This island not treasured

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. -- In the midst of torrential rain at The Players Championship two years ago, PGA Tour officials had the unenviable task of reciting a list of troubled spots at their prized possession, the Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass. Waterlogged fairways were the biggest concerns, so many of them that reporters stopped taking notes.

Which offered the perfect time for some levity.

"Is the 17th fairway still under water?" asked a reporter.

The interview room erupted in laughter, as did Mark Russell, a PGA Tour tournament director.

"We're pumping 17, trying to get it out of there," he said.

The humor wasn't lost on anyone, because if there's one absolute in the world of golf, it's the water that guards the island-green 17th at the Stadium Course. For good or bad, it is the annual star at The Players Championship. Without it, "You'd probably lose the allure of the hole," said Tiger Woods, who might stand alone when it comes to incomparable golf skills but has a lot of company when it comes to an assessment of this 137-yard dilemma.

As a purist of sorts, Woods may not like it ("I've always thought that it is too gimmicky for the 17th hole of a championship"), but he will never deny that it lends a distinct flavor and provides priceless drama.

The question is: Does the hole, small as it is, attract so much attention with spectators that it steals thunder from the rest of a course that is universally popular with PGA Tour members?

"Yes and no," said Adam Scott, the young Aussie who won this championship in 2004.

Like Woods, he considers the hole too gimmicky, but he suggests it's perfect for what the Stadium Course is all about.

"I think the reason this is a great golf course is because it's a great tournament golf course," said Scott. "In that respect, they did a great job. It's exciting to watch a tournament here."

Some would argue that the excitement generated at the 17th is NASCAR-like, that patrons flock to it simply to see the crashes -- i.e. balls splashing into the water.

"It is that way, for sure," said Scott. "They want to see us hit it in the water, which adds to the drama of it, I guess."

Said Phil Mickelson, "I think [the 17th] adds to the most exciting finish in golf."

He was alluding to the 16th, a reachable par-5 that is guarded on the right by the same large pond that protects the 17th green, and the par-4 18th, a 462-yarder that features water down the entire left side. This is not a US Open stretch of holes, where you can hang on and win with three pars, perhaps even two pars and a bogey; instead, it's a three-hole stretch where players can make eagles and birdies to win, or disappear from view with double-bogeys and even triple-bogeys.

Take Len Mattiace in 2000. He went from leader to ninth-place finisher in the time it took him to take eight shots at the 17th. Unforgettable is the memory of his tee shot long into the water, then his next into a bunker, from where he bladed a wedge long and into the water. Hello, quintuple-bogey. Goodbye, Players Championship.

"It was tough to watch," said Scott.

Apparently, the young Aussie learned something, because when he walked to the 17th tee as your leader in 2004, Scott employed a simple philosophy. He refused to look at the players ahead of him as they putted out on the green.

"I was very nervous, obviously," said Scott. "I was trying not to think too much about it. We had a short wait and I stood with my back to the green and every thing."

The strategy worked for Scott and perhaps should have been followed by Bob Tway the next year. Sitting 7 under and very much in contention on Monday morning as he concluded his third round, Tway hit four tee balls into the water and recorded the most strokes ever taken at the 17th -- a whopping 12.

"I know it's exciting and adds a lot to the tournament," said Jack Nicklaus, "but maybe almost a little bit too much, at times, because it really becomes such a big factor -- where a guy has played great all week and all of a sudden he can go from first into about 10th."

Or, in the case of Tway, from a tie for fourth into a tie for 72d.

"Obviously, he was in shock. We were, too," said Scott Verplank, who was paired with Tway that day. "I was keeping his score and I'm certainly not going to ask him what he made. I'm up there trying to figure it out and I'm feeling so bad for him."

In that respect, the hole is fair, because at one time or another, just about every serious contender here has hit a tee ball into the water at the 17th. Robert Gamez hit several years ago, and for a long time his score of 11 was the record, so imagine his surprise when he came along after Tway in 2005 and discovered what had happened.

"I didn't think anybody would beat that record," said Gamez. "Eleven is a pretty big number."

And 17 is such a little hole, sometimes as short as 131 yards, rarely more than 142. "And," said Scott, "it's a big green, and we're pretty lucky, because it's only a 9-iron."

True, all of that, but don't start thinking that it's a small gem, because when it comes to short par-3s, the 17th at the Stadium Course rarely gets mentioned as any sort of classic.

"I'm a big fan of short par-3s," said Scott. "Seven at Pebble Beach is a pretty good hole. [The 12th] at Augusta is pretty short. The 11th at Royal Melbourne [in Australia] is probably the best one in the world. That's only a wedge."

But the one that awaits at the Stadium Course, the one with all that water and that island green and the thousands of raucous patrons who'll consume their favorite beverages and wager all day long on which players land safely on the putting surfaces and which ones don't?

Scott smiled and perhaps spoke for most of his colleagues.

"It's a gimmick to have an island green like that, but it serves a purpose here, I think. I think it's a big green."

But of course, it's the bigger pond that often steals the thunder.

The Players
What: PGA Tour event
When: Tomorrow-Sunday
Where: TPC Sawgrass, Ponte Vedra, Fla.
TV: Tomorrow-Fri., 1-7 p.m., Golf Channel; Sat.-Sun., 2-7 p.m., Ch. 7.

Jim McCabe can be reached at jmccabe@globe.com.