By Ron Whitten
Photos By Stephen Szurlej
May 2007
If ever the Players Championship is to be elevated to the status of a major golf championship in the mind of the players, the media and the public, this is the year.
That's not going to happen, but allow us to make the case.
The PGA Tour has always had a primo field for its No. 1 event, conducted in the back yard of its headquarters in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla. It's the strongest field in golf: just professionals who have won a tournament or enough money or rankings points in the previous year to qualify; no amateurs or sweater-stacking club pros allowed.
The tournament has mostly had a primo golf course, at least since 1982, when it moved to the TPC at Sawgrass, recently renamed the Players Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass. Its Pete Dye layout was contrary to every feasibility study ever published, designed to test the best golfers in the world, paying customers be damned. Paying spectators, however, were accommodated as never before, with lofty spectator mounds and built-in stadium seating.
Dye's original design proved unpopular among players at first, but after being tinkered with by a gang of player-consultants, it became more predictable in its bounces and amenable to their autopilot games. Thankfully the course has regained some spunk after an extensive, expensive renovation last year.
Beginning this year, the Players also has primo dates, early May instead of late March, avoiding college basketball's March Madness and the madness of March weather in its Jacksonville locale. We're expecting sunshine, not squall lines, and gentle breezes that will set flags aflutter.
Tour commissioner Tim Finchem has done what he can to elevate the Players. It fills the major-championship void between the Masters in April and the U.S. Open in June, if indeed such a void existed. Like the majors, it's not burdened by an overbearing corporate name or pro-ams, and in the new year-long FedEx Cup competition, the tour made sure the Players pays off as good as a major, with identical inflated point totals.
The tougher sell is to the media and the golf public, who traditionally need time to warm up to an upstart. That time is up. Now in its 34th playing, the Players has established plenty of history. Jack Nicklaus won two of the first three, and three of the first five. Trevino, Norman, Price and Woods have all won; in fact, 24 of the 33 winners also have at least one major championship.
Maybe what the tournament has lacked is a defining personality. The Masters has always been about bursts of cheers and color, the U.S. Open about strangling rough and choking leaders, the British Open about high winds and stark venues, and the PGA Championship ... well, the PGA was a major wallflower until recent compelling finishes, mostly involving Tiger or Phil.
To most writers and fans, the Players has primarily been about its infamous island-green 17th hole. Fear factor and survival make great television but lousy trademarks. To be fully embraced, the Players Championship needs to prove it's a complete, legitimate examination of golf, and not just a one-hole carnival-show ring toss/dunk tank.
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