Special Places - Ponte Vedra Beach

Following hot on the heels of a weather-affected Wells Fargo Championship, the strongest field in golf assembles at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, North Florida for The Players Championship, the so-called fifth major. Ponte Vedra - home to a host of sporting stars and celebrities and one of the most affluent locations in Florida - is a suburb of Jacksonville, the largest city by area in the United States. The Tournament Players Club concept of specially designed venues to host high profile golf events was born here in 1980, and Sawgrass remains the headquarters of the PGA Tour.

TPC Sawgrass comprises two Pete Dye golf layouts, the Valley Course and his masterpiece, the Stadium Course. Specially constructed to be the permanent home of the Players Championship since the event moved here in 1982, Sawgrass meanders across one and a half square kilometres of reclaimed Florida swampland and in one of the toughest golf courses in the world. The Stadium Course features narrow fairways and thick rough together with a liberal sprinkling of strategically placed deep pot bunkers and waste areas. And if those obstacles are successfully navigated, sun-baked and rock-hard lightening-fast greens with difficult contours lie in wait.

As good as the rest of the course is, the abiding image that is conjured up when thinking of Sawgrass has to be the short par 3 17th hole with the island green, arguably the most famous hole in all of golf. 120 metres of pure intimidation, especially when the wind is swirling as it often does, this little gem with its postage stamp sized green almost never came about. Originally, the hole was designed as a much more conventional par 3, with a lake skirting one side of the green. However, Pete Dye’s wife Alice – a respected golf course designer in her own right - suggested the island green concept on a visit whilst the hole was under construction. Her idea that was accepted at the time by her husband without any particular enthusiasm or conviction has become an icon in the world of golf. Alice Dye is officially listed as co-designer of the Stadium Course, and her other credits include Kiawah Island, PGA West and Whistling Straits.

Defending champion South African Tim Clark will try to become the tournament’s first repeat winner and Tiger Woods is also in the field, attempting to put the brakes on his freefall down the world rankings.