A major stage? The Players Championship might be a major one day, but there's really no rush

Golf Digest, April, 2004 by Bob Verdi

When the prestigious Players Championship unfolds in late March, rest assured the tournament shall receive its annual chorus of kudos. Golfers who usually throw compliments around like manhole covers will unbutton their shirts and let their hearts fall out. Spectators will be amazed that so many people can visit a venue offering such a variety of amenities, not the least of which is a room with a view. Even crusty media types will author unsolicited manuscripts about how the Stadium Course at the Tournament Players Club at Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., has become a destination point instead of a place best seen from one's rearview mirror.

Indeed, the Players Championship looks like a major, feels like a major and could be a major. But is it? That's where we draw the line in the bunker. Sam Snead implored anyone who was listening to hold the club as gently as you would a bird, but in its zeal to promote the Players Championship as a fifth major, the PGA Tour is squeezing too vigorously.

Mind you, there is no reasonable doubt that the PGA Tour is the strongest of its kind in the world. You could even argue that the PGA Tour is the best professional league on the American athletic landscape. While baseball, football, basketball and hockey have become bloated through expansion-for-profit by too many teams comprising too many players, the PGA Tour's product is improving because the talent pool is getting deeper.

But that is partly the point. With its mission-control headquarters adjacent to the Stadium Course, the PGA Tour craves a major of its own. Forcing the issue, however, is not the answer. Every March the PGA Tour treats players royally. But after wining and dining them, the video presentations and campaign speeches about the need to validate the Players Championship as a major come across as a side dish of broccoli that wasn't ordered.

Can we agree that the Super Bowl is no worse than tied for first as America's greatest sports bash? Well, even that took time. The first Super Bowl wasn't called the Super Bowl. It was the AFL-NFL World Championship Game in 1967, and there were 30,000 empty seats at $12 per for the Green Bay-Kansas City game at the Los Angeles Coliseum. Moral to the story: Let it happen. Or, as Tiger Woods said when asked what the Players Championship lacks that the four majors don't: history.

When the Stadium Course made its debut in 1982, the players came there to fish. Now they enjoy the golf and say so, without requiring cue cards. Let them do the heavy lifting on this matter of hype. Golf doesn't need a fifth major, or a best four-of-seven majors. But if the Players Championship feels like one, looks like one, and someday becomes one, everybody will know without having to be told.

CRUNCHING THE NUMBERS AT THE TPC'S FAMOUS 17TH

No hole gets more attention during the golf season than the 132-yard 17th at the TPC at Sawgrass Stadium Course. Thanks to the PGA Tour's new ShotLink statistical program, stat geeks around the world can revel in this type of information:

* At last year's tournament, 29 of 417 tee shots (Tiger had one) hit the water.

* There were no aces in 2003, and there have only been six in tournament history on No. 17. Steve Flesch was the closest to the pin at one foot, three inches.

* Of the 71 players who made the cut, 29 hit the green all four days (41 percent).

* Players sank birdie putts inside of 10 feet 58 percent of the time (35 of 60), but outside of 29 feet players made only three of 162 chances.

* On Saturday, 90 percent of the field hit the green. On Sunday, 61 percent.

* Tournament champion Davis Love III hit the green only once during his four rounds, but still made par every day.

* There were no three-putts on Sunday.

* The only player to dunk a shot and finish in the top 10 was Kirk Triplett (T-8).

The Players Championship TVSCHEDULE

First- and second-round coverage (all times Eastern): March 25-26, 12-6 p.m. (ESPN).

Third-round coverage: March 27, 2-6 p.m. (NBC).

Fourth-round coverage: March 28, 1:30-6:30 p.m. (NBC).