Golf

Sepp Straka on the “island of horrors”

Sepp Straka(Bild: APA/Getty Images via AFP/GETTY IMAGES/Cliff Hawkins)

Sepp Straka starts the 50th Players Championship in Ponte Vedra Beach today. The course is famous for the "Island of Terror", as the green of the 17th hole, which is surrounded by plenty of water, is called.

The 50th edition of the Players Championship in Ponte Vedra Beach is endowed with 25 million dollars in prize money. The winner alone receives 4.5 "mil". From today, Sepp Straka will be in the middle of the spectacle, but he hasn't been in the dream form of 2023 recently. His former coach Claude Grenier says: "That's Sepp. He always has phases when things aren't going so well. And then he's suddenly back in full swing because he continues to do his thing unperturbed." The GC Ebreichsdorf pro, who will accompany his former protégé to the US Masters in Augusta this year, believes an explosion in performance is already possible this week: "The TPC Sawgrass is a course that suits him." Sepp finished ninth here in 2022.

Golf balls go for a swim
The course is famous for the "island of horrors", as the green of the 17th fairway, which is surrounded by plenty of water, is known. Every year, 100,000 balls go for a swim there. The pros also battle here. In 2007, 50 balls landed in the water in the first round. Ex-professional Grenier smiles: "I played the course privately in 1986 and was on the green with my first shot." His top favorite for the week is Scottie Scheffler: "He's in fantastic form, although a lot of his game is not textbook. You can't teach or learn what he does. It just happens."