I love sports, I love parties. I love sunshine and country club style. So it really didn’t take much convincing to get me to the The Players Championship this weekend in Jacksonville, FL, even though I’ve hardly played 9 holes of golf in my life!
TPC is known as one of the most fun, laid-back tournaments of the PGA tour. It takes place at Sawgrass, a massive golf course/ country club / community in Ponte Vedra, a beautiful part of Jacksonville, Florida. The first thing most people tell you about TPC is to watch out for its most famous feature - the 17th hole.
During TPC, crowds flock to the lawn of the 17th hole. Grandstands are built facing this part of the course, which looks like a giant manmade lake with an island and small peninsula built out. The golfers must hit the ball over the sizable lake and onto the other side. If they miss, and the ball plunks to the bottom of the lake, it is cause for upset on the second to last hole and some rowdy cheers from the crowd.
This past week, in a moment of historic irony, one of the tournament’s players, Rickie Fowler, shot a hole in one on 17th hole while practicing!
All this excitement helps create the laid back atmosphere of TPC. However, over the big course, there are certainly lots of quiet and reserved places to watch the game play out.
Tournament officials hush the spectators at golf tournaments as the professionals plot their putts and drives. So polite and civil- they hold up long signs that say “Quiet Please”. Once the ball is in the air, fans can freely hoot and holler. Another way golf fans would balance the raw excitement of a huge sporting event with the quiet of golf coursewas the low, dull cheer of “Koooooo” that erupted when Matt Kuchar, who won Sawgrass five years ago, stepped onto the green. It is the closest to booing you will hear at TPC.
Even more placid is the beginning of the course, say the first six holes. For a time, we followed around the player’s top players – Louis Oosthuizen of South Africa and Kyle Stanley on this part. It was extra quiet as the Golf Channel was filming and recording commentary on each shot.
That day, Saturday, Stanley and Oosthuzien were leading. I was amused in particular by one of commentators who took time to joke and tell stories between holes and drag on a cigarette while recording! A lot happens at the course that you don’t see on television!
Of course, there are also things that you can ‘t buy anywhere else than TPC, or buy at all, which added another fun element to the tournament for a nascent golf fan. I enjoy being a girl- so I had to hit the gift shop - aka the pro shop.
My best finds was a giant rubber TPC Sawgrass golf ball accessorized with a permanent marker. The ball spoke to me. I loved that it was a toy – a dodgeball sized rubber playground ball, a game –a scavenger hunt to get autographs from every player, a reason to meet the pros, a collective art project, a conversation piece, and an accessory.
Charley Hoffman, Brendan Steele, Blayne Barber, Lucas Glover and Smylie Kaufman all were kind enough to sign. I got to know more names in my quest. Usually rookies are most keen to sign autographs, so I have these players to follow for years!
I may have become a golf fan in two days at TPC Sawgrass, but after this weekend I could be a fan for life!