TPC Sawgrass

And I'd smashed one.

And to this day, I still don't know what's the right of number nine at TPC Sawgrass.

I have no idea what's the right of those mounds.

I was like, dad, I can get this three wood on the green, but I don't know what's to the right if I don't turn it over.

The Players' Championship tees off in March, but preparations are already underway in Ponte Vedra.

Jacksonville Business Journal Managing Editor Stuart Korfhage invites Lee Smith, Vice President of TPC Sawgrass and the Players' Championship to give us a preview.

Tell me a little bit about how your position has changed and about the person that's taking over day-to-day operations.

Yeah, absolutely.

My role, I think, coming into this year, let's call it as the Executive Director of the Players' Championship, was really, really focused on that one week a year.

And that one week in March was certainly the opportunity for us to put on a great competition for our athletes, a great show for our spectators, and all of that type of thing.

And I think we had a great working relationship with our colleagues, fellow PGA Tour employees and staff members over at TPC Sawgrass, and Matt Boros, who's the general manager over there, and Brian Riddle, the head golf professional, are great friends, great partners of the Players' Championship.

But I think what we saw was while the cohesion and the working relationship was really good, that there was a great opportunity for us to even come closer together around our host venue as well as the tournament.

Has been really hot in contention in Texas where it's normally windy.

Has played well at TPC Sawgrass where it's normally windy.

Obviously won at Shinnecock, which shows that he can play in the wind also and in coastal sort of conditions where you get these blustery gusts that are sometimes unpredictable.

But I think the most glaring and obvious reason is he's the best player and he's playing really well right now.

Yeah, so a real cool story that you'll appreciate is we haven't been to the game, but a few years ago, we went there for that weekend.

The day before at TPC Sawgrass, I interviewed Danny Werfel because him and the Florida Georgia alumni, they actually host a golf tournament, Florida versus Georgia, the day before in Jacksonville, usually in the Sawgrass area.

So I interviewed a whole bunch of people.

Florida and Georgia alumni, Gators past and present, sat with Coach Spurrier and a couple other former players after the golf round.

That's good.

So I've worked with several people, and the ones that stand out the most are Todd Anderson, who's the director of instruction at TPC Sawgrass.

I worked with Todd when I was in college.

I actually worked in his bag room, and we worked together my first 12 years on tour.

They texted me, like, afterwards.

They actually set me up with a foursome at TPC Sawgrass.

They found out I had volunteered at The Players every year since I was eight, so they were literally, like, the nicest people, since he won The Players in 2006.

And every year when I go to The Players, I always take a picture of Stephen's name, and I send it to Kelly.