Sawgrass Country Club: Original “Home” of THE PLAYERS Championship

Golf Writer Andy Reistetter continues his exclusive "Play-Write" series recently playing the East-West nines at Sawgrass CC that hosted THE PLAYERS Championship (then known as the Tournament Players Championship) from 1977 to 1981 . THE Players Championship is synonymous with the Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass with its iconic island green on the par-3 17^th hole. This year (2012) is the 30^th anniversary of the first PLAYERS held at TPC Sawgrass when in 1982 Jerry Pate won by two strokes and three architect Pete Dye and Commissioner Deane Beman into the lake and then dove in himself. That would be Jerry Pate's last win on the PGA TOUR but the first of annual PLAYERS Championships on the Stadium Course. The story of THE PLAYERS began many years before when Beman became commissioner of the PGA TOUR in March 1974 and implemented, then improved upon the idea of the first commissioner Joseph Day. Beman, the only modern-era professional player to become commissioner of his own sport staged the first PLAYERS, then known as the Tournament Players Championship in August in his first year at the helm. Fittingly, Jack Nicklaus the player of the time and of the 20^th century won that first event played at the Atlanta Country Club. Al Geiberger won the next one which was contested in the 100-degree August heat of Texas at Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth. The tournament came to Florida for the first time with a new date on the schedule but with a familiar champion. Nicklaus won the third edition at Inverrary Golf & Country Club in South Florida on March 1^st, 1976. While successful, the tournament had the feel of a traveling circus with no home or even a good spot on the schedule. Beman had a dream to bring the PGA TOUR headquarters to the Jacksonville, Florida area and to have a permanent home for the tour's marquee event. His successor, current Commissioner Tim Finchem made the March-to-May schedule change four years ago and the "fifth major" rising star came into perfect celestial alignment with its more historical peers. Now we are able to enjoy the top five tournaments with a sense of measured buildup and timing: the Masters in April, The PLAYERS in May, The United States Open in June, the British Open in July and the PGA Championship in August. In between that traveling circus pitched in three different states and the tradition we now know as The PLAYERS on the Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass was a very important five year period. It was then that the Tournament Players Championship, today's PLAYERS was enacted at Sawgrass Country Club, its original "permanent" home. Beman brought the tour and the tournament to Ponte Vedra Beach in order to build upon the excellent volunteer organization support of the Jacksonville Open. He found a golf course at Sawgrass Country Club that was a natural fit for a premium world-class golf tournament. Sawgrass CC opened in 1974 and was designed by local golf course architect Ed Seay. Seay went on to partner with golfing legend Arnold Palmer to design and build more than 250 golf courses worldwide. Sawgrass CC is Seay's masterpiece the same as Augusta National being the pride and joy of Alister MacKenzie. Seay opens with a traditional short par-4 that lays there in its beauty all for the golfer to see including the flagstick on the green. Then he begins to challenge the golfer by limiting the vision of what is in front of them by hiding the greens from the tee on the dog-leg right par-4 second, the par-5 dog-leg left fourth and the dog-leg-right par-4 fifth holes. The presence of the ocean is introduced quickly with the roar of the surf clearly audible on the second tee. The fourth green is only a 9-iron shot from the sandy beaches of the Atlantic Ocean. To befuddle the golfer even more amidst the unpredictable ocean breezes Seay routed the East nine in a counterclockwise fashion and the West nine in a clockwise fashion. While each nine goes out and returns to the clubhouse area the golfer never arrives at a point of comfort with the magnitude or direction of the wind. To get to that clubhouse the same large lake brings water into play right on the final three holes of the East and on the left of the final four holes of the West. The variety and difficulty of Seay's Sawgrass gem is evident in the champions it produced during those five years of hosting the TPC events. Four of the five- Nicklaus, Lanny Wadkins, Lee Trevino and Raymond Floyd are World Golf Hall of Famers. The first champion at Sawgrass Mark Hayes is the only exception. The winning scores confirm the genius of Seay's design and the impact of the ocean winds. Both Nicklaus and Hayes won with plus-1 scores. Why were Beman and the PGA TOUR unable to purchase Sawgrass CC? Perhaps the real reason is revealed in Beman's recently released book Golf's Driving Force. Whatever the reason THE PLAYERS Championship moved another one-half mile inland on the golf course Beman conceived and with the help of Pete Dye had it designed and built. Though still a shocker at times the new course snuggled within trees plays much easier than during the Sawgrass CC era. David Duval's minus-3 total in 1999 is the highest winning score on the Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass. To fully experience the history of THE PLAYERS Championship at its original home, play the East-West routing at Sawgrass CC, if given the opportunity. A real treat to be a guest at an ocean side club and play a historic course today with my buddy Stokes, host of 5 PLAYERS, completely renovating the West now, playing the East & South which will be renovated next 2 years, Trevino won here & at Merion, great Ed Seay design, 40th anniversary if club in 2014!   (Facebook Post with 4 pics, Andy Reistetter, 6-13-13)