“Hooks and Slices” will bring you our view on whats happening in the golf world.
This week all eyes are on Pete Dye’s magnificent masterpiece, the TPC Sawgrass. Dye’s revolutionary design 
has been called diabolical by some pros and the signature 17th is the most feared and most exciting hole in golf. The Players Championship is called “the fifth major” with good reason. This tournament garners the best field of all tournaments, including the majors. The players love playing here and performing on the grandest of stadium golf courses. The winner receives many premium perks: a five year PGA Tour exemption, three year exemptions for the Masters and British Open and an exemption into this year’s US Open and the PGA Championship. The tours acknowledge that The Players is a step above a regular tour stop by awarding more points towards the World Golf Rankings to the champion.
Since this tournament started in 1974, the list of past champions is impressive. Nicklaus, Woods, Norman, Trevino, Mickelson, Price, Floyd, Kite, and Wadkins are some of the more illustrious players that have claimed the trophy. Sergio Garcia’s playoff win last year was typical of the excitement that this venue generates.
There are ten past champions in the field. Every tour winner in the past eighteen months will tee it up on Thursday as will twenty one different major winners. It is the best field of the year and this weekend every one of them will have to get past the fabled 17th successfully if they expect a chance at the win. Take a minute to check out some memorable moments at the 17th. You’ll see some aces, a ball thief, Miguel Angel Jimenez without his pony tail, and why Sean O’Hair deserves some revenge. Check it out, it’s better than most.
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