-35: Sam Burns, 284/-4, $114,166.66
T-35: Mark Hubbard, 284/-4, $114,166.66
T-35: Byeong Hun An, 284/-4, $114,166.66
T-35: Ben Griffin, 284/-4, $114,166.66
T-35: Taylor Moore, 284/-4, $114,166.66
T-35: Dylan Wu, 284/-4, $114,166.66
T-44: Chesson Hadley, 285/-3, $75,035.71
T-44: Stephan Jaeger, 285/-3, $75,035.71
T-44: Sam Ryder, 285/-3, $75,035.71
T-44: Brian Harman, 285/-3, $75,035.71
T-44: Kramer Hickok, 285/-3, $75,035.71
T-44: Garrick Higgo, 285/-3, $75,035.71
T-44: Taylor Mongtomgery, 285/-3, $75,035.71
T-51: Tom Kim, 286/-2, $61,416.67
T-51: Lucas Glover, 286/-2, $61,416.67
T-51: Cameron Young, 286/-2, $61,416.67
T-54: Ben Martin, 287/-1, $58,000
T-54: Matthias Schwab, 287/-1, $58,000
T-54: Jerry Kelly, 287/-1, $58,000
T-54: Will Gordon, 287/-1, $58,000
T-54: Gary Woodland, 287/-1, $58,000
T-54: Tyler Duncan, 287/-1, $58,000
T-60: Justin Thomas, 288/E, $55,250
T-60: Joel Dahmen, 288/E, $55,250
T-60: Maverick McNealy, 288/E, $55,250
T-60: Nate Lashley, 288/E, $55,250
T-60: Francesco Molinari, 288/E, $55,250
T-65: Sepp Straka, 289/+1, $53,250
T-65: Patton Kizzire, 289/+1, $53,250
T-65: Alex Smalley, 289/+1, $53,250
68: Davis Thompson, 291/+3, $52,250
T-69: Scott Stallings, 292/+4, $51,500
T-69: Taylor Pendrith, 292/+4, $51,500
71: Adam Scott, 293/+5, $50,750
72: Aaron Baddeley, 295/+7, $50,250
73: Will Zalatoris, 296/+8, $49,750
74: Sahith Theegala, 298/+10, $49,250
75: Kevin Kisner, 299/+11, $48,750

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It looked as if Spieth was going to join a list of high-profile players, including Rory McIlroy and US Open champion Matt Fitzpatrick, in missing the 36-hole cut, which fell at two-over.

Only, Spieth’s drive ricocheted off a fan’s knee and landed back into the fairway. Then, Spieth muscled a fairway metal from 272 yards up to the rough just right of the green. He chipped in for eagle, made the cut easily(*) at even par. Now he’s six-under courtesy of a third-round 66.

What are the odds?! @JordanSpieth’s tee shot was heading into the water before his ball hit a fan and ricocheted back in the fairway.

It likely would have made the difference in Spieth making the cut @THEPLAYERSChamp. https://t.co/W3dqAnl30I pic.twitter.com/IRiHzRS30N

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) March 10, 2023

“I got an extremely lucky break on 9, or I wouldn’t be playing the weekend,” Spieth said Friday. “Trying to get that guy’s information and see literally whatever he wants this weekend because everything from here on out is because it hit him.”

Turns out “that guy” is Lt Col Matt Cutler, a 47-year-old Marine from Colorado Springs. He’s performed tours in Japan, Germany and multiple tours of Afghanistan and Iraq.

The PGA Tour approached Cutler and offered him tickets for the third round.

Jordan Spieth gifted the fan and his friends tickets for the weekend, plus a signed flag.

Matt is a 23-year marine from Colorado Springs. https://t.co/vyh99Lwget pic.twitter.com/8RrfCF1GCy

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) March 11, 2023

“He’s over there right now,” Spieth said on Saturday pointing to Cutler. “He’s an active Marine. His name is Matt. I spent a little time with him yesterday. He didn’t want anything, but I thought if I could do anything for him I’d try to and the tour stepped in and hooked him up, too. So hopefully he’s having a good weekend. And his knee, I mean, once I found out he was an active Marine I don’t really think getting hit in the knee really does much to those guys.”

Other than the personal pride of wanting to make the cut at the tour’s flagship event, the good break is significant financially for Spieth given the Players Championship purse this year is $25 million. If Spieth were to hold his current position of T-14 through the final round his earnings would be around $400,000.

It’s safe to say Cutler’s knee contributed to keeping one of the biggest stars around for the weekend.

“I would like to say once the cut moved to two over I felt like I could have still finagled my way through,” Spieth said. “It’s still two shots that it saved me at least. That will make a difference regardless tomorrow.”

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Led by Tom Hoge, who lit up the joint for a course-record 10-under-par 62, the 75 gentlemen who made the cut earlier in the day strolled around the property on a temperate afternoon like they owned it. OK, technically, they do. But on this day, they owned it.

With the greens softened by the overnight rain and the winds barely an annoyance, the boys posted a collective scoring average of 69.573, the lowest single-day mark in tournament history. In fact, it was the first time any round had dipped below 70, and it was more than four strokes lower than this week’s second-round average of 73.797.

No surprise that one of the primary plunderers was world No. 2 Scottie Scheffler, who has proven to be quite comfortable on a leaderboard and finds himself atop another one after seven-under 65. A 10-foot birdie putt on 18, combined with a three-putt bogey by Players rookie Min Woo Lee a few minutes earlier, enabled the talented Texan to forge a two-stroke lead through 54 holes at 14-under.

Lee, who began his third round with a hole-out eagle at the par-4 first from 112 yards — because nearly everybody tried to be a show-off on the nearly defenceless Pete Dye design — was hardly crestfallen by his lone scorecard blemish. A 66 left him at 204, two better than fellow Aussie Cam Davis, who had a 67.

Another stroke back were four players, including Tommy Fleetwood and Aaron Rai, who also ran up the leaderboard with 65s. Rai, another first-timer in this $25 million championship, followed a birdie at 16 by scoring the second ace of the week at 17, and then birdied 18. It was the first time any player posted 4-1-3 on the final three holes.

They were joined by first-round leader Chad Ramey, another first-timer, and Christiaan Bezuidenhout after 68 and 69, respectively.

Scheffler, 26, the reigning Masters champion, jumped on the hole-out bandwagon by flopping a wedge from the heavy rough left of the par-5 second green and watched the 62-footer go down for eagle, much to the chagrin of his caddie, Ted Scott. Read that sentence again. Apparently, they have a bet of sorts between them, so when Scheffler holes out, it’s a win-win.

“Teddy and I got a year-long thing going that I just beat him on, and he owes me something, but he didn’t have any of it, and so he owes me,” Scheffler said. “It’s an IOU from Teddy. It’s just something he came up with that was just fun. Probably more fun for me than it is to him. He occasionally cheers for one to not go in, if that makes any difference.”

With a $4.5 million first prize, we’re thinking Scott will get over it if he receives the standard 10 per cent caddie take.

Scheffler is the indisputable favourite heading into Sunday’s final round. He’s kind of used to this winning thing the last 13 months, securing five tour titles, and the last time he finished outside the top 15 was in October at the CJ Cup in South Carolina. He is 2-for-6 in converting a 54-hole lead into victory.

“I’m always hopeful to play well. I prepare to be in these moments. I prepare to come out here and play well,” he said. “I’ve been on a lot of leaderboards, and I’ve said it a few times, it’s a lot of more fun being in the lead than it is being in 20th going into today and shooting two under and finishing 30th or whatever it is. It’s a lot more fun being in the arena and being in the moment.”

Min Woo Lee. Logan Bowles

Lee, 24, has a pair of DP World Tour wins, but this is by far his best chance for what would be a life-changing victory. Ranked 50th in the world, which qualified him for the championship, the diminutive Australian, a “proper player” in the words of Fleetwood, doesn’t feel like the moment will be too big for him.

“Yeah, tomorrow could be the biggest day of my life, but I’m going to go out there and have fun again,” said Lee, whose sister, Minjee Lee, is a two-time major winner on the LPGA. “It’s been the motto for the last three months. Not taking it too seriously. I’m just out here enjoying my time. … I just crept into this tournament and making the most of it and soaking it all in. It’s going to be a challenge.”

Oh, he can count on that. And so can his golfing brethren. As gettable as the Stadium Course was on Saturday, an encore isn’t likely on Sunday.

In fact, write it down. That ain’t happening.

The forecast for the final round of the PGA Tour’s flagship event calls for sunny skies, warmer temperatures and winds freshening to at least 20 miles per hour by afternoon. Throw in a dash of set-up retribution and we’re likely to witness a final round replete with all manner of comeuppance.

“You never know around this golf course,” rookie Taylor Montgomery said after a 66, obviously having watched enough editions of the Players on television to know the honour of the late Pete Dye might come to bear on the proceedings. “Who knows, they might turn on the sub-air and roll the greens a couple times, [and] they could be back to the way they were round one and two.”

“This course has a lot of difficult holes, so I’m not expecting it to be as good as today,” said Sungjae Im, who is six behind Scheffler after a 64. “I’m not taking it for granted.”

Smart man.

Somewhere, Pete Dye is rooting for another white-knuckle finish.

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The tech wizards at the PGA Tour took ball-tracking to the next level at The Players Championship by combining a video showing the path of every tee shot on TPC Sawgrass’ (in?)famous 17th hole from the first round. Every. Single. Shot. And it is a thing of mesmerising beauty.

Take a look. It even includes the stinkers and sinkers on the ‘island’ par-3 hole:

Every single tee shot at No. 17 from Round 1 @THEPLAYERSChamp ? pic.twitter.com/RlaHObL5j4

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) March 10, 2023

I know, I had to watch it over and over, too!

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Have a look at 24717 W Caine Road in the Chicago suburb of Ingleside, Illinois. Or, rather, feast your eyes on its rendition of TPC Sawgrass’ 17th hole. And if you look closely, you can even see the traditional back-right Sunday pin at the Players Championship!

I found an insane house on Zillow. Who wouldn’t want a replica 17th Hole at TPC Sawgrass pic.twitter.com/TN207PdmF4

— Chaps (@UncleChaps) July 15, 2022

Absolutely spectacular. OK, so it doesn’t look like it plays quite as long as the real thing, but it’s still awesome.

There are five tee boxes and the owner has spent more than $100,000 on landscaping alone. So that $560,000 price tag doesn’t seem that bad — especially because you get six bedrooms in addition to the five tee boxes.

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The post LOOK: House with ridiculous backyard replica of TPC Sawgrass’ famed 17th hole goes on the market appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Joel Beall
Justin Thomas is not known for stoicism, but his energetic, high-spirited manners belie an assassin who keeps cool when the heat is turned up. Well, usually.

The closing stretch of TPC Sawgrass can turn the most cold-blooded of players into a puddle of angst, particularly when the stakes are raised on Sunday. Usually we associate this gauntlet with the famous 17th hole, but the 18th is more than capable of living rent-free in the heads of the world’s best, bringing many tournament hopes to a watery end. Thomas flirted with this fate last Sunday to the point his heart nearly popped out of his chest.

____/\ /√v^√v^√
\ /
\/pic.twitter.com/LtzkaWxOD0 https://t.co/0L9hLovmwY

— THE PLAYERS (@THEPLAYERSChamp) March 14, 2021

Those are the findings from Whoop, the fitness strap that monitors the wearer’s heart rate, strain, and sleep. According to the company, Thomas’ heart rate skyrocketed as he watched his drive at the 18th come oh-so-close to dousing his victory march.

Frankly, a lesser soul would have passed out. Heck, we almost keeled over watching from the friendly confines of the couch.

Kudos to Thomas for managing to right himself after that rush, putting his approach just short of the green and saving par on his way to a one-shot win at the Players Championship. Because clearly, as the data and sequence prove, Sawgrass is not for the, ahem, faint of heart.

YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE: Justin Thomas’ Tips On How To Smash It

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By Daniel Rapaport
PONTE VEDRA BEACH — The strokes gained statistic, the brainchild of stats guru Mark Broadie, shall henceforth be known as the Slayer of Narratives.

Allow us to explain. Bryson DeChambeau sits at six-under par through 36 holes at the Players Championship, firmly in contention to back up his Arnold Palmer Invitational victory last week with another trophy. The natural narrative is that he’s overpowering the place, bringing it to its knees with his 190-mph ball speed and 350-yard moonshots.

The problem with that: it’s simply not true. DeChambeau, who ranks No. 1 in strokes gained/off-the-tee for the season (duh), actually lost ground to the field with his tee shots after a second straight day of missing all over the place. He ranked 77th in SG/off-the-tee through two rounds—and yet there is, within whispering distance of the leader at the halfway point.

“I’m happy with the fact that I’ve still been able to keep myself in it and score well,” DeChambeau said after a three-under 69 on Friday that included five birdies and a lone double bogey, which came on his first hole of the day.

“I’ve been pretty lucky for the most part. I don’t think that’ll happen this weekend. I’ve got to make sure that my game is good off the tee, so I don’t have those issues occurring and I don’t have to rely on luck … I was in places where I could get it up and down, rely on my short game around the greens. I don’t want to continue to do so.”

DeChambeau’s driver has been the most talked-about club in golf over the past 12 months, with the mania reaching a crescendo last week at Bay Hill—that’s where he took a preposterously aggressive line on the sixth hole both days on the weekend and raised both his arms in triumph after impact both days, and made birdie both days, and won the tournament.

This week, it’s been a completely different story. He’s been able to compensate for the relatively bad driving—he’s still gaining shots on the field over the two rounds, although just barely—with terrific iron play. He ranks fourth in strokes gained/approach on the week, and all five of his birdie putts on Friday came from within six feet.

The lone blemish was a big one, the product of a foul ball right on his very first swing of the day, which drew a one-handed finish and sent him scrambling. From the right trees, he played well left of the green into pine straw, then failed to get his chip on the green and needed three more from there.

“Frustration, definitely—you don’t expect to do that the first hole out,” DeChambeau said. “Especially [because]I was hitting it pretty good this morning, and then you go out there, you hit one and you squeeze one right and it goes pretty far right.

“You’ve just got to fight for every shot … it’s about focusing on the shot at hand and making sure you put it in a place where you can make par or make birdie from.”

After the round, DeChambeau headed to his happy place: the driving range, where he hopes to iron out the swing issues. He was asked if he ever opts to not hit balls after a round.

“Never. Because I’m a perfectionist, and I’ll continue to be until the day I day and until the day I stop playing this game,” he said. “That’s just the way I am. I love it about me—that’s what makes me work hard and fight for every shot out there. But at the same time, it makes me worry about stuff a lot.”

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