PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla.—When the world’s best golfers reach the final three holes at The Players Championship this week, the shadow of one man will loom large over the proceedings.
This year marks the fifth anniversary of the passing of golf’s most resourceful and innovative course architect, Pete Dye, who relished creating physical and mental torture tests.
But no Dye-created course generates more pleasure and pain than his creation of the Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass.
Built from the Ponte Vedra swamps, the finished product has evolved greatly over the years. When the event left Sawgrass Country Club in 1981, there was much wonderment and concern about what was being built. At the 1982 event, Jack Nicklaus shook his head in consternation after missing the 36-hole cut, stating, “I’ve never been very good at stopping a 5-iron on the hood of a car.” The general impressions were less than endearing and the opinions of Dye were hardly Christmas card sentiments.
Jerry Pate claimed the initial triumph at the new venue. The 1976 U.S. Open champion forever commemorated the moment with a dive into the water next to the 18th along with Dye and then PGA Tour Commissioner Deane Beman.
At that specific moment, Dye arrived—big time.
In the years to follow, various scorecard trainwrecks became even more noted, especially at the concluding three holes. In 2007, a record number of golf balls—93—found the water surrounding the island green at the notorious par-three 17th.
“Looking back, I realized that the radical design of the [Stadium] Course was too new for the tour professionals,” Dye wrote in his autobiography. “They had never seen anything like it.”
Dye died in January 2020 at age 94.
When contending players are coming down the stretch, they will face a concluding trio of holes that offers no respite, no quarter, no sanctuary.
The spirit of Dye looms large, the architect chuckling from the heavens and watching his creation make elite players sweat profusely.
The ending trio of holes provides the ultimate mental grind of high-stakes golf—separating contender from pretender. Only the most gifted of elite players can summon the nerve to play their best golf in the most trying of circumstances.
Dye, an accomplished player himself, was keen on creating a crescendo of escalating pressure, routinely swallowing golfers faster than the famed shark in Jaws.
Nothing causes more heart palpitations for the world’s finest golfers than being exposed. And Dye relished the opportunity to do so.
16th Hole / Par-5 / 532 Yards
2024 average: 4.452 (18th)
Key stat: The momentum builder hole. The 212 birdies and 27 eagles were the most on any hole in the 2024 tournament and the 22 bogeys were the fewest.
The first of the final three-hole stretch provides a range of scoring scenarios.The hole turns left in the drive zone and players looking to reach the green in two shots need to place a drive as near as possible to that side.
Decision time comes with the second shot. Water hugs tightly to the right of the green and a tree complex and bunker area pushes in from the left side.
Eagles are possible—so are double-bogeys or worse.
17th Hole / Par-3 / 137 Yards
2024 average: 3.077 (7th)
Key stat: 80 birdies in 2024 led all par-3’s, but 39 shots in the water also led all holes.
The penultimate hole is arguably the most famous—or infamous—hole in all of golf.Dye did not originally envision an island green. But as the Stadium Course was being built, vast amounts of muck were dug out and the excavation eventually found pockets of sand underneath the muck.
Dye’s wife Alice suggested that having a water-surrounded target would work well. Like any dutiful husband, Dye appreciated his wife’s considerable expertise given her own track record as an accomplished competitive player.
It is estimated that over 100,000 golf balls find a watery grave there each year. The target is amply available—68 feet from front to back and 81 feet from side to side. A solitary bunker fronts the right side of the green and is only 55 square feet.
In 2015, Rickie Fowler defeated Kevin Kisner and Sergio Garcia. Fowler birdied the 17th hole five times in six tries that week, including in regulation on Sunday, in the aggregate playoff and then when the playoff went to sudden death after Fowler and Kisner were tied. Fowler’s final birdie won him the title.
In 2001, Tiger Woods claimed the title and his most memorable moment came in Round 3 at the 17th. Woods holed a birdie putt from nearly 60 feet and the call from NBC-Sports analyst Gary Koch—“better than most”—was repeated time after time as the ball neared and eventually fell into the cup.
If there was ever an official song for the hole it would be the memorable Bobby Darin hit “Splish Splash.”
18th Hole / Par-4 / 462 Yards
2024 average: 4.253 (2nd)
Key stat: Field hit the green only 49.2 percent in 2024, lowest of any hole on the course.
When players step onto the tee, the visual element of the concluding hole can rattle all but the most focused.Water hugs the entire left side closer than any young child clutching his mother on the first day of kindergarten.
The requirement is simple—make sure one’s tee shot finds terra firma. Players avoiding the water can leave tee shots too far right, and that only adds to the demands when encountering a daunting approach. The green is protected by water left, mounds right and an array of vexing internal movements on the putting surface.
Dye lived long enough to make various adjustments to his design. The course’s reputation has seen a wide variety of player types who have been successful. While tour players may wax poetic about the joy of playing other courses, the sense of dread is always palpable when The Players Championship arrives.
All competitors are firmly aware of what lies ahead. Most especially the final trio. Nothing is ever concluded until one has walked off the 18th green.
Dye was golf’s Darth Vader—impervious to criticism, steadfast in his beliefs, and hellbent on vanquishing all but the most committed. Your golf clubs are your light sabers and you had best be ready to use them with all the skill you can muster.
To be crowned champion at The Players Championship one needs to approach each step as if walking through a minefield. Explosions can be devastating, leaving permanent scar tissue.
Dye’s skill as an architect was responsible for a number of memorable courses, but it is his work at TPC Sawgrass via the Stadium Course where his impact will forever remain front and center.
How appropriate for the Stadium Course to be labeled “Dye-abolical.”
