‘He hit that fat!’ Absorbing the waffle and wonders of 17 at TPC Sawgrass

Watching sports while sitting on a grass bank is a joy.

Those who have visited the St. Lawrence ground in Canterbury to watch Kent play cricket can sympathise, and so can those who have watched golf from the side of the 17th hole at TPC Sawgrass.

With the utmost respect for the Spitfires of my home county, this famous spot of the Stadium Course brought me to that annoying but appropriate phrase: There are levels to this game.

I took two substantial visits to the bank left of the island green at The 50th Players Championship. My first was at about 12.30 pm on Thursday during the first round where I found Alex Noren, Thomas Detry and Joseph Bramlett.

Having never been to TPC Scottsdale, I can’t compare this hole to that of the rowdy, ridiculous Stadium par-3 in Arizona, and I would probably be wrong to make that comparison too.

The oblivious nature of the crowd surrounding the putting surface is similar, but there is more innocence to the Ponte Vedra venue. Perhaps the 17th at Sawgrass is a picnic and the 16th at Scottsdale is a rock concert.

I chuckled to myself after the next group hit all of their tee shots because one spectator next to me was convinced each of Tom Hoge, Camillo Villegas and Lee Hodges’ blows were hit fat.

If you attended The Players Championship and you didn’t know it was The Players Championship, you would probably think it was the Masters. The amount of Augusta National deck chairs and general merchandise from the Georgia course is staggering.

But each to their own. Back to the golf, and there was laughter when Hodges hit a four-foot putt four foot past the hole.

Similar disdain was shown for Adam Schenk when I heard one patron say, “He used to play on the Korn Ferry Tour – whatever that is.” This fan only goes to the big games, it appeared.

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One thing that struck me, as many players threw their balls deep to the back of the green to reduce the risk of flirting with the water only yards from the front pin, was: How on earth did Tiger Woods hole his ‘Better than most’ putt in 2001? I tried to look at the island green and create a hologram of Woods doing it in my head, but I couldn’t.

The players who left themselves with identically long putts were literally tickling them down the hill as if their putters didn’t even touch the ball.

One fan was particularly locked into the action. His Michelob Ultra bottle was empty and asleep on the floor and his sunglasses and bucket hat were fixed on the green.

Players Championship: Hole 17 is something for everyone

I left and didn’t return until Saturday afternoon where I conveniently met Rory McIlroy and Sepp Straka who both made fantastic birdies. Straka, who was McIlroy’s European teammate at the 2023 Ryder Cup, holed the second-longest putt of the day on 17 to that point, with only Sam Burns being above him on that leaderboard.

As McIlroy’s walk from the 16th green to the 17th tee got shorter, the crowd noise got louder. And just before he took his swing, there was more silence in that half-second window than at any point during the afternoon.

I couldn’t identify the accent of the girl sitting next to me, but maybe I didn’t need to. Maybe I am just reaching for an explanation as to why she pronounced the four-time major champion’s surname ‘Mickelroy’.

It was the afternoon of round three and the hole was absolutely rammed. Beer cans were empty and merchandise bags were full. The sandals were off in some cases but, for the players, the gloves were on at the most critical stage of their day.

As I swivelled my head like an owl, I caught a glimpse of one lad with long hair slicked back over his head which, unfortunately for him, laid bare his massively sunburnt, red face. He’ll live to fight another day, I’m sure.

I pivoted my neck back to the tee box and what I thought was a tennis umpire was actually 2016 Players champion Jason Day. He looked very snug in his new Malbon clothing line and he tucked his ball snug to the hole on his way to making another birdie.

What struck me during my experience of the 17th hole was the variety and the fun. It is no exaggeration to say you could sit there all day, meet any type of person and watch a golfer shoot any type of score.

Ironically, I didn’t see one water ball. In over two hours of action, not one. Chez Reavie found the bunker at one stage but, on Monday, I have no doubt players will be queuing outside my Jacksonville AirBnb with complimentary tickets for next year as I am clearly a good luck charm.

The bank by the par-3 17th hole at TPC Sawgrass suits everyone. A golf fan is in heaven and a non-golf fan is in the clouds, especially when this most famous area is blessed with such scorching hot weather.

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