CNN
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The 17th hole at TPC Sawgrass is one of golf’s great arenas. Come here to witness both triumph and disaster, glory and tragedy.
Just the mention of the words “island green” are enough to send some of the sport’s most talented players into a cold, panic-stricken sweat. For others, it represents the most cherished moments of their careers.
This is less because of the green itself and more because of what’s around it. To get to the hole on the 141-yard par three, players must avoid the large lake encompassing the green – a watery grave for many a wayward golf shot.
Despite being the shortest hole on offer at The Players Championship – the PGA Tour’s flagship event which gets underway on Thursday – it is easily the tournament’s most iconic.
“I think if it was surrounded by grass and not water, it would probably be one of the simplest par-threes we play all year,” Rory McIlroy has said about the 17th hole.
Scottie Scheffler, the two-time defending champion heading into this week’s event, agrees that it is deceptively fiendish.
“It’s pretty wild when you get here in person,” the world No. 1 said last year. “Sometimes, when you’re standing on the practice round, you’re like: ‘How could people ever miss this green?’ And then you get up there and you start standing over your shot … It’s a lot harder in competition than it is in practice.”
The numbers are testament to just how challenging this hole can be. Since 2003, which is when PGA Tour ShotLink tracking began, 1,029 balls have been hit into the water at the 17th during The Players, an average of 49 each tournament.
And in case you were wondering, American Beau Hossler became the lake’s 1,000th recorded victim during the second round of last year’s event, watching his shot bounce close to the hole before dropping into the water.
The most perilous year was 2007, when windy conditions resulted in 93 balls being hit into the drink – and 50 in the first round alone.
Unsurprisingly, the issue is not exclusive to The Players Championship. Jim Best, a scuba diver who makes a living by retrieving golf balls from water hazards, estimates that he collects around 70,000 balls a year from the Florida course’s iconic lake.
Above the waterline, where golfers compete for a slice of the $25 million prize purse at The Players, successfully negotiating the 17th can make or break a tournament. There were 28 double bogeys or worse on the penultimate hole last year, nine of which came on the final round.
The battle is perhaps more mental than anything else.
“Every player that plays this golf course, from professional to amateur, as they’re walking down 16 and playing that par five – everybody says take it one shot at a time, but they’ve got one eye on that (island) green and looking at those shots that are being played over there,” tournament director Lee Smith recently told CNN Sports.
“That provides another level of drama to the tournament because you’re focused on a hole that you’re not even playing.”
Undoubtedly the most unlucky golfer to take on the 17th at The Players was American Bob Tway, who found the water four times during the third round of the 2005 tournament. He eventually went on to make a nine-over-par 12 – the highest score ever recorded on the hole.
But the course’s shortest pin also has potential to yield low scores, even producing multiple holes-in-one during the same tournament. There have been five aces since 2022, for instance, including a record three in 2023 alone.
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During the third round of last year’s Players, the hole had a better-than-par scoring average of 2.836 and only just crept over a 3.0 average across the first two rounds. For those who hold their nerve and execute under pressure, the island green can reap rewards.
Smith doesn’t rank the 17th as one of the most difficult holes in golf, but he does, from the perspective of pure entertainment, see it as the most popular hole that the game has to offer.
“I would say the conditions determine how difficult that hole plays,” says Smith. “And by conditions, I mean the drama and the anxiety that you’re going and playing that hole under.
“The sturdiest of tests win The Players Championship … Ultimately, I think drama is what creates the difficulty on that hole.”
The unpredictable nature of TPC Sawgrass’ 17th hole is precisely what makes it so special. Come Thursday, each of the 144 players teeing off at the course will hope to avoid aiming the 1,030th recorded shot into golf’s most famous body of water.
