It is roughly one month from THE PLAYERS and that means things are kicking into high gear as TPC Sawgrass continues to transform to host the mass crowd it is expected to welcome onto the grounds throughout tournament week.
THE PLAYERS executive director Lee Smith expressed his excitement as the event gets ever closer during a media day event on Feb. 5 in the TPC Sawgrass clubhouse.
One of the big talking points heading into this year’s event is that the tournament will be celebrating its 50th anniversary.
“What we’re excited about from the 50th standpoint, is to explore some of the unexplored stories and continue to talk about the fact that we’ve never had a back-to-back champion, but also Jack Nicholas won three out of the first five,” Smith said. “We’re obviously going to have some on-site branding and a retail capsule built into the fan shop.”
There may be some fans that did not know that TPC Sawgrass was not the sole home in the history of THE PLAYERS, and in fact it had several venues where it was played, including the first held in 1974 at Atlanta Country Club.
“It is a story that we’re really leaning into,” Smith said. “We went to Atlanta Country Club where the first event was held and we’re going to host their leadership down here during the tournament. Recognizing those things is what we’ve been really having a fun time with.”
THE PLAYERS is scheduled for March 12-17 and will include many of the traditions fans have become accustomed to including the military appreciation concert.
