PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. -- Once panned, now praised, the TPC Sawgrass has come a long way from the day when Jerry Pate used a pink ball to win the Players Championship, then did a celebratory swan dive into a greenside pond.
Pate took course designer Pete Dye and then-PGA Tour-commissioner Deane Beman into the water with him, and there were more than a few peers who gladly would have helped submerge the two men who concocted the then-crazy notion of stadium golf.
"It's Star Wars golf, designed by Darth Vader."
None other than Ben Crenshaw, one of the nicest guys in the game, said that back in 1982 when the Players Championship (it was then called the Tournament Players Championship) moved to the new facility at PGA Tour headquarters.
Railroad ties, bulkheads, pot bunkers, target golf these are terms that are common today. But back then, it didn't go over too well.
"It's 90 percent horse manure and 10 percent luck," grumbled J.C. Snead. Asked whether the course suited his game, Jack Nicklaus -- who did his first golf course design at Hilton Head with Dye in 1969 -- said, "No, I've never been very good at stopping a 5-iron on the hood of a car."
Ouch.
"They had a revolution out here, and they wanted to kill me," Dye, 82, said Tuesday at the TPC Sawgrass, where it was announced that he has been selected to the World Golf Hall of Fame in the lifetime achievement category.
Dye smoothed over some rough edges here, and over time, the place began to grow on players as they returned for what has become the PGA Tour's signature event.
Last year, the tournament moved to May for the first time, giving it much-needed separation from the Masters, after the course first underwent a renovation overseen by Dye.
Now in its 27th year at the TPC Sawgrass, the Players Championship has grown in stature right along with the course.
"Every player has opportunities on the golf course," said British Open champion Padraig Harrington. "Everybody can play their own game on this golf course. I think everybody can have a strategy, and there's a lot of different strategies. Probably the greatest thing about the course, you can go out and watch a three-ball out there and they'll consistently hit different clubs off the tee. There's a great amount of choice."
This is why there has been such a divergent list of winners. And why you'd better be on your game to win.
Last year, it was Phil Mickelson, a power player by any measure. A year earlier, it was Stephen Ames, not exactly known for his length. And the year before that, it was Fred Funk, perhaps the shortest -- although straightest -- driver on tour. He was preceded by another power player, Adam Scott.
Tiger Woods, who is not playing this week as he recovers from April 15 knee surgery, has just one victory in 11 appearances at the Players and has not posted a top-10 finish since taking the title in 2001. For whatever reason, his game has not come together here, as he has had just five scores in the 60s in his 24 rounds.
"I think it's a good golf course, when it can give everyone a chance," said England's Lee Westwood, who is making his eighth appearance in the event. "I think it puts a premium on accuracy, but at the same time, if you are a longer hitter, you can hit shorter clubs off some of the tees. More than anything, I think it's the course. If you're good at plotting your way around a golf course, this is a great golf course for that type of player.
"And you really can't get away with [a substandard game]. It's playing faster, and you need to have more control of the ball going into the greens because it's firmer."
That is thanks to the switch of the tournament last year from March to May -- and it's one of the intended consequences. The March date typically meant softer conditions.
Throw in the changes made after the 2006 tournament -- 27,000 tons of sand, new Bermuda grass and a Sub-Air system beneath each green to suck out moisture in case of rain -- and the course is much more the style tournament officials prefer.
"That is all transparent to play except what it delivers are consistent, firm and fast conditions," said David Pillsbury, the CEO for PGA Tour golf course properties. "We've had that before, but it's always been a function of dry weather. We are now able to deliver those conditions year in and year out regardless of weather."
"It's going to be how I think it was envisioned when the redesign was done, where the course was designed to play hard and fast, it will," Mickelson said. "Greens will be tough to hit; they're so small, and it will be a challenge."
The course has always been a challenge, but today it is celebrated rather than scorned.
Bob Harig covers golf for ESPN.com. He can be reached at BobHarig@gmail.com.