Hole 17 TPC Sawgrass: Everything you need to know about the famous green island in the 2022 Player Championship

The most photographed golf hole is also the most hated, most famous, or most talked about, depending on who you are and how you hold your views. Day 17 at TPC Sawgrass. It’s only nearly 100 yards long – and mostly water – but all in all it’s a thrill ride. It may not be the best hole on the field to host the Players Championship, but it gets the most coverage when the event kicks off on Thursday.

Lots of memories from that par 3 game. Rickie Fowler won the Player of the 17th by making three birdies on it on the same Sunday in 2015 (two of them in the playoffs) . Sergio Garcia has lost one. Tiger Woods hit a quadruple before he played the event.

Tiger is also the author of the most famous moment on the hole that happened to be a putt. It was 2001 – more than 20 years ago – when Tiger hit his “better than most” shot on Saturday before overcoming a two-stroke deficit on Sunday to claim his 26th career win. himself (he will also win masters and holds all four majors and Players at the same time). He was already a Hall of Famer at the time, and this year right before a Player he wasn’t running for, he’s finally been officially introduced.

How do you sum a hole? One way is to recall all the memories anecdotal. The other is diving into the numbers over the years. Your viewing (or playing?) experience may not indicate the experience of the field in any given year.

Look at those numbers (excluding the single round in 2020 but including the 2021 edition when Justin Thomas won).

• 5 – Events where holes play below average. The last time the event was broadcast in its entirety (in 2021), was 3,227. With windy forecasts for this year, that number is set to grow.
• 66 – The ball lands in the water in 2021. That is the most balls at a full event since 2021. The all-time record (since the index began was held in 2003) is 93 balls. ball in 2007. That could be threatened this year.
• 50 – Most of the balls fall into the water in one round. That happened in the first round in 2007, more than the number of drops in the water in the entire 2019 tournament.
• 9 – Runner-up in 17th place.
• twelfth – The highest score ever on this hole was in 2005 when Bob Tway quadrupled par. It has the highest score on any hole at TPC Sawgrass in a single Player (12 players have also been shot on the 4th hole once). Last year, Ben An scored 11 in the first round.

With all of that in mind, we’ll close with a thought ahead of this year’s event.

In recent years, I believe the number 17 has been covered and overrated. And in many ways, that’s a fair shot. The average is usually just above or just below 3.0, which means it’s technically one of the most average (boring) holes on the course. However, that’s not how it happens often.

Over time, I have learned to embrace the fact that it will become prominent and simply the root of chaos. Fowler continues to stay true to his legacy at stake. Ball in the water. Underwater free kicks. Ace tries to get to the front peg when it is placed there.

Justin Thomas presented a scenario I’m looking forward to with weather and wind this weekend.

“I’ve heard horror stories from Tiger and Freddy and some of the guys about having to hit five or six irons on the 17th on those cold north wind days, and I’ve never experienced it,” says Thomas. . “I’m not saying I want to, I’m just saying I haven’t been through it.”

TPC Sawgrass is a great, underrated course, and while the 17 itself isn’t underrated, it’s part of the underrated, sublime endgame that determines tournaments and determines inheritance. There’s going to be a lot to see at that hole this year (as it does every year), especially when the leader shows up on Saturday and Sunday, hopefully with that wind JT talked about needing a stick iron 5 for a 110-yard shot.