Wednesday 10 May 2017 08:27, UK
The Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass has undergone a significant renovation ahead of this week's Players Championship, and the field are looking forward to the new challenge.
Much like the West Course at Wentworth has been given a major overhaul in preparation for the BMW PGA Championship later this month, all 18 greens at Sawgrass have been relaid, while seven holes have been restructured.
Work on the course started the day after Jason Day cruised to a four-shot victory 12 months ago, with the biggest change coming at the 12th which has been reduced from 358 yards to 302 and is now a reachable par four from the tee.
There are also cosmetic changes at the 12th, with a large fairway bunker replacing the mounds to the left and a pond being built to catch anything left of the redesigned green, while a bunker to the right of the fairway has been removed and is now rough.
A new water hazard has been built in between the sixth and the 451-yard seventh, which has been lengthened by nine yards, and there are 372 less trees over the entire estate due to the damage caused by Hurricane Matthew in October last year.
Tournament officials came under fire for "losing control" of the course at last year's Players Championship after the firm, fast conditions caused scores to soar over the weekend.
Here's what the players are saying about the new-look Stadium Course:
"Probably some of the best conditions I've seen here. It's nice to have the greens resurfaced, they're very consistent and they're firm out there for sure. And to see some of the subtle changes, a little less movement in a lot of greens, allowing for the greens to be firm and fast if they want to get them there and a lot more runoff in chipping areas.
"So it will be fun to see how it plays this week, seeing that we're going to have good weather and they will have full control of the golf course."
"Ten, 11 and 12 are very gettable birdie holes. Obviously, this is depending on where and what you do and how you go about it, but what's so great about it is that you have to position yourself well, especially around this golf course, to give yourself the opportunities to make birdies.
"But 10, 11, 12, you can make that run, but then you don't really have a breather. The 13th is a difficult par-three, 14 is a very difficult par-four, and then 15 one can go either way, depending on how you drive it."
"The 12th hole with the changes offers you a little bit of risk and reward. But even if you do get it up around the green with that little pot bunker on the right and obviously with the water and run-off on the left, it's going to be a tough three. So depending where the pin is, where the tee is, I think you're going to see a mixture of guys laying up and going for it."
"I see the long hitters hitting three-woods off the tee at 12, and I can see Dustin hitting an iron on the green there. It's going to be exciting, you're going to see some eagles and you're going to see a lot of birdies. But you're going to see a couple of disasters, because if you really hit a poor tee shot, you can get in the rough on the downslope, chipping towards the water, and some bad things can happen.
"But that's like everywhere here at TPC, I think it's a great golf course because it's exciting for a tournament. Obviously, the finish just lends itself to excitement no matter what happens, good shots and bad shots equally. It's risk and reward, it's penal, and lots of things happening out there all the time. I think that's interesting for people to watch."
