Seay went on to partner with golfing legend Arnold Palmer to design and build more than 250 golf courses worldwide. Sawgrass CC opened in 1974 and was designed by local golf course architect Ed Seay. He found a golf course at Sawgrass Country Club that was a natural fit for a premium world-class golf tournament. It was then that the Tournament Players Championship, today's PLAYERS was enacted at Sawgrass Country Club, its original "permanent" home.īeman brought the tour and the tournament to Ponte Vedra Beach in order to build upon the excellent volunteer organization support of the Jacksonville Open. In between that traveling circus pitched in three different states and the tradition we now know as The PLAYERS on the Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass was a very important five year period. Now we are able to enjoy the top five tournaments with a sense of measured buildup and timing: the Masters in April, The PLAYERS in May, The United States Open in June, the British Open in July and the PGA Championship in August.
His successor, current Commissioner Tim Finchem made the March-to-May schedule change four years ago and the "fifth major" rising star came into perfect celestial alignment with its more historical peers. While successful, the tournament had the feel of a traveling circus with no home or even a good spot on the schedule.īeman had a dream to bring the PGA TOUR headquarters to the Jacksonville, Florida area and to have a permanent home for the tour's marquee event. Nicklaus won the third edition at Inverrary Golf & Country Club in South Florida on March 1 st, 1976. The tournament came to Florida for the first time with a new date on the schedule but with a familiar champion.
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The story of THE PLAYERS began many years before when Beman became commissioner of the PGA TOUR in March 1974 and implemented, then improved upon the idea of the first commissioner Joseph Day.īeman, the only modern-era professional player to become commissioner of his own sport staged the first PLAYERS, then known as the Tournament Players Championship in August in his first year at the helm.įittingly, Jack Nicklaus the player of the time and of the 20 th century won that first event played at the Atlanta Country Club.Īl Geiberger won the next one which was contested in the 100-degree August heat of Texas at Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth. That would be Jerry Pate's last win on the PGA TOUR but the first of annual PLAYERS Championships on the Stadium Course. This year is the 30 th anniversary of the first PLAYERS held at TPC Sawgrass when in 1982 Jerry Pate won by two strokes and threw architect Pete Dye and Commissioner Deane Beman into the lake and then dove in himself. THE Players Championship is synonymous with the Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass with its iconic island green on the par-3 17 th hole. This is the tenth article in his "Play-Write" series.
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Golf Writer Andy Reistetter continues his exclusive "Play-Write" series recently playing the East-West nines at Sawgrass CC that hosted THE PLAYERS Championship (then known as the Tournament Players Championship) from 1977 to 1981. Sawgrass CC holds a special place in the history of THE PLAYERS.
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