If as a casual golf fan you were asked to name one course beyond Augusta that sticks in your mind the chances are you would come up with TPC Sawgrass, the home of this week's PLAYERS Championship and of course 'that' 17th hole, one which has sunk so many dreams over the years.
I have visited Sawgrass on several occasions in the past and am back here again this year to witness the drama unfold. Reporting on Wednesday, I've watched the best players in the world complete their preparations, and witnessed greens which threaten to be seriously quick come the weekend.
The ultimate marmite course
TPC Sawgrass is undoubtedly one of those golf courses that players either love or hate. To some, the Pete Dye design with its strategically placed bunkers and trees is something that they just never get to grips with throughout their career, while others, particularly those who are handicapped on courses where big hitters have an advantage, love the strategic challenge of having to plot your way around.
Pete Dye, the legendary designer, was renowned for setting his courses up to play tricks on the eye and bring doubts in to a player's head. A perfect example is the tee shot on the closing 18th, which has tended to play the toughest hole on the course over the years. Go left and you're in the water that runs all the way down the side of the fairway; err to the right and you are left with a second shot from the trees with no route to the green, one which brings the water back into the equation after you'd run scared of it from the tee.
The thing to bear in mind when it comes to those who just can’t get to grips with the course is that if this was any other event they would just leave it off their schedule. However as it is the PGA Tour's flagship event, almost everyone feels obliged to tee it up. Yes, Sawgrass is undoubtedly the definition of the ‘Marmite course’, and if for example you asked Bubba Watson, who has managed a best place finish of 37th here over the past decade, whether he ‘likes Marmite’ in this instance I think I know what answer you would get.
The story behind the 17th hole
Dye sadly passed away earlier this year and quite rightly you will hear plenty of tributes to his work from the players, pundits and commentators throughout PLAYERS week.
Of his numerous designs, which include Harbour Town, TPC River Highlands, and Whistling Straits, which will host the Ryder Cup later this year, TPC Sawgrass is undoubtedly the most renowned.
At Sawgrass though there is one hole which stands out in most casual golf fans mind, the par-three 17th, and if there is one hole that Dye will be remembered for above all the others he designed it will be this one.
The truth of how this 132-yard nemesis of so many players over the years came to be is that Dye gave the majority of the credit for it to his late wife Alice. An accomplished player in her own right, who also sadly passed away last year, when Pete Dye was wondering how he should go about putting the 17th together Alice suggested "why not just make an island green?"
The rest as they say is history.
The English are coming... honest
It is not uncommon for golfers to take inspiration from the successes of fellow countrymen and friends and this is something we have already seen this year with the Aussie contingent feeding off one another.
On this basis and in a year when all leading English players (and of course Europeans in general) will be scrambling for Ryder Cup points, we may well see one of those in the field this week follow on from Tyrrell Hatton’s fantastic performance at Bay Hill - and leave former US Ryder Cup captain Paul Azinger with more egg on his face.
Of the eight on display most eyes will be on Tommy Fleetwood, who was fifth here last year and has the perfect game for this course. It may just be that last week's missed cut at Bay Hill, his first weekend off in 48 starts worldwide, in a strange way frees him up at a course we know he loves.
With Justin Rose struggling with his game at the moment, Paul Casey never really comfortable here and Hatton, based on his own words, probably just finishing his party in Orlando, I would expect the strongest English challenge to come from Matt Fitzpatrick and Ian Poulter, who has finished runner-up here before and of course will desperate to make Whistling Straits.
I also have a sneaky feeling Matt Wallace could build on last year's 20th place on debut and maybe, just maybe, there will finally be an English winner of this great event.
Will the real Brooks Koepka please stand up
There is an old phrase in the music business with regards to the press: build 'em up to knock 'em down. In relation to the recently deposed world number one, Brooks Koepka, he and his golf have been responsible for his own ‘building up’ over the recent years and there are no doubt some in the game who have a wry smile on their faces with regards to his current struggles.
Think back 10 months or so, and Koepka was landing back-to-back PGA Championships, making us believe that he could pitch up to majors at will, and, with others wilting around him, use his greater mental strength to add another to his trophy cabinet. As for a rivalry with Rory McIlroy? What rivalry? As Koepka was keen to point out, Rory hasn’t won a single major since 2014.
Now it's a very different story as McIlroy racks up the top-fives for fun while Koepka struggles to find his game after a knee injury derailed thin at the back end of last year.
To be fair to Koepka he has not been afraid to call it how it is over the recent weeks and after following up a pro career worst round of 81 on Saturday at the API with a 71 on Sunday he described his play as "still s**t*."
It is quite possible that this week will come too soon for Koepka to seriously contend but don’t be surprised to see an improved performance, and certainly don’t be surprised if come April at Augusta ‘Major Brooks’ is once again prowling the fairways.
Experience is the name of the game
There are plenty of courses on the PGA Tour where first timers pitch up and win, and once that was especially true of Dye's TPC Louisiana, however TPC Sawgrass is not one of them. In simple terms debutants do not win here.
This is rubber stamped by the fact that over the past 10 years the average number of starts made by winners is just over six, and the main player who keeps that average from being higher is Si Woo Kim, victorious here in 2017 on his second start. He's the only one who has won in fewer than five previous visits.
There are plenty of world-class debutants in the field this week and with Xander Schauffele and Jordan Spieth both finishing inside the top-five here on their debuts don’t rule out a big week for Collin Morikawa, who looks perfect for this course, Viktor Hovland, Matthew Wolff or one of the South African pair Erik Van Rooyen and Christian Bezuidenhout, to name but five.
As for a win for one of them, though, well let's just say I wouldn’t bet on it.
- Follow Martin on twitter and watch out for his previews of the third and fourth rounds
