The Players Championship will no longer end in sudden death at the par-3 17th hole of the TPC Sawgrass Players Stadium Course.
Any pros going to a playoff will now have more work to do before and after the fearsome tee shot at the Island Green.
The PGA Tour announced on Wednesday morning that beginning this year, The Players will go from a sudden-death playoff to a three-hole format at the par-5 16th, the par-3 17th and the par-4 18th. The pro with the lowest aggregate score will win the Tour’s crown jewel event and with it, $1.8 million and 600 FedEx Cup points.
Wow, 600 FedEx points. What are those worth on the black market? Though you better sell them before the dreaded reset...
This is a staggeringly logical move, as I think we all have misgivings about major championships (and the Players is, of course, the fifth of four majors) being decide in sudden death, especially on a one-shotter of such renown quirkiness. To which I'll add that the three-hole finishing stretch at TPC Sawgrass is such an obvious fit for this, that it's staggering that it wasn't done decades sooner.
This is merely a jumping off point for me, but I can't leave this subject without hearing from Commissioner Ratched:
“Having it end on one swing has been sort of the argument against [starting a playoff] 17,” Finchem said. “But this had much more to do with the upside of the other format and not much to do with any downside. I think it’s a phenomenally exciting format.”
That's our Commissioner Sunshine, for whom the glass is always half-full.
Which got me to thinking about the Masters, the only major championship still decided by sudden death. As you're no doubt aware, the U.S. Open still comes back Monday for an 18-hole playoff, and the Open Championship and PGA use four and three-hole formats, respectively.
The other bit worth noting is the extent to which the poo-bahs in Augusta play with fire. For each of the 2012 and 2013 playoffs, as dramatic as they were, there was no available light to play another hole had they not concluded on the second hole. At some point a Masters playoff will spill into Monday, which I don't think will make anyone happy.
I first strated thinking about this issue after reading this John Garrity piece from the Masters preview edition of SIG+D. John's argument is to avoid using the 18th for playoffs, since the guys played it 20 minutes ago and we'll simply see them play it the same way ad nauseum until one guy misses a 5-footer.
I get the argument, though that hasn't been the reality. We've seen Tiger beat Chris DiMarco by making birdie after making bogey in regulation in 2005 (though DiMarco missed the same birdie chip from short of the green both times), Cabrera make a great escape from the woods on the right and the like. But my thoughts are that a three or four-hole playoff would be far preferable to sudden death, but would requite moving tee times up by at least an hour (the last group went of at 2:40 p.m. local time).
Let me take a moment to dispense with everyone's wet dream of a three-hole playoff in Amen Corner. Ain't. Gonna. Happen.
As you can readily see from the aerial view above, Amen Corner is at the far reaches of the property, and the logistics of getting golfers and drunk spectators refined patrons in position is a non-starter. Plus it's the lowest spot on the property, that which will lose daylight earliest.
What I do like in John's piece is the concept of using the first hole, a stout Par-4, and I especially like the idea of moving the hole location. From the map above, I could easily see a three-hole playoff on Nos. 1, 2 and finishing on 18. Play on the first two holes would give them time to cut a new hole on the back of the 18th green, and would allow play to finish in front of the largest grandstand. The only thing missing is a one-shotter, but the Par-3's are all geographically-undesirable. Unless you really think outside the box and stick a set of tee markers in the 18th fairway.
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