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As you can see this assures the field each year
at The Players Championship will include only
the best golfers from around the world.
The Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass was
envisioned by former PGA Tour Commissioner
Deane Beman and constructed by the famed
golf course design duo, Pete and Alice Dye. It is
one of the most difficult courses in the country
and the island green at the 17
th
hole produces
drama, gnashing of teeth and shaking of heads.
The course and how players adjust to it is always
one of the biggest stories at The Players.
It was the first tournament to offer a $10
million total purse, with $1.8 million, plus a
five-year PGA Tour exemption, awarded to the
winner. The only other tournaments to award a
five-year exemption to their winner are major
championships.
The tournament was first played in 1974
and is only 42 years old. It is a mere toddler,
when compared to The Open Championship,
which began in 1860 or the U.S. Open, first
contested in 1895. The Players Championship
lacks the history and connection to past eras of
golf. Walter Hagen, Byron Nelson, Sam Snead
or Ben Hogan never had the opportunity to
win a Players Championship Trophy. Since
the Players Championship is a relatively new
tournament, it must wait for time to add the
tradition and spectacle that the other four
major championships possess.
With the best field in golf, contested on one of
the most difficult golf courses in the world and
the largest purse in golf, The Players deserves
to be a major championship, but purists will
not allow that lofty status until it is around for
another 50 or so years.
NWO Golf Links