How TPC Sawgrass’ 12th hole will play different at this year’s THE PLAYERS Championship

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — Pete Dye’s profession opus is TPC Sawgrass’ Stadium Course, 18 holes of completely perplexing golf that welcomes the world’s finest annually to attempt to crack the code on a design that may by no means really be conquered, solely deftly navigated.

This yr, the staff at TPC Sawgrass led by Director of Agronomy Lucas Andrews, has benefited from what he calls splendid situations to supply a championship-caliber course. In the times main as much as the match, gamers have commented on a bit extra fireplace within the greens and fairways throughout the property.

“They’re definitely a little bit firmer than they have been the last couple years,” Scottie Scheffler mentioned Tuesday. “Overall, I think they’re playing really nice right now, and we’ll see what the forecast is as the week goes forward, but definitely firm to start the week.”

“We set up to prepare the golf course for a championship of this caliber,” Andrews, who took over as director of agronomy final fall after 17 years on workers at TPC Sawgrass, advised PGATOUR.COM on Wednesday. “There’s not really been a directive that was, ‘Hey, we want to challenge the pros.’ This has just kind of been what we target every single year.”

He credit Northeast Florida climate as a catalyst for serving to the workers attain their already-high requirements forward of the match.

“Fortunately, the weather has played into our hands to allow us to get to this position. The rough has gotten thicker in the past couple of weeks than we’ve seen previously, and with that we made the collective decision to mow the rough one last time on Sunday and then let it grow through the championship.”

The tough has been notacibly longer to gamers on the bottom, with balls disappearing in a number of areas.

“I’ve heard that it was f4 1/2inches,” mentioned Justin Rose. “So I think it’s a conscious decision to go a tiny bit longer this year. The emphasis is on hitting the fairway. This is a golf course that I’ve always felt, first and foremost, is about getting the ball in the fairway. It doesn’t change your strategy, but it might change the penalty if you’re unable to do part one of your job, which is get the ball in play.”

No larger instance of this bolstered protection is the quick par-4 12th, one of many key pillars within the risk-reward arsenal at TPC Sawgrass. The scorecard lists the hole at 365 yards, however match officers have an array of tee containers to select from, together with shortening the hole to as little as 270 yards.

The threat comes from water lining the raised inexperienced alongside all the left aspect, whereas dense bushes shield the best aspect parallel to the placing floor.

In the previous, the 12th has typically performed extra like an ordinary two-shot par 4, with gamers pulling lower than driver and laying up in need of the bushes up the best aspect to arrange a brief pitch into the inexperienced. That strategy was extra in keeping with Dye’s unique imaginative and prescient, because the designer took a relatively agency stance in opposition to the drivable par-4 idea.

“If you can drive it, it’s not a par 4,” Dye as soon as mentioned when discussing one other of his well-known designs at French Lick Resort.

The identical idea utilized to Sawgrass’ 12th, the place his trademark mogul-style bunkers helped shield the inexperienced from overly bold tee photographs. That modified in 2011, when Steve Wenzloff was introduced in to overtake the structure.

From then on, the hole assumed its present position as a reachable goal for gamers seeking to get their again 9 began on the best foot. In 2025, the hole performed to a 3.868 scoring common, the fourth-easiest hole of the week.

Over the years, the hole has drawn flack for giving gamers a bailout space to the best and for having tough between the inexperienced and the water on the left that stored poorly struck photographs, taking among the enamel out of the hole.

This yr, issues are wanting a bit different.

“This past summer, the bunker was lengthened on the left-hand side of the fairway,” Andrews mentioned. “The pond was drawn back so you could see it from the tee a little bit more.”

Most notably, a brand new bunker was added on the right-hand aspect of the green, positioned to discourage gamers who may attempt to bomb and gouge their means up the best aspect.

“It was kind of a deterrent for really just making it into a bomber’s delight.”

With the firmer greens now in play, there may be further hazard to the left of the placing floor.

Contrary to reviews, the strip of tough to the left of the 12th inexperienced nonetheless exists.

“That’s actually the same as it was last year,” Andrews mentioned. “That was a directive established last year with rules and competitions, and we’ve maintained it that way. It’s just been getting a little more buzz this week — I think people have noticed it more.

“I think there is a massive contrast between some of our short-cut areas and then the primary rough. So I think people are more drawn to those spots on the golf course now.”

Despite Andrews’ claims that there isn’t a added hazard in that division, he acknowledged that the added firmness within the turf might simply ship balls tumbling into the water in the event that they take a flip off the left aspect of the placing floor.

“That’s probably a fair point as well,” Andrews mentioned. “We’ve got the fairways really firm, and the greens are firmer than we’ve seen this time of year. I think all of that plays into it, and this is sort of what the vision for that hole has been all along since it was redesigned.

“So to make that a real risk-reward hole — just fortunately this year we were able to achieve that.”

While the forecast exhibits rain headed in Thursday, search for a extra defensive TPCSawgrass to emerge with a chip on its shoulder.