PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — Pete Dye’s career opus is TPC Sawgrass’ Stadium Course, 18 holes of perfectly perplexing golf that welcomes the world’s best each year to try to crack the code on a design that can never truly be conquered, only deftly navigated.

This year, the team at TPC Sawgrass led by Director of Agronomy Lucas Andrews, has benefited from what he calls ideal conditions to produce a championship-caliber course. In the days leading up to the tournament, players have commented on a bit more fire in the greens and fairways across the property.

“They’re definitely a little bit firmer than they have been the last couple years,” Scottie Scheffler said Tuesday. “Overall, I think they’re playing really nice right now, and we’ll see what the forecast is as the week goes forward, but definitely firm to start the week.”

“We set up to prepare the golf course for a championship of this caliber,” Andrews, who took over as director of agronomy last fall after 17 years on staff at TPC Sawgrass, told PGATOUR.COM on Wednesday. “There’s not really been a directive that was, ‘Hey, we want to challenge the pros.’ This has just kind of been what we target every single year.”

He credits Northeast Florida weather as a catalyst for helping the staff reach their already-high standards ahead of the tournament.

“Fortunately, the weather has played into our hands to allow us to get to this position. The rough has gotten thicker in the past couple of weeks than we’ve seen previously, and with that we made the collective decision to mow the rough one last time on Sunday and then let it grow through the championship.”

The rough has been notacibly longer to players on the ground, with balls disappearing in multiple areas.

“I’ve heard that it was f4 1/2inches,” said Justin Rose. “So I think it’s a conscious decision to go a tiny bit longer this year. The emphasis is on hitting the fairway. This is a golf course that I’ve always felt, first and foremost, is about getting the ball in the fairway. It doesn’t change your strategy, but it might change the penalty if you’re unable to do part one of your job, which is get the ball in play.”

No bigger example of this bolstered defense is the short par-4 12th, one of the key pillars in the risk-reward arsenal at TPC Sawgrass. The scorecard lists the hole at 365 yards, but tournament officials have an array of tee boxes to choose from, including shortening the hole to as little as 270 yards.

The risk comes from water lining the raised green along the entire left side, while dense trees protect the right side parallel to the putting surface.

In the past, the 12th has often played more like a standard two-shot par 4, with players pulling less than driver and laying up short of the trees up the right side to set up a short pitch into the green. That approach was more in line with Dye’s original vision, as the designer took a rather firm stance against the drivable par-4 concept.

“If you can drive it, it’s not a par 4,” Dye once said when discussing another of his famous designs at French Lick Resort.

The same concept applied to Sawgrass’ 12th, where his trademark mogul-style bunkers helped protect the green from overly ambitious tee shots. That changed in 2011, when Steve Wenzloff was brought in to overhaul the layout.

From then on, the hole assumed its current role as a reachable target for players looking to get their back nine started on the right foot. In 2025, the hole played to a 3.868 scoring average, the fourth-easiest hole of the week.

Over the years, the hole has drawn flack for giving players a bailout area to the right and for having rough between the green and the water on the left that kept poorly struck shots, taking some of the teeth out of the hole.

This year, things are looking a bit different.

“This past summer, the bunker was lengthened on the left-hand side of the fairway,” Andrews said. “The pond was drawn back so you could see it from the tee a little bit more.”

Most notably, a new bunker was added on the right-hand side of the fairway, placed to deter players who might try to bomb and gouge their way up the right side.

“It was kind of a deterrent for really just making it into a bomber’s delight.”

With the firmer greens now in play, there is additional danger to the left of the putting surface.

Contrary to reports, the strip of rough to the left of the 12th green still exists.

“That’s actually the same as it was last year,” Andrews said. “That was a directive established last year with rules and competitions, and we’ve maintained it that way. It’s just been getting a little more buzz this week — I think people have noticed it more.

“I think there is a massive contrast between some of our short-cut areas and then the primary rough. So I think people are more drawn to those spots on the golf course now.”

Despite Andrews’ claims that there is no added danger in that department, he acknowledged that the added firmness in the turf could easily send balls tumbling into the water if they take a turn off the left side of the putting surface.

“That’s probably a fair point as well,” Andrews said. “We’ve got the fairways really firm, and the greens are firmer than we’ve seen this time of year. I think all of that plays into it, and this is sort of what the vision for that hole has been all along since it was redesigned.

“So to make that a real risk-reward hole — just fortunately this year we were able to achieve that.”

While the forecast shows rain headed in Thursday, look for a more defensive TPCSawgrass to emerge with a chip on its shoulder.