Jack Nicklaus is the only three-time winner of The Players, although never on the TPC Sawgrass. He still played 10 times on the Stadium Course, and some of the golf courses he has designed have holes that somewhat resemble an island green.

“You knew you were in trouble when you got on the tee,” Nicklaus said. “Sooner or later, it was going to get you. And it was going to get you good, probably. When you’re playing at noon on Sunday at the 17th hole, you knew you weren’t much of a factor and you could care less if you hit it in the water. You didn’t want to hit it in at 6 o’clock on Saturday or Sunday.”

Nicklaus has his concerns about the placement of the hole.

No doubt it adds excitement for thousands of fans who care about little else that seeing one train wreck after another. In another sense, it almost detracts from the other holes that Pete Dye designed.

Then again, if it was placed where Woods prefers — No. 8 instead of No. 17 — it might not be as big of a deal.

“I think that’s what makes an exciting and great hole — and I think it is a great hole — is that it’s in a position where it creates controversy,” Nicklaus said. “That’s the whole idea. You just wonder whether a tournament should be determined by that much of a think at that point in time.”

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Scott escaped with par the year he won, saving his excitement for the 18th hole when he hooked a 6-iron into the water from the middle of the fairway and had to get up-and-down for bogey for a one-shot win.

“The finishing holes here are probably the feature of the golf course,” Scott said. “Playing it is not that much fun, but to watch it is probably a lot of fun. It’s a gimmick to have an island green like that, but it serves a purpose here.”

It has become the identity of The Players Championship, more noteworthy than the strong field, the $9 million purse and even more fun to debate than whether this is the fifth major.

So much talk for the shortest hole on the golf course.

Blame that on an island.

“If that was just a bunker around it and not water, you’d probably find more people would hit it on the grass,” Geoff Ogilvy said. “There’s something about water that does it to people. It’s a fun hole. I’m glad it’s here. You wouldn’t design an island hole on every course in the world, but it seems to work here. It’s cool.”

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