By Bob Harig
Special to ESPN Golf Online
Friday, March 23

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. -- Golfers are drawn to disaster, somehow believing they can avoid all the accidents that have preceded them. That is why players of most every level enjoy the risk at one of the most famous holes in golf.

And yet, most of the best players in the world dread the same hole.

	Tiger Woods says the problem with No. 17 is that there is no place to miss.

It is barely 130 yards -- often less for resort guests who play the course -- but the 17th hole at the TPC at Sawgrass Stadium course is among the most feared anywhere. It also is one of the most enjoyed.

"People come all the time and just want to see the hole," said Pete Davison, the first golf professional at the course and now the PGA Tour's senior vice president of TPC properties. "It's like somebody wanting to see Niagra Falls. It's a tourist attraction."

Those competing in the Players Championship are not nearly so complimentary. To them, it is a hole that must be played. Grudgingly. Tiger Woods may have all but clinched his 1994 U.S. Amateur title at the hole, but he doesn't have much nice to say about it.

Of course, Woods saw his 8-iron shot hit the front of the green Friday and spin back into the water. He made a double-bogey 5, but still shot 69 and trails second-round leader Jerry Kelly by six shots.

"It's wonderful for fans to watch, but any player who understands the game. ... I don't think they are going to say they like the hole," Woods said. "It's not what you'd call a traditional golf hole.

"Sure, it's a short hole. But you've got to have some place to miss it. The pin position (Friday) was two (yards) from the slope on the right. Not a whole lot of room to work with. Because of that, I don't think a lot of guys are going to say it's a good hole."

In fact, Nick Price went so far to say that The Players Championship never has a chance of being considered a major because of the 17th. It doesn't fit with the course, he said.

Price's strategy is always the same: aim for the middle of the green. "If I hit it close on that hole, it's a mistake," he said.

You know it's bad when players start worrying about the hole long before getting there. One shot at a time? Kelly was thinking about the 17th while playing No. 4. He managed a par, but the weekend awaits.

"When 17 is rock-hard, it can get comical at times," said Kelly, who has never won in six years on the PGA Tour. "But I don't think it's that bad of a hole. When the wind gets up, it's tough as nails. Everyone knows that."

Even to the most accomplished players in the world, skilled professionals who hit thousands of short-iron shots a year, the sight of a green surrounded by water with no place other than the putting surface and a tiny bunker upon which to land the ball can be quite a scary proposition.

Many times, they are using just a wedge or a 9-iron. But depending on the wind, they might need as much as a 5-iron. With severe crosswinds, doubt becomes more prevalent.

"Bloody 17th hole," Nick Faldo said. "We all know about 17. I am not a fan of that one because you can hit a knockdown shot and miss the green long. You can hit a very good shot, and it takes one hop and it goes into the drink over the back."

Woods was not the only tournament winner this year to put a ball in the water at the 17th. Mark Calcavecchia and Robert Allenby joined him there. Phil Mickelson found the water Thursday.

"It's just enough to make that shot on 17 extremely difficult," said Mickelson. "Not only do you have to pull the right club, you have to hit it the right trajectory. If you hit it a little high, it's not only going to come up short of the pin but short of the green and in the water. And if you hit it too much, it can take a little skip and go over into the water. Just that little wind can make 17 extremely difficult."

According to Davison, balls are retrieved by divers from the 17th once a month. And they come up with about 120,000 a year.

With 50,000 rounds being played on the course per year, that's an average of more than two balls per player being dumped in the water at 17.

"You'll see people up there hitting one after another," Davison said. "We have a local rule that allows you to hit from a drop zone. But it's still hard to hit that green from 50 yards. No kidding, they'll get to hitting one after another into the water."

It isn't quite that bad when the PGA Tour comes to town, it only seems that way. There were 16 balls hit in the water Friday after 19 went in on Thursday. And it ranked as the sixth-toughest hole of the day.

"There's potential for really high numbers if you hit it in the water," said Fred Couples. "But if you hit the green, you'll par it more often then not."

Easier said than done.

Bob Harig, who covers golf for the St. Petersburg Times, writes a column every Tuesday for ESPN Golf Online.