Charles W Luzier / Reuters file

The 17th hole at the TPC at Sawgrass is the most notorious in golf, but it is not golf the way it is meant to be played, writes columnist Doug Ferguson.

The island-green is the most notorious par 3 in golf, perhaps the most well-known among mainstream fans.

But it is not golf the way it is meant to be played.

Fred Funk chose to aim his 3-iron from 234 yards over the water and allow the wind to bring it back to land, setting up a two-putt birdie on the 16th for the outright lead. He stood over a 5-foot par putt on the 18 that gave him the biggest victory of his career.

What was the most nerve-racking moment on the final round? The 17th tee, of course.

“It can just ruin the whole week,” Funk said.

Tiger Woods called it a made-for-TV hole, easy for him to say since it usually eats his lunch. He would have no problem if it were the eighth hole of the round, but not one second from the end.

“I don’t think a hole like that should decide a tournament,” he said.

It can decide fate long before that. Bob Tway was four shots out of the lead late in the third round Monday morning when he hit four balls into the water and made a 12, the highest score ever on that hole. Two shots hit the green and spun off into the water. He went from a tie for 10th to a tie for 72nd.

“You’re playing great,” Tway said quietly. “All of a sudden, in one hole, you might as well be finishing last.”

What spared The Players Championship from embarrassment was that the strongest wind in tournament history blew from left to right. Had the direction been downwind or into the players’ faces, it would have become a guessing game which club to use and how far to hit it.

One of these days, that will happen.

Golf is not meant to be fair. One only has to look back to the 2004 U.S. Open, where the USGA outlawed sprinklers. Tee shots would not stay on the bone-dry green at the par-3 seventh at Shinnecock Hills, turning a classic course into a farce. But at least players could aim for the bunker and try to save par.

You can’t play the ball as it lies when it doesn’t stay on the 17th green at Sawgrass.

It is an exciting hole, a dramatic hole. The Players Championship might not be the same without it.

Majors test skill, patience and nerves. At times, they require luck.

But they should never demand it.