StrackaLine offers hole-by-hole maps for the 2023 Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass, including the island-green 17th.
The Players Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass, the site of the 2023 Players Championship on the PGA Tour, was designed by legendary architect Pete Dye with plenty of input from his wife, Alice. The layout in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, opened in 1980 and has been home to the tournament since 1982.
The course will play to 7,275 yards and a par of 72 for the Players Championship. The layout this year includes a new back tee on the par-5 ninth that could stretch the hole past 600 yards.
Thanks to yardage books provided by StrackaLine – the maker of detailed yardage books for thousands of courses around the world – we can see exactly the challenges the pros face this week.
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There had been 1,075 swings since Ryan Moore had the last ace at No. 17 during the 2019 Players.
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – Shane Lowry’s tee shot at the par-3 17th at TPC Sawgrass was better than most.
The burly Irishman took aim at the famed island green, playing 123 yards in the third round of the 2022 Players Championship. His pitching wedge pitched about 5 feet behind the hole, which was six paces from the front and five paces from the left edge, spun back and circled the cup for a hole-in-one.
Lowry smiled from ear-to-ear and celebrated by high-fiving playing competitors Ian Poulter and Hayden Buckley and giving Poulter and caddie Bo Martin chest bumps. Then he waved his arms up and down, encouraging fans to cheer louder.
There had been 1,075 swings since Ryan Moore had the last ace at No. 17 during the 2019 Players. It was the 10th ace at 17 since Brad Fabel in 1986.
Lowry slapped hands with fans on his way to the green. When he retrieved the ball from the hole, he heaved it into the crowd setting off a brief battle for it. The lucky fan who came up with the ball near the 18th tee made his way to the rope line and Lowry gladly signed it for him.
One day earlier, the 17th hole gave up just two birdies as high winds punished poor shots. In all, 29 balls became souvenirs at the bottom of the lake.
Lowry got revenge for the field, and the ace lifted Lowry to 4 under for the tournament and four strokes off the lead during the third round.
It was his second career ace on the PGA Tour. The other? How about at 16 at Augusta National. Not a bad pairing. Expect a pint or two of Guinness to be consumed. Lowry, good man that he is, already had beer sent to the media center, a tradition unlike any other.
Somewhere in the heavens, TPC Sawgrass architect Pete Dye was smiling.
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – Scottie Scheffler had the unenviable honor of hitting the first full swing to the par-3 island green when play resumed on Saturday at noon.
With the wind howling from left to right and hurting, Scheffler, winner of two of his last three starts and cruising along at 5 under for the tournament, tried to flight a 7-iron that bounced once on land but had too much steam and ended with a splash.
Next up: Olympic gold medalist Xander Schauffele came up short as did four-time major champion Brooks Koepka. Three shots, three water balls. All three had to make the walk of shame to the drop zone and they wouldn’t be the last. When Schauffele found the putting surface from 90 yards, the fans cheered as if he’d knocked his first shot stiff.
One group later, reigning British Open champion Collin Morikawa, who is arguably the best iron player in the game at this time, tried to chip a 7-iron, but said he hit it “whiffy.” Nothing causes more indecision in golf than wind.
“It’s not that hard,” Morikawa said of the hole. “You’ve just got to commit to your shot. I just didn’t.”
Four world-class players were embarrassed by a mere 146-yard shot over water. Only four of the first 122 players to play the hole had found the water at 17 during calm conditions on Thursday and in the rain on Friday, but the first four to do so in gusting winds that were measured as high as 43 miles per hour during the day claimed victim after victim.
Somewhere in the heavens, TPC Sawgrass architect Pete Dye was smiling. “I never thought you could intimidate these great players with a 132-yard hole,” Dye said.
Dye, who long called Indianapolis home before his death in 2020, compared the drama at 17 to the blood sport of watching a 10-car pile-up at the Indy 500. “He likes to see good racing, but secretly he’s looking for a crash, too. And the guy at 17 is waiting for that crash, waiting for some star to dump his tee shot into the water.”
Saturday was a 29-ball pile-up, the total number of balls that suffered a watery grave. There were 10 balls hit in the water at No. 17 on Saturday – nine tee shots and Emiliano Grillo hit two in the water en route to making quadruple-bogey 7 – and that was just during the completion of the first round.
Kevin Kisner of the United States reacts to his shot on the 17th green during the second round of The Players Championship on the Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass on March 12, 2022, in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. (Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images)
Michael Thompson’s tee shot was so far wide right that PGA Tour Live’s John Swantek said it was “closer to the flower island than the island green.” He made double.
Even though they shortened the hole to 136 yards, another 19 souvenirs were left at the bottom of the lake during the second round, playing to a scoring average of 3.695 before play was suspended due to darkness.
As the mayhem at 17 mounted, Koepka, Morikawa and Scheffler, headed straight back out after completing their first rounds and started on the back nine. Just over three hours later, all three rinsed their tee shots on their second go-round, including a shank by Scheffler, as the wind was its most unpredictable.
“It’s luck,” said Koepka, who has been particularly unlucky then as he has dunked 10 balls in the water since 2015, and has played the hole in 20-over par. “There’s nothing you can do. We hit a gust. I don’t think it was going harder for anybody else out here than when me, Scottie, and Xander played it. When we first teed off, that was my first shot of the day, and I thought it was blowing the hardest. Then it picked up again when we were on 16. I hit 8-iron, flew 205 yards on 16. On 17 hit it 105.”
Defending champion Justin Thomas said on Tuesday that Tiger Woods and Fred Couples had told him horror stories of hitting 5- or 6-iron into 17 on cold March days in the past. He was overjoyed to walk off with a pair of pars.
“Maybe I shouldn’t have spoken about it earlier in the week. They were both giving me a hard time last night about how hard it was going to be today,” Thomas said after shooting bogey-free 69. “It’s a lot more fun when someone tells you a story of them doing it versus you have to it.”
There may be no better mixture of terror, excitement and pressure than TPC’s 17th, a hole with nowhere to bail out. Chesson Hadley celebrated back-to-back birdies at Nos. 15 and 16 until he realized that meant he had the honor at the next tee. He joined one of the players to dunk his tee shot at 17, was asked the most nerve-wracking shot of the day?
“Really? I mean, it’s blowing 100 on 17 in my face. 17, yeah,” he said, noting his shot ballooned in the air and came up short of the green. “I bet it was going backwards at the end.”
No one took it on the chin at 17 worse than Sepp Straka, who was 5 under and tied for third when he rinsed two in the water and made quadruple-bogey 7.
Amid all the tales of woe, it should be pointed out that not every player in the field experienced heartache. Daniel Berger stuck his tee shot to 16 feet and rolled in the putt for the first of just two birdies on the day at 17.
“You’re not even looking at the flag,” Berger said. “You’re just trying to put it on dry land and make a par and get out of there.”
After Hudson Swafford deposited his tee shot in the water, his next from the drop zone nearly spun off the green.
“I don’t know what else I can do?” he said in frustration.
Just wait, tomorrow there may be another 10-car pileup to see.
“When is winning a bad thing,” Varner said Thursday after his first round in the Players Championship.
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – Harold Varner III knocked in a 92-foot eagle putt on the 72nd hole to win the Saudi International in February and his instant crazy celebration became an instant classic.
But when he returned to the United States, something weird started to happen. He started seeing it on social media, sensing it elsewhere. Suddenly, Varner was going to go and play in the Super Golf League, the proposed circuit that would rival the PGA Tour and be funded the repressive regime of Saudi Arabia.
After all, Varner received a hefty appearance fee to play in the Saudi International, then took home a haul of cash for winning. That’s what some believed. Criticism was directed his way.
But Varner said all he did was win a tournament.
“When is winning a bad thing,” Varner said Thursday after his first round in the Players Championship. “My name went right to the top of the list.
“If I wouldn’t have won, no one would have talked about it.”
Varner was shaken a bit and said he felt “terrible” as the jet lag got to him and he missed the cut in the WM Phoenix Open. Things didn’t improve much as he also missed the cut the following week in the Genesis Invitational.
After a two-week break, Varner returned to this week’s Players Championship. On Wednesday, he sought out PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan, who has made it clear that any player joining the league would face banishment from the PGA Tour. Varner said he would not reveal what was said between the two.
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“I do have to commend Jay for sitting down and talking to me and being totally open about,” Varner said. “I look at Jay as a friend, but it’s pretty odd how my name just went straight to the top of the list.
“You do your job, that’s what you do, and I thought that was pretty odd. I’ve always supported the PGA Tour when they needed me, and I want to be there.”
Varner, still seeking his first PGA Tour title, was doing his job quite well through the storm-delayed first round on Thursday.
Play started an hour later than scheduled on the soggy Stadium Course and then was suspended at 11 a.m. for 4 hours, 14 minutes. Before and after the delay, Varner was building up a lead in the Tour’s flagship event.
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He got a fortunate break on the first hole when Will Zalatoris’ caddie, Ryan Goble, stepped on his plugged ball just five seconds before Varner would have needed to return to hit another tee shot because of a lost ball.
From there, Varner lit up the scoreboard as was leading the tournament at 7 under when he stepped to the 17th tee. And then he became the first player to rinse his tee shot, his ball hitting deep into the green but spinning back more than 35 feet into the water surrounding the island green. Then his heart nearly stopped when his shot from the drop zone spun back toward the water but stopped on the fringe.
Varner needed three more shots from there and made triple-bogey 6. He bogeyed the last for a 3-under-par 69, three shots behind the lead.
“It’s a game. That’s why we play it. No one is going to die out there,” Varner said. “Just was in between clubs and didn’t execute the shot, and that’s what you get a lot out here. Either you get it done or you don’t.”
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Varner has three weeks to get to Augusta National for the Masters. Varner’s win in the Saudi International put him inside the top 50 in the official world ranking; the top 50 at the end of the World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play in three weeks. Varner is No. 48 in the world.
He is playing this week, in next week’s Valspar Championship and the Match Play.
“I want to get to Augusta,” Varner said. “I’ve always wanted to be there. I think I’ll have a great opportunity to get to Augusta.”
Did Pete Dye dream up this hole? How many players hit the water? Who made the last ace on No. 17?
How hard can it be? It’s just a wedge, maybe a 9-iron, for the best players in the world, right?
Factor in wind, water, nerves and a giant gallery, and No. 17 at the Players Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass is so much more than the yardage on the scorecard might indicate. With its green perched atop wooden bulkheads above a lake, No. 17 is one of – if not the – most famous holes in golf.
While PGA Tour pros normally would tear apart such a short hole, the scoring average on No. 17 during the 2021 Players Championship was 3.23, almost a quarter shot over par, to make it the third-toughest hole versus par on the course that year.
So what gives? If you’ve been fortunate enough to play the course – ranked No. 1 in Florida on Golfweek’s Best list of public-access courses – then you already know. If you haven’t played it, you owe it to yourself.
Here are five things to know about course architect Pete Dye’s most iconic hole – if you can give credit to that famous designer after all.
Adam Scott called the putt heard round the golf world.
(Editor’s note: All this week, in honor of the 20-year anniversary of Tiger Woods’ “Better than Most” putt, we’ve been looking back at the magical moment at TPC Sawgrass, perhaps the greatest in the history of The Players Championship. Also see:
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – Adam Scott called the putt heard round the golf world.
Seriously, the Aussie went all Nostradamus well before NBC commentator Gary Koch started saying “better than most” in the 2001 Players Championship.
Scott wasn’t playing in the tournament and to this day has no idea why he was at TPC Sawgrass. But he ended up doing guest commentary for Sky Sports alongside his coach, Butch Harmon, who also was working with Tiger Woods at the time.
During Saturday’s sunlit third round, the two were on a break and standing outside of the Sky Sports compound overlooking the famous 17th green.
Before them was Woods, surveying a putt from the back fringe of the island green that would need to break twice, slide down a steep ridge and travel 60 feet to reach the front-left pin placement. Up to then, a handful of players had putted from the top of the ridge on the 17th and every ball zoomed past the hole and off the green and onto the fringe below.
“This is such a hard putt,” Harmon said back then.
“I wouldn’t want it,” Scott said.
“He could putt the ball off the green,” Harmon said.
“Sure could,” Scott said.
“He could four-putt. He could three-putt. It sure as hell isn’t an easy two-putt. And it’s basically impossible to make the putt,” Harmon said.
“Just wait,” Scott said. “Wait until we hear the roar when he makes it.”
Ka-boom.
Woods made the Better Than Most putt, which was Koch’s famous phrase as the putt neared the hole and then disappeared. The Richter Scale went crazy, Woods started fist-pumping and roaring, and Harmon and Scott high-fived each other until their hands hurt.
“When I told Butch Tiger was going to make it, he laughed,” Scott said. “But sure enough, the putter was up in the air and the ball was going in. It just blew the roof off the place. It was unbelievable. If you watch the footage long enough, Tiger points up to Butch with a huge smile. Tiger Woods points after sinking a 60-foot birdie putt at the 17th hole of the TPC Sawgrass Players Stadium Course on March 24, 2001, in the third round of The Players Championship. Woods went on to win the tournament two days later in a Monday finish. [Bob Self/Florida Times-Union]“That was a pretty good one to be hanging out for as a spectator.”
After the round, Harmon met up with Woods.
“I said, ‘That was some putt you made on 17.’ And all he said was, ‘That was cool, wasn’t it Butchy.’ That’s all he ever said about it to me.”
It was cool, indeed. Well, not for everyone.
On the green with Woods was his caddie, Steve Williams, and Phil Mickelson and his caddie, Jim “Bones” Mackay. The titanic pairing of the top 2 players in the world had already stirred up thunderous applause the first 16 holes but Woods’ putt was off the charts.
“I remember when the ball got to the crest of the slope that it had perfect pace,” Mickelson said 20 years later. “And then when it got to about 10 feet out it looked like he was going to make it. Seriously, from where he was, the ball was actually going to go in and I just remember thinking, ‘Are you frickin’ kidding me?’
“I had seen so much of that kind of stuff from him for so long it didn’t unnerve me. The guy certainly didn’t need any help, he was playing such great golf at the time. And then he makes a bomb. When you’re thinking he was going to three-putt and he makes it, it felt like a two-shot swing.
“Well, 20 years later, I still don’t really know what more I can say.”
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Mackay said it was the most Tiger thing ever.
“I just remember laughing when it went in. Who else is going to make that putt? Are you kidding me?” Mackay said. “I was fortunate to be with Phil when he did something incredible, and when you see Tiger or someone else do something incredible, you just sort of look down and wait for that tidal wave of sound to hit you. So I saw the ball going toward the hole and you’re waiting that 10th of a second for the sound explosion and then it came. It was huge.”
Williams heartedly celebrated with his boss on the green.
“Tiger had an uncanny knack of making the impossible possible,” Williams said in an email. “It seemed like the more difficult the shot the more focused he became and he just relished any opportunity that would give a knockout blow to his opponents. Tiger’s imagination on the greens made him one of the greatest putters of all time under pressure.”
Woods shot 66 that day and then won the weather-delayed tournament on Monday. He had won the Arnold Palmer Invitational the week before, and then would win the Masters the following week, completing the Tiger Slam by winning four consecutive major championships.
Rob McNamara, TGR Ventures vice president who also serves as a frequent playing partner for Woods and provides a second set of eyes, was in the clubhouse watching on a small TV when Woods teed up his heroics on the 17th green.
“That was his first Players win and that meant a lot to him,” McNamara said. “After he won the (career) Grand Slam (in 2000), his record was pretty astonishing, but the focus then shifted to him having not won a Players.
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“I remember the criticism that he hadn’t won a Players. People were trying to diminish what Tiger was doing. I think it was very telling that he silenced the critics when he won the Players. Which was a little bit ridiculous.”
Woods really didn’t talk about the Better Than Most putt.
“The only thing Tiger said about the putt was that he started fist-pumping it and started walking pretty early,” McNamara said. “And then it sort of barely jumped into the right side and when he watched the film he realized he started his walk too early. That putt could have missed. But when you’re young and confident that walk is early. But that’s the thing about Tiger. Sometimes he wills those putts in and that was definitely one of them.”
Golf Channel analyst Brandel Chamblee, a former PGA Tour player who won the 1998 Great Vancouver Open, doesn’t remember where he was when he saw the putt but he hasn’t forgotten one thing that stood out to him.
“If you go back and watch the whole clip, Tiger circles the green and then when he gets over the putt, he does something I had never seen him do. He stood over the putt and made strokes with just his right hand,” Chamblee said. “It was a great example of someone being an artist. He walked around, looked at the putt, saw what the green was, and he stood over the putt and had put all that information into his computer and just tried to feel what the putt was going to do.
“And off it went. That putt just shows you the magic of the guy.”
Koch, a six-time winner on the PGA Tour and a mainstay on NBC telecasts since 1996, sat down with Woods on the 15th anniversary of the putt. One thing that came out of the conversation sort of startled Koch.
“I asked him, ‘I’m assuming you hit some practice putts from up there? I mean you were the only one that even came close to reading the break properly,’” Koch said. “And he goes, ‘Nope. Never hit a putt from up there. Never did.’”
