(Editor’s note: With the Players Championship just days from starting, we’re taking a look at the famous 17th hole in a series of posts from longtime Florida Times-Union golf writer Garry Smits. This is the second. Here’s the first about how Alice Dye inspired the island.)
Taylor Swift doesn’t just make money on her music; she makes gobs of money on clothing, hats, phone cases, jewelry and accessories. TPC Sawgrass is no different.
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Fans going into the PGA Tour Fan Shop the week of The Players can find T-shirts, hats, golf towels, glasses, coasters, key chains and hoodies branded with the Island Green or simply the number 17.
Lea Osol, the TPC Sawgrass Director of Merchandising, said there are 10 versions of the Island green on items for sale in the Fan Shop, from photographs, paintings and graphic designs.
The 17th hole at the Players Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass is the subject of numerous items of apparel at the PGA Tour Fan Shop.
“It’s our iconic hole and people like to purchase products with No. 17 on it,” she said. “It’s hard not to get excited about that.”
Then there’s the setting. Avid golfers have proposed to their future wives at No. 17. Fans have secretively scattered the ashes of deceased loved ones in the pond (the ashes of one Tour caddie, Brad “the Mad Russian” Krosnoff, were sprinkled into the water at No. 17 in 2003 by fellow caddies). Fans wandering into the TPC Sawgrass Clubhouse implore the “Storytellers,” or guides to take them on a cart to the 17th hole just to take photos.
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If a plot of land could sign autographs, No. 17 would.
But has it become too much flash for a par-3 hole, one of the shortest played on the PGA Tour?
Can it be that hard and therefore, that famous, or infamous, depending on your last swing at the hole?
Rory Mcllroy eyes his shot on the 17th green during the second round of the 2025 Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass.
After all, Lee Trevino once said that if it was surrounded by nothing but grass and sand, “they’d all make birdie.”
Does the 17th hole dominate the tournament to the detriment of 17 other spectacular and/or difficult holes?
“No. 17 has stolen the show, publicity-wise,” said 1988 Players champion and architect Mark McCumber. “It’s the hole you think about when you think about The Players. I’m not saying I love that. Architects don’t like the phrase ‘signature hole,’ and Pete was no different. It means, to me, that I’ve only built one hole in 18 that stands out.”
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PGA Tour veteran Jim Furyk, who made 23 starts in The Players, doesn’t mind the emphasis on No. 17 and said it’s part of Dye’s overall plan for the final three holes: the par-5 16th, No. 17 and the par-4 18th.
“I don’t know if [No. 17] overshadows the rest of the course,” he said. “I think the finish is exciting. So much can happen at No. 16 … risk-reward, eagles or bogeys and you have to hit two great shots at No. 18 to have a chance at birdie. But I like the way they’ve marketed No. 17 when tournament time comes. No lead is safe.”
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: TPC Sawgrass No. 17: Hole steals show, even has its own merch line
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