Valley's No. 5 not quite 17; Par-3s could be key

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PGA TOUR

The 5th hole at Dye's Valley (left) can pose a challenge similar to the famous 17th at the Stadium Course.

Let the record show that No. 5 at the TPC Sawgrass Dye's Valley course is not No. 17 at the Stadium Course.

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No hole is.

But the 153-yard par-3, the second par-3 players will face at the Winn-Dixie Jacksonville Open presented by Planters, shares some of the world-famous island green's characteristics with about two-thirds of its putting surface protected by water and little margin for error.

"No. 5 is similar but, as everyone knows, there's no comparing 17 to any other par-3 because there is no room for mistake," said Tommy Gainey, currently No. 3 on the Nationwide Tour money list. "On No. 5, you can bail out to the left and be long or in the bunker and be OK."

By "OK," Gainey means "in play" with a green sloping away from the bunker and likely pin positions down the slope and close to the hazard.

"You just have to pick your poison," he said. "You can play it safe and be far from the pin with maybe a tough bunker shot the way the green slopes, or play aggressive and bring the water into play."

Though there is room to miss left, a slight miss any other direction could spell disaster.

Daniel Summerhays, currently No. 4 on the money list, has two second-place finishes in his last four starts and thinks a conservative approach to the hole is best.

"You can't be greedy on a hole like that," he said. "Just stay patient and hope to leave with a par."

Summerhays doesn't think there will be much opportunity to attack the pin from the tee box this week.

"They have a lot of options for pin positions," he said. "They can have it on the right, back left, or front and the water is in play. You just need to play to the center of the green and hope to make a 20-30 foot birdie putt."

MORE ON THE PAR-3s

The Dye's Valley Course features four par-3s ranging from 153 yards to 227 yards in length. Bunkers are in play on each of the four holes with water threatening two of the greens.

These holes can be tricky because, unlike par-4s and par-5s, players have no say in where they hit their approaches to the green.

"If you look at handicaps on most courses, they always say par-3s are some of the easiest holes," Summerhays said. "That's just not true. They can be the most difficult. Everyone must hit the same shot and you have to be able to work the ball from right-to-left and left-to-right to be in good shape."

The handicapping is no different at Dye's Valley with the 227-yard 11th hole as the only par-3 handicapped among the course's toughest 10 holes. Like No. 5, water protects the right side of this large green.

"It's a long par-3 but the green has been decently soft this week," Summerhays said after a practice round. "There is some leeway there... If the wind blows, it can be a headache, but if not, there will be more birdies than you'd expect on a hole like that."

Birdies on par-3s will be a lift to players this week, trying to navigate a course with rough better than three inches tall and greens rolling around a 12 on the Stimpmeter.

"The narrowed fairways and long rough will make the course play difficult," Gainey said. "You can't score from the rough. Any shot out of there will have to be a lay-up, just trying to advance the ball. It's treacherous... The greens are soft for now but they had good speed to them on Tuesday. Come Thursday-Friday you will see some serious speed."

With the course playing difficult this week, avoiding disaster on par-3s will go a long way to helping players find success.

"If you just play the par-3s even this week," Gainey said, "you'll have a chance to win this tournament."