The Course Report
TPC Sawgrass
About TPC Sawgrass
Big numbers, runs that could possibly include birdie-eagle-birdie, hopefuls, and dreamers. It is all here at the “5th major” (I’ve grown sooooo tired of this narrative), as the PGA Tour brings us The Players at TPC Sawgrass.
My love for Sawgrass stems from bring your kid to work day, when my father, who had had no one to watch me, would drag me into his office and I would sit and play some poorly pixilated golf game. The course I always picked? Sawgrass. The rationale at the time was that I wanted to get a hole-in-one on 17. Never happened.
Recipe is simple. Avoid the big numbers. Score on the easier holes and create gaps in the leaderboard to bring home the championship. Yet, saying it is a lot easier than doing it. Water and bunkers are littered on nearly every hole, and what might seem like an easy straight par will lead to a double bogey for some of the best ball strikers on the planet.
We have massive amounts of historical data for TPC Sawgrass. Many have claimed that the course history is highly relevant, but be mindful that after the ronovation the concept of clubbing down on nearly every hole was somewhat eliminated. In addition, recent turf conditions have allowed players to be more aggressive. The reason? This tournament was historically played in May. Since 2019, the Players has been moved to March to put a greater emphasis on all the Major Championships on PGA Tour. While for us it is only two months, but for the weather in Florida it is a massive change for course conditions. Needless to say, if someone you follow is going to harp on the concept of bombers being irrelevant here, make sure you send them a DM to get their shit together. Vegas, DJ, Rory, Justin Thomas and DeChambeau have all shows massive success here at this event. Now while we won’t eliminate the shorter hitters, make sure you’re not dismissing anyone who can bomb some of these holes.
There are so many massive numbers out there, and barely sneaking into past the cut could still have massive gains. In 2020, Justin Thomas started round three at -2, but ended up winning the tournament with a score of -14. Scoring like this is what makes The Players such a massively watched event.
One of the most important skill players need this weekend is the ability to consistently put the ball in play off the tee. Pete Dye’s courses are renowned for the ability to mess with players site lines in that they will second guess the appropriate shot. In addition, this course creates the idea that you need to play conservative to succeed here. Yet, most winners have shown that aggressiveness is going to put you at the top of the leader board. Yet, this all comes back to making sure you’re in the fairway.
Now, this field is loaded. The best players in the world are here looking for the highest purse in any full field golf tournament on the PGA Tour. The fact that we’ve witnessed a variety of golfers with various skills and styles come out as winners makes this tournament incredibly appealing to both betters and DFS players.
One of the most amazing nuggets of information is that this tournament has had only three multi-time winners. So those of you that are going to bank on Justin Thomas to win again…not so fast.
The way to score on this course is the ability to master the par-5’s. Annually, the four on the course rank as the easiest on the course. Contrary to those is the island 17th, the par-4 18th, and the par-4 14th.
Take a trip to Datagolf and you’ll see that course history, while important at TPC Sawgrass, isn’t as high as courses we’ve already seen on Tour. There are just too many big numbers out there that can haunt any golfer, no matter how much success they’ve had here in years past.
TPC Sawgrass
Architect: Pete Dye (1980) – Rennovated in (2016)
Greens: Bermuda Grass Greens Overseeded with Poa and Velvet Bentgrass
Green Size: 5,500 sq. feet – Small Greens
Stimpmeter: 12-12.5 – Fast Green Speeds
Length: 7,256 yards- Par 72
Water Hazards: 17 in play
Bunkers: 88 Bunkers
Weather Forecast
Nuggets and Tidbits
- The only players with multiple wins at THE PLAYERS are Tiger Woods, Fred Couples and Davis Love III
- Course history is significant at TPC Sawgrass, but in many ways, it shouldn’t be a deciding factor for the weekend at the Book or on DraftKings.
- It will be interesting to hear what players say after their closed practice sessions.
- There is a $20 million dollar purse, with $3.6 million going to the tournament champion.
- The only reason that the Island green exists is due to a suggestion by Pete Dye’s wife.
- Dye did everything he could to make this a true players course. Each hole can be played with a draw or fade, and no certain type of player has an advantage over another.
- This is more than likely Dye’s most iconic design, arguably the second most iconic course second to Augusta National.
- The 17th on average has over 100,000 balls laying at the base of the water every year.
- Players tend to be okay if they are short or long but missing a green left or right is a kiss of death.
- Remember that last years data should be taken with skepticism simply due to the fact how insane the weather was. It completely changed how the tournament normally plaed.
Approach Shot Distribution
Past Winners
Well…before Smith went over to LIV it was very apparent that he was a special type of player.
At the PLAYERS, Smith shot a -6 on Sunday to claim his 5th win on the PGA Tour, but this victory really cemented his role as one of the better players on the PGA Tour. The win propelled him to win his first and only major at the Open.
This tournament narrative was the fact that Thomas’ grandfather had passed just a few weeks prior.
The golf was Thomas played that weekend was inspring as he overcame a 7-shot deficit to take the tournament championship. Thomas did enough to outlast Westwood through out the final 18.
Rory had three top-10’s at TPC Sawgrass up to this point. Yet, he showed how dominant he was on Sunday to win THE PLAYERS.
Rory became the first Northern Irishman to win the touranment, and this was his 15th PGA Tour title. McIIroy led the field in par-3 scoring and SG: Tee to green.
Webb had the largest 54-hole lead in PLAYERS history, and went on to win for the 5th time on the PGA Tour.
This was a long time coming for Simpson, who to this point had not won on Tour since 2014. He did plenty to insure the championship was his, and no one was close in contention.
This isn’t a typo, and yes Si Woo did win THE PLAYERS in 2017.
Si Woo played masterfully on Sunday, as he started the round 2-strokes off the lead. He was the only player that day to post a bogey free round, and finished with a 3-under 69 to win THE PLAYERS.
It took a 3-man playoff, but Johnson beat Louis Ossthuizen and Marc Leishman by shooting a 15, 1 under in a four hole playoff.
Johnson was a surprise win as just the week before his prep came in Illinois at the John Deere Classic. This was Johnson’s second major win, and his first Claret Jug.
Entering with a six-stroke lead over the field, McIIroy went from dominant to just hanging on. Still, no golfer ever got withing two strokes the entire day, and he held his composure despite struggles off the tee and on the greens.
In winning, McIIroy became the seventh wire-to-wire winner in Open Championship history.
After winning the Scottish Open the week prior, Mickelson birdied four of the last six holes and became the Open Champion.
To this point, Phil had come close to winning, but had often doubted his abilites on links style courses.
Els began Sunday 6 shots back, but still clinched the vicotry after Adam Scott imploded.
Els’ 68 was a comeback of epic proportions when you consider the fact that Scott was still winning by 4 strokes on the 15th tee.