The Players Wrap & Pinehursting TPC Sawgrass

I've decided The Players is one of the best tournaments to attend in part because it's a community gathering as much as a golf tournament. The purists do not care for that, especially so soon after the Masters where the party is restrained and kept away from the golf course. I certainly get the appeal of that, but in a beach community like Ponte Vedra, the annual addition of new elements and other touches keeps the event fresh.

More tournaments should incorporate things like the outstanding food truck court introduced this year, if nothing else to raise the bar on sports event eating. How the idea of having a mix of funky Airstreams serving eclectic food got approved by Commissioner Monk is beyond me, but perhaps the highy edible quality of their grub appealed to a man who is passionate about healthy living.

It's also amazing how many children-Americans attend during the week, and that always lends a great vibe to The Players. It's especially fun to see at the driving range where a moving fence never keeps the fans far away from golfers hitting balls, allowing them to listen in as the contestants warm-up. Few tournaments let you do that.

As for the golf course, the conditioning questions going in were more than adequately resolved by superintendent Tom Vlach's team. And as Geoff Ogilvy said in the post on Matt Every's ridiculous remarks, most players would not have known anything was off kilter had the tour not sent out some alerts.

The visual presentation of the course, however, continues to deteriorate from the original vision into a Victorian garden that has stripped TPC Sawgrass of a once-a-year-must-see-TV spectacle.

I lay out a case in this week's Golf World for Pinehursting the TPC. Sadly, the best opportunity to do this comes after next year's Players when the greens are re-grassed, but Tim Finchem will still be calling the shots and I don't foresee he or Pete Dye telling the players to shut up and embrace a more interesting and sustainable look. Then again, Pinehurst might change minds.

And it's always fun to think out loud, which Golf World kindly let me do this week. Anyway, you can read all about it here...and also don't hesistate to go back and read Ogilvy's two-year-old Golf World column on a similar topic, referenced in the story.