Two-Faced: How Sawgrass Was Killed to Save Face, Not The Players

One of the more astonishing things that came up early on Sunday in the final round of the Players was just how much more difficult Sawgrass was playing as compared to the first three days.  The opening two days had seen scoring conditions more reminiscent of the soon-to-be defunct Milwaukee event than a fifth major. 

It wasn't like the US Open at Bethpage last summer that was disabled entirely by soggy conditions for three rounds.  This was the polar opposite.  The long, cold winter that is rare to Florida caught Jacksonville and killed hopes to grow the course in a way that the superintendents would hope.  At their blog, TPC Sawgrass' maintenance staff posted pictures of the course throughout the winter.  It looked brown, somewhat muddy, and like a course on the edge of playability.  The course looked a lot like that on Sunday, too.

What gives?  Typically, a Subair system is used to dry out the course from soggy conditions - not turn it into a desert.  Augusta National uses its Subair both ways: to reign in too much moisture to prevent unreasonable scoring (they use easy pins for that) and to make the course play to the speed they desire.  Experience has taught them what works, like the last few years, and what doesn't.  Remember 2007?

After presenting two days of very easy conditions, they showed signs on Saturday that the Birdiefest would not last as long as Woodstock '69 (sad I have to stipulate that).  Seems like the Tour really dropped the ball on Sunday, when they revealed a collection of greens that would make General Sherman smile.

Sawgrass' 13th green on March 4, May 1, and May 9 (Credit: TPC staff, Getty Images)

Four holes on Sunday yielded 2 birdies or less - 1, 3, 8, and 18.  Over the first three days, these holes allowed a total of 156 birdies.  The whole course allowed 179 on Sunday. 

Saturday scores on these four holes showed that the course was changing.  There were only 25 birdies on these four holes on Saturday.  There were about that many on the first hole on Thursday.

Despite the tougher scoring conditions on Saturday, the course played easier than on Friday by 0.2 shots.  On Sunday, the course played to 74.19 on average.  Tim Clark's 67 on Sunday to clinch his first PGA Tour title seems a whole lot closer to 64 with that knowledge.

Is the explanation for the surging scores simply a bruised ego on the part of the Tour?  The only natural defense that Sawgrass has is wind.  No such luck this week, though it picked up considerably on Sunday.  Unsure of whether or not the ocean gusts would bail out the tournament, perhaps the Tour intervened to dry out the greens to prevent wedge spinning, birdie putts, and the kind of roars that made the 2010 Players' first three rounds extremely exciting.

The Stadium Course is 18 holes of risk-reward golf.  Even the birdie holes present decisions about aggression and strategy.  The Sunday setup, though, prevented much of that strategic thinking to be rewarded.  That kind of thinking is alright at a US Open, where players expect to utter the word "unfair," even if it doesn't apply.  The Masters was remarkable in its consistency this year, restoring what had been lost at the end of the Hootie Johnson Era.  The Open Championship is predictably unpredictable. 

The PGA of America is perhaps the best model for the Players to follow in terms of setup - valuing consistency and allowing scoring in all four rounds.  Let the nerves of the moment dictate scoring, but allow for steadfast players to be rewarded for fighting through all of the distractions and voices.  Fortunately, one player was able to do that on Sunday at the Players.  He was rewarded with his first PGA Tour win.

It is difficult to be critical of a tournament whose fate was not determined until the next to last shot.  Pete Dye's design naturally stuffs the field together into a compact layout, so it seems only fitting that this tournament has a sardine can of a leaderboard most years.  With inherent drama to the tournament, there is little need for the PGA Tour to artificially rig up the golf course to create value in par instead of birdie.  Although this event is one of few on the Tour where the course is a storyline throughout the week, the Tour did not have to do anything to keep its star shining.