Tee shot on 18: High risk, higher pressure

Stan Badz/PGA TOUR

The water is ominous on the 18th hole at TPC Sawgrass -- and the pros avoid it like the plague.

No one on a budget would put 93 octane into a rental car. Or have it hand-waxed for $69.95. Same thing goes when playing the 18th hole at TPC Sawgrass: Flirting with the water simply isn't done. So players don't.

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And heavens mercy, does it ever lead to trouble. Darned if they do and darned if they don't.

Padraig Harrington once called it "maybe the toughest hole on TOUR." And this was before the hole was lengthened an extra 22 yards to its current reading of 462 yards.

"You can make up ground with par," said 2007 PLAYERS champion Phil Mickelson.

"I know I've felt like I've been at a war with not enough troops on that hole," added Stewart Cink.

At first glance, the tee shot doesn't even look that bad. Because of the gargantuan clubhouse that sits just behind it, the fairway appears wide, but once in the fairway, you realize the landing area is only about 90 feet wide. Imagine taking a full swing with water on your left knowing the shot has to hit a space about as wide as the distance between first base and home plate. Less than half of those who play it end up in the fairway. Those who do have a fighting chance at actually making a par.

Chris Condon/PGA TOUR

Sergio Garcia hits his approach shot on the 72nd hole in regulation in 2008.

The ironic thing is . . . the hole might be more dangerous for the straighter hitters. In the final round in 2010, notoriously accurate drivers like Luke Donald and Jim Furyk both found the water, while bombers (more prone to snap hooks) like Dustin Johnson take the water out completely by aiming well out to the right. Finding the water is nearly an automatic double bogey because players will have to make their drop over 200 yards from the pin.

"You just have to try and hit it down the fairway," said Fred Funk, who won THE PLAYERS in 2005 after a near-perfect drive on the 72nd hole. "If you pull it over there (into the water), you pay the price. You've just got to suck it up and hit your best shot.

"Those are two really gut calls, the last two holes. You just have to pull a club and trust your swing."

The resort guests that play the hole the other 11 months of the year don't seem to mind the tee shot, but they don't have the pressure of winning THE PLAYERS. They simply stand on the tee, snap a couple of pics, then they snap a tee shot into the water or slice a driver well right of the trees, right by the cart path. No harm, no foul.

It's almost a badge of honor to dunk a couple of tee shots off the 18th because it's an excuse to swing a couple of more times. That is why a lot of amateurs will aim over the water -- and end up in the water. Fifteen minutes later, they are in the clubhouse with drink in hand discussing how they played the more-famous par-3 island 17th.

Paul Goydos didn't have that luxury. In 2008, a nightmare scenario developed for the 43-year-old grinder, whose biggest win came a decade earlier at Bay Hill. Winning THE PLAYERS would have been unexpected going into the week, yet, he stood on the 72nd hole just needing a par. Just one.

There was only one problem. On that particular day, like a lot of days at TPC Sawgrass, the wind blew from right to left ... from the water. Players who already bail out right see their tee shots drift towards a grove of trees off the fairway. These trees block any approach shot and essentially turn the hole into a par-5, which it did on that day. The field played the hole in exactly 4.843 strokes per man.

Just as so many others had done, Goydos shoved his tee shot right and had to pitch out. Bogey. He ended up losing in a playoff to Sergio Garcia, who earned the right to play in overtime when he parred the 72nd hole.

"It's just a very difficult hole, especially with that wind direction," Goydos said. "The last three days it got away from me on the right. I doubt I'll be last person."

Hal Sutton, among the elite group to win the tournament more than once, secured his win in 2000 after driving into the right side of the fairway. His 6-iron to the green -- "be the right club today" -- was just as much of a celebration of the tee shot that got him into that position.

"I always played [that hole] Point A, to Point B, to Point C," Sutton said. "Point A was on the right side of the fairway about 175 yards out, whatever club I had to hit to get it to that spot."

That is exactly what Tim Clark did in 2010. Needing a par to win the 2010 PLAYERS, he hit a perfect drive ... exactly 175 yards out. He had a clear shot to the green, made par, and the rest was history.

But unlike Goydos, he wasn't in the final group. Luckily for Clark, no one behind him could birdie the 18th hole anyway. And he likely knew that.

"My excitement came out when I made that putt on 18, I think. That was a big relief," Clark said.