The 51st edition of THE PLAYERS Championship is less than a month away and that also means that spring is right around the corner.
Not only is the weather cooler for both spectators and fans than the temperatures experienced during the tournament’s stint in May, but Daylight Savings Time also begins the weekend before tournament week on Sunday, March 9 this year, which means longer days of golf action when THE PLAYERS takes place March 11-16.
There are always certain changes and updates that the event experiences each year, and this year that include new food vendors, spectator viewing areas and an iconic tree limb that makes a return.
Twenty-three locally owned restaurants were a part of last year’s event, and that list is growing even more with Bagels R Us and Carolina Jax set to come into the fold this year.
“We’re always excited to have it where if folks eat the other 51 weeks of the year at Taco Lu, that they can come out to TPC the week of and still have those tacos,” THE PLAYERS Executive Director Lee Smith said. “We’re excited to continue and expand that tradition.”
Course updates for this year include lengthening the distance on a handful of holes, but the most interesting update is the addition of a tree had become famous for hanging over the tournament’s sixth hole tee box before it died and had to be removed in 2014.
“It was left as a symbol by our architect, Pete Dye, that was really iconic and very polarizing,” Smith said. “There were players that hated it and a lot who loved it, but they knew when playing that hole, they had to hit it under the tree limb.”
However, a similar tree was found in the right rough on the No. 6 hole that was transplanted during the offseason and there will now once again be a tree and some classic Pete Dye flare that players will have to deal with when teeing off at the hole.
“When you come and walk the golf course, put the No. 6 tee box on your list to stop by and see,” Smith said.
There will also be a new fan bleacher sitting near holes 10 and 11, which was something that used to be there and is being brought back and features a patio offering a 360-degree viewing area.
“We’re always listening to the fans, and the feedback we got told us that we needed to bring an area like that back,” Smith said.
One thing that does not change is the massive economic impact the tournament continues to have on the community.
“It’s a global awareness platform for Northeast Florida, the PGA Tour, Duval County, St. Johns County and the surrounding areas,” Smith said.
According to Smith, an example of how that occurs is that 50 million hours of last year’s television broadcast was consumed worldwide across 225 different countries and delivered in 28 different languages.
“You talk about the opportunity to put together a commercial for our Chambers and the area,” Smith said. “Our global footprint is only going to continue to expand as we go forward.”
Some of the ways in which THE PLAYERS and PGA Tour are looking to grow the footprint even more is with the recent creation of the PGA Studios and the world feed broadcast, which will designate cameras just for certain international players that media broadcasts from those countries can use.
“There’s about 19,000 hotel rooms within about a 30-mile radius of TPC Sawgrass, and those hotel rooms are about 90% occupied during the week of THE PLAYERS and last year we had about 680,000 passengers come through Jacksonville International Airport, which were both the busiest weeks of the year,” Smith said.
Over the years the event has also generated $234 million in annual economic impact in Northeast Florida, which also includes helping support more than 300 local charities during that time.
