it’s a tough call, picking out the memorable moment from 50 years of this great championship, there are so many of great moments. And many have proved to be defining moments for the players, career changing, while many also have been dramatic, entertaining, even hilarious for all who were lucky enough to be there—indeed, many more such moments could be added to those I’ve chosen, below.
1974 – Golden Bear heroics
PGA TOUR Commissioner Deane Beman decided he would start a tournament in 1974 for his players, calling his creation the Tournament Players Championship, an event since changed to the well-known PLAYERS Championship. What better way to get the inaugural tournament off to a roaring start than to have the best player in the world—in this case, Jack Nicklaus— win. Cue Golden Bear heroics that make up the tapestry of his legendary career. In a rain-plagued tournament that forced a Monday finish at Atlanta Country Club, Nicklaus did what Nicklaus was prone to do. He shot a final-round 67 to come from three strokes off the lead on the final day to cruise past 54-hole leader J.C. Snead to win by two strokes.
1977 – a home by the sea
After three iterations of the tournament at various well-known PGA TOUR venues in Georgia, Florida and Texas, THE PLAYERS Championship found a permanent home in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, at what turned out to be its temporary home—Sawgrass Country Club, site of the tournament from 1977 to 1981. In the first tournament at the seaside course, Lee Trevino hit a wedge-shot approach on the 72nd hole to a few feet, setting himself up with a birdie putt he would make to win by one. Trevino, a future World Golf Hall of Famer, defeated three other future inductees that year— Ben Crenshaw, by a stroke, and Seve Ballesteros and Tom Watson by two.
1978 – plagued by the weather
Weather was the big winner in 1978, as cold and heavy wind coming off the Atlantic Ocean tormented players all week at Sawgrass Country Club. Only one player during the 72-hole tournament shot a round in the 60s. Mike McCullough fired a 1-under 69 in the third round. Meanwhile, the eventual winner only had one evenpar round to his credit. Jack Nicklaus shot a 70 to open the tournament then followed with a 71-73-75 finish, but that was good enough to leave him at 9-over, one shot ahead of Lou Graham. Nicklaus’ winning, 9-over score matched the same winning score from a year earlier, when Mark Hayes won the PLAYERS without shooting a single par-or-better round.
1981 – the first playoff
At the 1981 PLAYERS, Barry Jaeckel had a chance to win the tournament in regulation, but he missed his birdie attempt, allowing Raymond Floyd and Curtis Strange to join Jaeckel in what would be the first playoff in tournament history. With Jaeckel and Strange making bogey on the first sudden-death hole, all Floyd had to do was make a par, which he did, to not only win the first prize of $45,000 but also to take home a $250,000 bonus for winning two tournaments in a row. A week earlier, Floyd won the Doral-Eastern Open.
1982 – it went swimmingly
It could be golf’s most famous swim, a dip in the water that featured a golfer, a TOUR administrator, and a golf course architect. With Jerry Pate’s orange ball safely on the green, a mere three feet from the cup after a sublime 5-iron approach late Sunday afternoon, Pate knew victory at the 1982 PLAYERS was his. As he strolled toward the green, Pate confidently faced the CBS Sports cameraman walking alongside him and said, “Pete Dye will go for a swim today.” After tapping in for birdie to win his eighth and final TOUR title, Pate, in his pink shirt and visor, looked for Dye but found Deane Beman first, throwing the PGA TOUR Commissioner into the lake adjacent to the 18th green, Beman still wearing his suit jacket. Pate then grabbed Dye, sending him into the water before Pate followed both by diving in himself. Years later, Beman, who conceived the stadium golf concept, said of the tournament and its new, permanent home, TPC Sawgrass, “People remember the splashing in the lake, but I think there was a great feeling that this was going to be something special.” He turned out to be right.
1987 – a costly distraction
The 1987 PLAYERS Championship went to a playoff when Jeff Sluman and Sandy Lyle ended regulation deadlocked after Sluman made a long birdie putt on the 72nd hole to force overtime. It would be the first playoff after the tournament moved to TPC Sawgrass. The two players halved the first extra hole, so Sluman and Lyle headed to the par-3 17th. After Lyle made his two-putt par, Sluman faced a short birdie putt to secure the win. As he prepared to putt, a fan watching decided to jump in the lake surrounding the green. With all the commotion, Sluman backed away. Still shaken by the disturbance, Sluman tried to regroup and went through his pre-putt routine. But he missed the putt, and Lyle eventually won the title on the third playoff hole.
1990 – when serendipity takes over
On Sunday in 1990, Mark Calcavecchia was trying to chase down leader Jodie Mudd, and he had just about done that. Calcavecchia trailed Mudd by a shot when the two players arrived at the par-3 17th. Calcavecchia, playing first, hit his tee shot to the middle of the green. Mudd planned on playing it safe, as well, but instead his tee ball went straight for the flag. Before the ball settled, Calcavecchia looked at Mudd and said, “Tell me you pushed that.” Calcavecchia couldn’t believe under those circumstances that Mudd would hit the shot he hit. Mudd admitted later that he hadn’t planned on going for the pin and indeed had pushed his tee shot. From there, serendipity took over. Regardless of how his ball got there, that shot led to a birdie that gave Mudd the cushion he needed to win.