Sunday At The Players

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Henrik Stenson overcame heat, humidity and greens yellower than an R&A member’s teeth to capture the 2009 Players Championship. Crispy, firm and “icy quick” in the words of runner-up Ian Poulter, the relentless Pete Dye design’s mini-verde bermuda surfaces may have looked dreadful in HD but played better than the PGA Tour ever could have dreamed since committing to a hoped-for fast and firm warm season base three years ago.

“Pretty incredible,” said Tiger Woods of Stenson’s bogey-free 66 that included 13 of 14 fairways, all but one hit with his trusty three wood. A birdie at the ninth put Stenson ahead and he soon pulled away in Mine That Bird fashion with birdies at 11, 13, 15 and 16.  Yet even with a four-shot lead the island green 17th loomed like the giant barrier that so many told us strips the course of any world class integrity. However it's late-in-the-round placement is the very thing that makes The Players so intriguing. Champion Stenson approaches the 18th green en route to victory. (Click to enlarge)

Golf Channel's Brandel Chamblee was the most visible opponent, calling it gimmicky. The Florida Times-Union's Garry Smits inquired with the tour about Chamblee's record there during his playing career and found that he played the hole 26 times in nine starts in The Players, and averaged 3.46 with six water balls.

Lorne Rubenstein talked to former Dye protege Tom Doak about the moaning.

"As Mr. Dye once described it to me, it's a 130-yard hole with an 8,000-square-foot green -- a target a tour pro would hit 98 percent of the time, if he wasn't scared of it."

Tiger Woods struggled Sunday, posting a 73 that included a bogey from the fairway bunker on No. 7 (click to enlarge)It's actually just a shade over 4,000 square feet and by no means is an inviting target. The contours appear to have grown too severe for modern green speeds, yet the hole played to a reasonable 3.025 average, yielding 80 birdies compared to 43 bogies, 13 doubles and 6 triples. 83% of shots hit the green in regulation this week.

The folks it seems to be harassing most are the $375 paying customers. As Robert Lohrer noted on his blog, the number of balls retrieved annually and floated this week was 155,000. A Golf Journal (R.I.P) story from 1998 reported that divers dredge up 120,000 balls, "so, if we take these numbers at face value, the only conclusion -- as the number of rounds is the same in both reports -- is that, collectively, as golfers, we're getting worse."

Asked after the round about the 17th tee conversation, Stenson said he was trying for a "r pitching wedge at the middle tower" by aiming just left of the bunker in hopes of getting it on top.The fifth hole scene on Sunday (click on image to enlarge)

He didn't quite pull that off, finishing on the front tier where he two-putted from in stoic fashion.

Having survived that test, he striped his tee shot and coasted to a victory that paid $1.7 million and garnered a whopping 0 FedEx Cup points thanks to his non-PGA Tour member status.

T3 finisher John Mallinger takes the walk toward the 17th green (click to enlarge)Still, the 17th was the crowd favorite, particularly among the coveted 3-12 demo. They were hounding players as they walked down the railroad tie raised ramp. Vets like Kenny Perry and Woody Austin complied but handing their balls to new fans for life, Kevin Na acted like they didn't exist and John Mallinger shined his pearly whites while dishing out high-fives.

Ben Curtis, who hit his tee shot in the water and posted a double bogey 5, entered the fluorescent-lit tunnel on his way to the 18th tee when a young girl yelled out from above.

"Can I have a ball please?"

"I only have two left," Curtis grumbled back.

Her dad offered this consolation: "He still has to play number 18 and there's lots of water."

Okay, so maybe the 17th isn't the only terrifying hole at the other-worldly TPC Sawgrass.

Mosquito Control Road

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In honor of today's quote from Jenkins, a few real estate developments along the way to the TPC Sawgrass.

-The Fountains

-Summer House

-Dolphin Cove

-L'Atrium

-Fiddlers Marsh

And my favorite road:

I sent the photo to former area resident Jenkins, who reports:

That street used to be Gator Food and before that it was Cotton Mouth Alley and before that it was Rattler Court.

Feherty Apology; Disaster Averted!

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Doug Ferguson reports:

“This passage was a metaphor meant to describe how American troops felt about our 43rd president,” Feherty said in a statement. “In retrospect, it was inappropriate and unacceptable, and has clearly insulted Speaker Pelosi and Senator Reid, and for that, I apologize. As for our troops, they know I will continue to do as much as I can for them both at home and abroad.”

Saturday At The Players

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I arrived at 6:30 a.m. (a stuffy 78 degrees!) to sit in on a course tour of the front nine setup as handled by John Mutch of the PGA Tour.

The setup is nicely balanced and as solid as can be, though the architecture limits the possibility of the more dramatic day-to-day changes we're coming to expect more and more.The inevitable 17th hole photo, from the 16th hole.(click to enlarge)

Not that TPC Sawgrass needs much drama.

The conditioning is superb, however the design would benefit from a lot more mowing of rough and short grass areas around greens. Aesthetically, it's currently lacking some of the elegance a design so rich in texture deserves, much of which I attribute to the clump bermuda mix in the roughs. And the strategic benefits would be obvious: balls reaching hazards more easily, contours retaining even more of a presence and several approaches appearing more intimidating.

They think of everything! Lights in the tunnel from 17 green to 18 tee (click to enlarge)The current situation with so much rough around the greens limits shotmaking and frankly, looks ugly.

To clarify one issue regarding the rough. After being briefed by the tour, Golf Channel and NBC have reported that the fairway roughs are cut at 2-3 inches, last topped off mid-week. Greenside, the rough started in the same range but is now at 3-4 inches. However, because the severity of the surrounds requires the use of rotary mowers (that's a lawn mower) it has not been topped off all week while the fairway roughs have.  The PGA Tour's tournament director, Mark Russell, says the situation will be different next year.

The obvious question for anyone who watched Saturday: why the higher scores?Camilo Villegas tests the wind with the amazing video screen in the background. (Click on image to enlarge)

After all it's warm, greens are perfect and the wind never amounted to much. However, it's pretty simple, really. There is enough firmness in the greens combined with a relentless course that quickly wears the player down.

And that's why Alex Cejka's five-stroke lead over Tiger Woods appears so surmountable.

Friday At The Players

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I was a lazy media whore bum today, having to finish off a couple of items for print and well, it's hot. So I walked around a bit in the morning, then followed Tiger-Ernie-Justin at the finish.

Hey, it was bloody hot out there.

Actually, I had to save myself and my deodorant allocation for the Commissioner's Southern Style Pig Roast, held in the Stadium Players Village from 7-9.  I'm too stuffed to report, though the event was lovely considering it was populated primarily by writers. So I'll just leave you with a few black and white images from Friday.

Unlucky victim of the Commissioner's Pig Roast (click to enlarge)

Tiger tees off on No. 17 Friday afternoon. (click image to enlarge)

No. 17 Friday (click to enlarge)

Who says Tiger doesn't stop for autographs (click to enlarge)

Tiger after his round (click to enlarge)