Tag: Derek Sprague

Reserved no more: Cameron Smith’s parking spot, other acknowledgements of winning The Players have been removed

“If they go to LIV they don’t have any of their (PGA) Tour privileges at TPC properties.”

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – One of the perks of being the winner of the Players Championship: primo parking for the defending champion.

Cameron Smith, who won the Tour’s flagship event in March, had his reserved parking spot at the front of the TPC Sawgrass parking lot replaced with a more generic sign for “Tour players only” as soon as he announced his decision to join LIV Golf. Smith made it official on Friday, competing in a LIV event on the outskirts of Boston last weekend, and joins the likes of Phil Mickelson, Brooks Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau, who have been suspended by the PGA Tour for an unspecified period of time for violating its rules and regulations.

“If they go to LIV they don’t have any of their (PGA) Tour privileges at TPC properties,” TPC Sawgrass general manager Derek Sprague said.

Typically, the winner of the Players lives out of town and makes use of the parking spot and other perks at the club only during the week of their title defense the following March. Smith, however, lives locally and practiced and played at TPC Sawgrass on a regular basis since moving to Florida’s First Coast in 2015. Efforts to reach Smith’s agent to find out where Smith plans to practice in the future weren’t answered at present.

Tradition dictates that the flag of the Players champion’s home country fly, and Smith’s Australian flag remains up.

(Interesting side note: South African Tim Clark asked the Tour to fly the flag of Spain in honor of Seve Ballesteros, who died in 2011.)

TPC Sawgrass
Cameron Smith’s parking spot has been replaced by a generic “Tour Players Only” sign at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. (Photo: Adam Schupak/Golfweek)

But it’s hard to find much else at TPC Sawgrass that reflects its reigning champion. A replica bag with Smith’s winning clubs – he shot a final-round 66 to win by a stroke over Anirban Lahiri – was removed from the pro shop as were photos of the winner that hung in the clubhouse.

Petty? Maybe but it is hard to imagine a player being allowed to benefit from membership perks while suspended… and it is a pretty sweet parking spot.

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TPC Sawgrass to re-open to the public as planned on March 17

TPC Sawgrass is a closed for now, but the 36-hole facility, which is in pristine condition for tournament week, won’t stay empty for long.

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PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — TPC Sawgrass is a closed and it’s an eerie place following the cancellation of the Players Championship after the opening round of play on Thursday.

“Driving in here today, it’s sort of eerie, right? There’s no one around,” said Rory McIlroy, who came to clean out his locker.

But the 36-hole facility, which is in pristine condition for tournament week, won’t stay empty for long. In an e-mail to its membership, TPC Sawgrass general manager Derek Sprague confirmed that both courses – The Players Stadium Course and Dye’s Valley Course – will resume regular business hours, including all food and beverage operations, as originally scheduled on Tuesday, March 17.

“Golf reservations is open regular hours all weekend to take tee time requests or changes only,” Sprague wrote. “We are experiencing high call volume so please leave a message if we do not answer and we will return your call as soon as possible in the order in which it was received.”

Operating hours

  • Dining operations: 7 a.m. to 9 p.m.
  • Practice grounds: Tentative opening hours. Last bag 5:30 p.m., close 6:30 p.m.
  • Golf shop: 7 a.m. – 6:30 p.m.

“For your safety, we respectively ask that you do not come to the club until Tuesday in order for our vendors and employees to work as expeditiously as possible to be ready for opening on Tuesday,” Sprague said.

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