Lush, Green TPC Sawgrass Delivers Again

Score one for the combination of assembling a full field of the best players in the world at an elite venue. Once again, TPC Sawgrass is delivering. The golf course is brilliant for a multitude of reasons, but after seeing the place in person for the first time, I’m most impressed by how much the golf course design facilitates a top-tier fan experience without compromising how it tests players. We’ll get to the presentation of the course in a minute.

When you watch players tackle TPC Sawgrass, you’ll see a variety of clubs used off each tee. Even within single groups where conditions are nearly identical for each player, it isn’t uncommon to see three different clubs and three different shot types hit off the same tee. I spent a couple hours between Thursday and Friday tracking the Aldrich Potgieter, Alejandro Tosti, and Isaiah Salinda group, a collection of players with plenty of speed in the tank. On the 12th tee on Friday, despite telling me earlier in the week that he pulls driver as long as you can fit 10 golf balls side by side in a fairway, Tosti pured a long iron 254 yards down the right side of the fairway. Potgieter and Salinda both hit driver. On the ninth hole during the first round, Potgieter hit a wood off the tee while Salinda and Tosti both fired drivers 20-plus yards past him.

I could supply many similar examples, like the sixth hole, where the re-installed overhanging tree resulted in a wide range of strategies and historically low apex heights on tee shots.

With fairways often pinching at driver length, frequently windy conditions, diagonally designed hazards, and trees framing the field of play, TPC Sawgrass promotes creativity and optionality off the tee. It empowers golfers to take on shots in accordance with their skill and confidence level. Potgieter, one of the speediest players on Tour, smashed a 194 mph drive up and over the trees down the left side of No. 16 on Friday, finding the fairway with the longest drive of the day. Dye’s design rewards players who execute daring shots like Potgieter’s, just as it punishes those who fail in their execution.

The golf course has earned a well-deserved reputation for producing randomness, but that shouldn’t be conflated with failing to identify a worthy champion. Whether Rory McIlroy or J.J. Spaun leaves with the trophy on Monday, the golf course will be crowning a worthy champion. Entering the final round, McIlroy trailed Spaun by four after a mediocre Saturday 73 in tough, windy conditions. Rory opened Sunday’s final round birdie-eagle and by the time weather temporarily halted play, he had stormed out to a one-stroke lead over Spaun with six and a half holes to play.

Down the stretch, McIlroy had his chances to close out the tournament in regulation. Leading by three with five holes remaining, Rory hit a poor tee shot wide right on No. 14 that ultimately led to a bogey. He missed a five footer for birdie on 15, then failed to birdie the par-5 16th, which played a half stroke under par for the day. Sure, McIlroy’s rhythm may have been disrupted by the stoppage of play, but playing the last five holes 1 over in calm, post-storm conditions is below his standard. He should have won this tournament on Sunday evening, as he admitted on the NBC telecast after his round.

As for Spaun, the 34-year-old has the opportunity tomorrow to earn what would be, by far, the biggest win of his career. After a shaky start to his Sunday, he capitalized on birdie chances on both Nos. 14 and 16 after the weather delay. Spaun would be an unlikely winner, but he has been a very solid iron player in 2025 entering this golf tournament. Currently, J.J. is ranked seventh in Strokes Gained: Approach for the season, gaining nearly a stroke per round with his irons. Should he go on to win the Players, it would be the second PGA Tour win of his career (2022 Valero Texas Open). I don’t know how high Spaun’s ceiling is beyond this week, nor does he, but Monday represents a potential career-defining moment for a solid ballstriker who has been able to maintain relevance on the PGA Tour for nearly a decade.

With a potential McIlroy win, Rory would join Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods, and Scottie Scheffler as the only golfers to win multiple major championships and multiple Players Championships. Not only would the win contribute significantly towards an already strong career résumé, it would be Rory’s third win in his last six starts. And he was two or three putts from potentially having five wins in his last 10 starts, as he finished runner-up at both the BMW PGA and the Irish Open in September.

Additionally, another win at Sawgrass would be a testament to how well-rounded McIlroy’s game is. When he won at Pebble Beach back in February, Rory expressed his confidence in taking his game “to any sort of golf course in any conditions, in any setup really.” Contending and/or winning twice this year on golf courses that mitigate a distance advantage, McIlroy’s game is about much more than leveraging one of the highest ball speeds on Tour.

Elsewhere on the McIlroy front, for the first time in a couple years, it seems reasonable to question the size of the gap between world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler – whose game has looked vulnerable so far this season through just four starts – and McIlory, the world No. 2. Entering major season, which features Quail Hollow, one of Rory’s favorite distance-friendly venues, Rory’s game is right where it needs to be.

Before we turn the page on another successful, captivating Players Championship, I’d be remiss not to mention the absurdity of how the PGA Tour presents this golf course. The overseeded setup is grotesque, borne from a desire to satiate viewers at home, who are apparently incapable of appreciating anything about a golf course beyond how green it displays.

Overseeding the golf course instead of letting it play with dormant Bermuda significantly reduces the challenge of playing the golf course, especially from around the greens. Contrary to Brandel Chamblee’s claims, this is a golf course that was designed to play firm, fast, and wild, with a rugged aesthetic. Everything about TPC Sawgrass is perfectly manicured and tame, in a way that offends the eye once you grasp what’s being sacrificed.

Nonetheless, TPC Sawgrass still provided a strong challenge this year. Though I look forward to an era where the Tour realizes that fans are intelligent enough to appreciate the benefits of dormant Bermuda and prioritizes presenting the golf course in its ideal state.

This piece originally appeared in the Fried Egg Golf newsletter. Subscribe for free and receive golf news and insight every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.