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Editor's note: As THE PLAYERS Championship takes on a new look and a new spot in the schedule, PGATOUR.com thought it was time to sit down with former PGA TOUR Commissioner Deane Beman. The man who created the event in 1974 and nurtured it through the early years and a move across A1A to the TPC Sawgrass and its PLAYERS Stadium Course spent time recently with PGATOUR.com Correspondent Melanie Hauser.

PGATOUR.com: What did you envision when you created the tournament 25 years ago?

Deane Beman created THE PLAYERS in 1974. (Greenwood/WireImage)

Beman: What we envisioned was to have a championship for the PGA TOUR and the players in the same way the R&A had a championship and the PGA (of America) had a championship. It was important for the organization in the same way the PGA has the PGA Championship for the TOUR to have it from, not just a status standpoint, but from a practical standpoint because the TOUR needed to start to build important and significant events around which they would put television emphasis. THE PLAYERS was the first one we created then, very quickly after that the World Series of Golf was moved from four-man exhibition to what is now the (World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational). Then THE TOUR Championship and then, in the middle '70s, we awarded Jack and Arnold each a tournament which became special events. Any sport has to have special events to package around their week-to-week events for television packages. We had none of those.

PGATOUR.com: Reflecting back on the transformation of both the tournament and the course, what's your take where both are today?

Beman: It was never going to be a sprint. It was always a marathon to establish an important, significant event in a traditional game like golf that's accepted by the public. It took a lot longer than we thought it might, but we felt if we developed a tournament that was one that had as challenging and fair a test of golf for all players regardless of how they played the game at the highest level -- whether they were long hitters or medium hitters -- if we had the best condition, the best field and the highest purse that we could reach a really high standard which we did.

Right now with the new golf course redone and the new facilities to host the tournament, what you're going to see here is a tournament that sets the standard in every respect.

PGATOUR.com: Pete Dye's TPC course created quite a stir when the tournament moved across A1A. What do you recall from those early tournaments?

Beman: It was a combination of things. I think the players were getting the feel that it was their championship and wasn't somebody else's. ... It was probably on the other edge of fair the first time we played it. It only took a few years to smooth out those rough edges and get it to a place to where the players had not only a terrific challenge, but a fair test. Players have had their input from the beginning. It was called THE PLAYERS Championship and we wanted it to be more than just name only. We wanted them to have a feeling that it was their championship. And I think they feel that now.

PGATOUR.com: Looking back what was the most amusing thing ever said about Dye's course?

Beman: I'm not sure anything (specific) comes to mind. But at the time, it didn't seem amusing.

PGATOUR.com: There weren't really any dinosaurs or elephants buried out there, as someone once suggested, were there?

Beman: Uh, no. After we played it the first year, we formed a small committee of players to come in and look at it and after they started looking at it, rather than being in the heat of battle, but actually walking around and looking at it as a designer or an architect would, we made some minor modifications, but no major modifications. Nothing's ever been re-routed out here. Every hole looks the same as it used to be but a little tuck here, elevate a green a little to get another pin position, smooth the creases in some of the greens. It didn't take much; it was just a shade the other side of being a little too severe. When we raised a few places and expanded a few areas for pin placements, it did the trick. It wasn't very expensive to do.

PGATOUR.com: Any regrets? Anything you would have done differently in the early years?

Beman: I think we did so many things right -- you're never going to get everything right --- I think we were very willing to accept suggestions from Pete Dye, from the players who played it, to the people who were setting up the golf course. I think it was a really good team effort to smooth out the little rough edges.

PGATOUR.com: What do you think of the new dates?

Beman: I think that it's going to be very successful. When you look at the schedule -- what else is going on in sports around you -- it allows the world of golf to focus in. I fully expect it to be very successful.

PGATOUR.com: What is your favorite PLAYERS Championship moment?

Beman: I don't have one. I have several, all to do with the heat of the battle. Jerry Pate's second shot at 18, Hal Sutton's second shot at 18, Freddie Couples' shot into 16, the exchange between Fuzzy Zoeller and Greg Norman. Mark McCumber when he makes birdie at the ninth hole. I remember that vividly as the catalyst to holding it together to win on the back nine.

PGATOUR.com: Chances are, everyone's favorite memory of you is that moment when you and Pete Dye went into the water with Jerry Pate in 1982. What is your favorite moment involving yourself?

Beman: I just don't have any. The tournament was never about me. Certainly I was involved in it, and conceived the idea and developed the concept of stadium golf and put the business deal together to make it come about. I just never looked at it in those terms, I looked at it as THE PLAYERS Championship.

PGATOUR.com: What about that dive into the water?

Beman: That's not something I think is important. The way the 17th hole plays is more important than getting wet on 18.

PGATOUR.com: Speaking of the 17th hole, it's has been called the most infamous hole in golf. Do you agree?

Beman: I think it is. It's the most focused on. It's one of those great things in sports and life. It wasn't contrived. It wasn't that someone sat down and said, 'gee, let's sit down and do something that's impossible and will get a lot of attention.' It's just sort of evolved. And that's one of the beauties of the 17th hole.

PGATOUR.com: Take a guess. How many golf balls have landed in the water over the years?

Beman: I don't know. My guess would be between 50,000 and 75,000 a year.

PGATOUR.com: How many have you put in there?

Beman: As few as I can. Not too many. But I have put a few of them in it.

PGATOUR.com: What's your favorite hole to watch?

Beman: I don't have just one. I like to watch the afternoon on Sunday and how the players are able to handle starting at 13 and finishing -- either when they have the lead or whether they have the chance of catching the leader. The course was designed that, starting at 13, so that even a three- or four-shot lead wasn't safe. And a player still had to play aggressively because starting at 13, you could play very, very good solid golf and play even par and play even par on the way in. And a player playing aggressively, could shoot 3 or 4 under. It's a real test of your skill and your ability to handle adversity and the pressure. And I like to watch the entire finish.

PGATOUR.com: What's your favorite hole to play?

Beman: I like to go practice over there at the practice area.

PGATOUR.com: Now, the major question. Is it or isn't it?

Beman: It's the best tournament that can be put on -- in every respect. From the standpoint of -- the golf course and the fairness of the challenge of it, the volunteers, the organization, the field, the financial reward, the clubhouse facility -- now it's the highest standard in the world. It's the standard by which all facilities will be judged in the future. And we can't do anymore than that. I consider it the best tournament in the world. The moniker the press puts on up ... it's up to them. We did all we could do to make it the best event in the world. And we did it. I did that for the 21 years I was there and Tim Finchem and his crew have done a fabulous just of taking it to a new level. And that's all you can do.

PGATOUR.com: You are receiving the Lifetime Achievement award during the week. What does it mean to you at this point in your life?

Beman: It's nice to be remembered. I'm real forgettable.

PGATOUR.com: Where do you see THE PLAYERS in 25 more years?

Beman: I think it's going to be considered the best. It always will be the favorite of the players. It should be. The players continue year after year to feel more it's their championship and they will even moreso this year. So I think it's going to continue to rise in stature.