The most-photographed hole in golf is also the most-loathed, most-famous or most-talked about, depending who you are and what opinion you hold. The 17th at TPC Sawgrass. It's barely 100 yards -- and most of it is water -- but all of it is a thrill ride. It's may not be the best hole on the course that hosts The Players Championship, but it is the most covered as the event starts on Thursday.
There are so many memories from that par 3. Rickie Fowler won a Players on the 17th by making three birdies on it on the same Sunday in 2015 (two of them in a playoff). Sergio Garcia lost one. Tiger Woods made a quadruple-bogey last time he played the event.
Tiger is also the author of probably the most famous moment on the hole which, incidentally, was actually a putt. It was 2001 -- over 20 years ago now -- when Tiger hit his "better than most" putt on Saturday before overcoming a two-stroke deficit on Sunday to win for the 26th time in his career (he would also go on to win the Masters and hold all four majors and The Players at the same time). He was already a Hall of Famer at that point, and this year just before a Players he's not contending in, he was finally officially inducted.
How do you sum up a hole? One way is by recalling all the memories anecdotally. Another is a dive into the numbers over the years. Your experience watching (or playing?) might not be indicative of the field's experience in any given year.
Let's look at those numbers (excluding that lone round in 2020 but including the 2021 edition when Justin Thomas won).
- 5 -- Events in which the hole has played under par on average. Last time the event was played in full (2021), it was 3.227. With wind expected this year, that number should rise.
- 66 -- Balls hit in the water in 2021. That's the most at a full event since 2021. The all-time record (since the stat started being kept in 2003) is 93 in 2007. That could be under threat this year.
- 50 -- Most balls hit in the water during a round. That came in the first round in 2007, more than were hit in the water during the entire 2019 tournament.
- 9 -- Aces at No. 17. There were none from 2003-16, but there have been three in the last five years: Willy Wilcox (2016), Sergio Garcia (2017) and Ryan Moore (2019).
- 12 -- Highest score ever on this hole came in 2005 when Bob Tway quadrupled the par. It ties the highest score on any hole at TPC Sawgrass during a Players (12 was also shot on the 4th hole once). Last year, Ben An made a 11 in the first round.
With all of that mind, we'll end with a thought ahead of this year's event.
In recent years, I've come to believe that No. 17 was over-covered and overrated. And in a lot of ways, that's a fair take. The scoring average is often right above or right below 3.0, which means it is technically one of most average (boring) holes on the course. That's not often how it plays out, though.
Over time, I've learned to embrace the reality that it's going to be prominently featured and simply root for chaos. Fowler going after right pins with his legacy at stake. Balls in the water. Penalty shots in the water. Ace attempts on the front pin when it's put there.
Justin Thomas presented a scenario that I'm desperately rooting for with the wind and weather later this weekend.
"I've heard horror stories from Tiger and Freddy and some guys about having to hit 5- or 6-iron into 17 on those cold north wind days, and I haven't experienced that," said Thomas. "I'm not saying that I would like to, I'm just saying that I haven't experienced it."
TPC Sawgrass is a great, underrated course, and while No. 17 isn't itself underrated, it's part of an underrated, awesome closing stretch that decides tournaments and defines legacies. There will be plenty to watch for on that hole this year (as there is every year), especially when the leader roll up on Saturday and Sunday, hopefully with that wind J.T. talked about necessitating a 5-iron for a 110-yard shot.
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March 10, 2022 at 10:07PM
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TPC Sawgrass 17th hole: Things to know about the famous island green during the 2022 Players Championship - CBS Sports
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