Pete Dye’s name is one you’ll hear quite a bit this year around the PGA Tour. Sure, you hear it often as it is, but this year, two of the five biggest events on the schedule — this week’s Player’s Championship at TPC Sawgrass and the PGA Championship this Augusta at Whistling Straits — will be contested at Pete Dye-designed courses.
Having been the host of the Players Championship since 1982, the Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass is the place most closely associated with Pete Dye. Rightfully so, but Dye’s other tracks are no slouches in their own right, frequently being featured in “top courses” lists, having hosted multiple major championships on the PGA, LPGA and Champion’s Tours and perhaps the most memorable Ryder Cup in history.
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Pete Dye once said, “Golf is not fair, so why should I build a fair golf course?” That explains why if you spend any amount of time on golf blogs or chat sites, you’ll find people complaining about his courses. Some have gone as far as to categorize Dye’s work as 7,000 yard mini golf courses. Of course, this clearly comes from a place of jealousy and frustration for amateurs — but these tests are exactly what professional major tournaments call for.
Marked by railroad ties, strategically placed bunkers, heinously positioned mounds and undulations, Pete Dye courses are as unmistakable as they are frustrating — but they’ve stood the test of time and provided golf fans with some of the greatest moments in recent memory:
“Better than most!” – Tiger Woods’ career is basically one big, gigantic, seemingly never ending highlight reel filled with improbable golf shots accompanied by iconic announcer calls. The famous, “better than most” call came at Dye’s crown jewel in 2001 when Woods buried a double breaking 60-footer from the back side of the famous 17th hole at TPC Sawgrass. Woods made the putt and went on to win his first Players Championship, adding yet another jewel to his collection:
“Be the right club today!” – In 2000, Tiger Woods was nearly unbeatable. By the end of the year, he had completed the career grand slam and established himself as arguably the greatest of all-time — but he’d have to wait until 2001 to claim victory at The Players Championship. That’s because Hal Sutton wasn’t quite ready to lay down and hand the title to Woods. Sutton, who won The Players in 1983, battled Woods all week, before delivering the final dagger on 18 with the 6-iron of his life — you might remember it:
DJ in the Bunker – Remember that quote earlier about golf not being a fair game? In 2010 at the PGA Championship, Dustin Johnson found that out first hand. At Dye’s Straits Course at Whistling Straits, DJ fell victim to a mistake that no one saw coming. Coming up 18 on Sunday, Johnson had a chance to claim his first career major championship. Instead, he missed out on a playoff with Bubba Watson and Martin Kaymer because he grounded his club in a bunker that he mistook for a waste area. The footage is sickening to this day, especially considering Johnson still hasn’t claimed a major championship:
War on the Shore – The 1991 Ryder Cup matches at Kiawah Island will go down in history as the greatest of all time — if you’re an American, at least. Even if you’re not, it’s hard to argue against the fact that the “War on the Shore” was what made the Ryder Cup the event that it is today. With Pete Dye’s newest gem as the backdrop, the Europeans and Americans engaged in a battle for the ages with the U.S.A coming out on top. The week was filled with trash talk, clutch (and not-so-clutch) shots that will be remembered forever. Seriously, who can forget the car accident, the rivalry between Seve Ballesteros and Paul Azinger, or Bernhard Langer’s miss and subsequent celebration by the United States?
John Daly wins at Crooked Stick – In 1991 at Crooked Stick, we were introduced to John Daly. The man who would become legend, shocked the golf world by winning on one of its biggest stages — the PGA Championship. Daly began the week in Carmel, Indiana as the ninth alternate into the tournament. After Nick Price withdrew late, a place opened up for Daly. He hired Price’s caddie and then proceeded to put on a clinic, eventually winning by three strokes over Bruce Lietzke:
Pete Dye’s course may catch their share of flack for being too tough or unfair, but the fact of the matter is his tracks have played host to some of the most memorable moments in recent memory and has seen some of the games best lay claim to the titles they host. Besides the notable major venues in Dye’s portfolio, he also boasts courses like Harbour Town, TPC Louisiana, and the Dunes and Mountain courses at La Quinta Resort — all PGA Tour stops.
This year, the PGA Championship returns to Whistling Straits in Kohler, Wisconsin for the third time since 2005. Once again, Dye’s diabolical genius will be on display — just like it is every spring at the Players Championship.
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