The par-3 17th hole at the TPC at Sawgrass's Stadium Course
offers heart-thumping torment to amateurs, who plunk about
40,000 balls a year—nearly one per player—into the
gator-infested waters around the hole's island green. But for
Tour pros, says Corey Pavin, "the hole is pretty easy."
How easy? Over the 16 years that the Players Championship has
been held at Sawgrass, the 141-yard 17th ranks only 10th in
degree of difficulty at the Stadium Course. At last year's
Players the pros roasted architect Pete Dye's little monster for
a 2.952 average, making it the tournament's fourth-easiest hole
and, as the chart below left shows, one of the least demanding
par-3s on the Tour in 1997.
Couples clinched his 1996 victory with a birdie on 17.
(Ben Van Hook)
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Easy or not, the hole is often a crucial part of winning at
Sawgrass. Four of this decade's Players champs—Fred Couples in
1996 (above), Greg Norman in '94, Davis Love III in '92 and
Jodie Mudd in '90—clinched victory with deuces here, and in '95
Lee Janzen's brilliant up-and-down 3 led to his one-stroke win
over Bernhard Langer.
One of the 17th's most dramatic moments came in '94 when Tiger
Woods conquered the island. Woods, down by six holes early in
his U.S. Amateur final against Trip Kuehne, holed a 15-footer
for birdie to go one up at 17, then unleashed his first
nationally televised fist pump. He then parred 18 to begin his
run of three straight Amateur titles.
The hole's most hapless victim was amateur Angelo Spagnolo, who
hit 27 balls into the drink during a 1985 tournament for the
nation's worst avid golfers. He finally tapped a ball up the
cart path to the green and two-putted for a 66 on the hole.
Spagnolo, 43, hasn't returned to Sawgrass but hopes to do so.
"It's not really that hard a hole," he says.
| RANK, EVENT | COURSE | HOLE | YARDS | AVG. |
| 1. British Open | Royal Troon | 17th | 223 | 3.346 |
| 2. Masters | Augusta National | 4th | 205 | 3.345 |
| 3. U.S. Open | Congressional | 2nd | 235 | 3.335 |
| 4. MCI | Harbour Town | 17th | 192 | 3.316 |
| 5. Las Vegas | TPC at Summerlin | 17th | 196 | 3.294 |
| 192. Players | TPC at Sawgrass | 17th | 141 | 2.952 |
| 218. Mercedes | La Costa | 11th | 180 | 2.839 |
| Disney | Magnolia | 3rd | 160 | 2.839 |
| 220. Disney | Palm | 16th | 172 | 2.805 |
| 221. Hope | Indian Wells | 6th | 140 | 2.776 |
| 222. Hope | Indian Ridge | 17th | 159 | 2.732 |
Issue date: March 30, 1998
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