Who doesn’t loved the famed 17th-hole island green at TPC Sawgrass?

The signature tee shot from The Players Championship has rewarded many who can carry the water and land safely with the best collective sigh ever experienced in golf.

The good news for golf fans (but no so much for the players) is this year’s tournament will now incorporate the 17th into a three-hole aggregate playoff, conspiring with the par-five 16th and par-four 18th to put some unlucky golfer into cardiac arrest. I’m already rooting for a dramatic finish! (Minus resuscitation.) If tied players get through that gauntlet, then it will revert back to sudden death, starting at, you guessed it.

Last year, Tiger Woods won the “fifth major,” the second time he has done so in his career, besting Sergio Garcia when the Spaniard was undone by two balls plunked in the water on No. 17.

Woods is still shelved with injury, in case you’re wondering. Notable former champions in good form are Matt Kuchar (2012), Henrik Stenson (’09), Garcia (’08), Phil Mickelson (’07) and Adam Scott (’04).

The bad news for this week is that four greens are in horrible shape. Looks like Mickelson can get his trusty criticism ready for response.

But the Stadium Course greens issue is noteworthy because, while frustrating, you’ve got to play the course that’s in front of you. Strong tee shots will be at a premium to keep the ball out of water, swampy grasses and pot bunkers.

Here’s a bit of trivia for you: Who is the only player in the field to finish the last four years in the top 25? Think on it. The answer is below in this week’s edition of Risk, Reward, Ruin.

RISK

J.B. Holmes’ win at Quail Hollow in the Wells Fargo Championship may turn out to be the feel-good story of the year, following a return from two major surgeries and a slew of other health problems. Holmes is in the field and has played well through the years in Ponte Vedra. He didn’t get a mention last week, but made my Yahoo lineup. There will always be good players who don’t get a nod in this column, but let’s take a minute to highlight a few with a lot of promise and maybe a caveat or two.

Matt Kuchar

Closing ability. There’s your risk, because you can’t just hole out bunker shots every time you lose a lead. For every other aspect you want in a golfer, Kuchar has it. He’s got four consecutive top-5s, including a fortunate win at the RBC Heritage in his last start. He also has seven other top-10s. He also won The Players, just two years ago, and has made his last five cuts.

Jim Furyk

Furyk is certainly beginning to get hot at just the right moment. A T20 at the Valspar Championship preceded a T6 at the Valero Texas Open, which then led to a T14 at The Masters, which in turn yielded a T7 at the RBC Heritage and a solo second last week at the Wells Fargo Championship. Furyk’s success at TPC Sawgrass is also equally impressive with eight top-25s in 14 made cuts, highlighted by a T5 in ’09 and a T3 in ’06. He’s only missed the cut four times, but two have come in the last three years.

Lee Westwood

Coming off a missed cut at the Wells Fargo Championship, Westwood could slip under the radar but warrants strong consideration. With a T8 last year and a T4 in 2010, he’s had success at TPC Sawgrass. He also finished solo seventh at Augusta, which we all know is the pinnacle of being smart in navigating a course. One of the biggest things going against him is statistically he sits 61st in total driving and 146th in GIR. Those two categories will determine who wins this week, not putting.

Phil Mickelson

How Mickelson played at Quail Hollow (T11) is a good sign for down the road in the U.S. Open at Pinehurst, when he’ll attempt to win the one major that has eluded him. It also means Lefty enters TPC Sawgrass confident, which is nice since he’s already won here (’07). The two courses are very different though, and I always worry that someone with his risk-reward mentality could shoot himself in the foot at any moment. If he plays conservative and hits a few more irons and a bit less driver, his touch around the green could be optimal. Mickelson missed the cut last year and has a T17, T21 and T25 as his best results since his win seven years ago.

Rory Sabbatini

I said last week I’d own up if Sabbatini performed well. He shook off a sub-par opening round to finish in the top-10. I prefer my crow cooked medium well. However, it is interesting whenever a player bucks a trend and plays far better than a projection. Confidence is huge in golf. Sabbatini isn’t listed in this Risk mix to be identified as a challenger, but rather to highlight the difficulties inherent in peeling back the layers of a fantasy golf onion. Sabbatini’s last 10 Players starts: 71st, MC, T26, T39, MC, T24, T44, MC, MC, T42. Your guess is as good as mine.

REWARD

In the world of running, a top-seeded runner very rarely performs worse than the times they’ve run all year. In a short sprint, the error is higher, but a distance runner finds mistakes become marginalized the farther they have to run. In some ways, that’s like golf. Anyone can shoot a low round. Stringing together four low rounds becomes more indicative of the quality of the golfer. Doing it tournament after tournament accentuates the elite. In an elite tournament, I want elite golfers. Here are the best of the best as I see it for TPC Sawgrass.

Rory McIlroy

McIlroy’s biggest struggle lately has been putting, but he managed to get hot last Saturday to shoot 65 and put himself into contention at Quail Hollow. Ultimately, the young Irishman finished T8 at 8-under, which chased his T8 at The Masters. Remember, you don’t necessarily need to putt the best this week, but you do need to take advantage of the par-5s. McIlroy has that ability, just as Woods did. In fact, his season results are quietly exquisite with five top-10s and a playoff loss. He hasn’t played one bad tournament in eight tries. That should continue this week where he finished T8 last year.

Adam Scott

There’s no Tiger Woods, meaning the No. 2 golfer in the world is the best player in the field based on an ever-increasing resume of success. With a sweet swing, Tiger’s old caddy and a burning desire to reach No. 1, Scott returns to the site of his first giant career win. It’s been 10 years, which should further solidify in your mind a need to use him: he’s reaching a crescendo. His last four starts are T19, T15, MC and T26. This will be an interesting week for Yahoo A group with at least six names to legitimately mull over for strategy purposes.

Sergio Garcia

Garcia should be a runaway pick for Yahoo C and probably one that should be used across all formats, even one-and-done. He’s 10 for his last 10 made cuts, has a win in 2008 and finished T8 last year and T12 in ’11. He missed the cut at The Masters but finished solo third at the Shell Houston Open. With three other top-10s this season and a rank of 18th in GIR, Garcia provides a safe and prosperous option this week.

Zach Johnson

The answer to your trivia question from earlier is Zach Johnson. This year’s Hyundai Tournament of Champions winner has tossed out a T19 (’13), T2 (’12), T12 (’11) and T22 (’10) finishes the last four years. In all, Johnson is 6 for 9 at TPC Sawgrass with six top-25s. He could be picking up steam again too, finishing T14 at Quail Hollow, which means you’d be wise to jump on that train as soon as it leaves the station. The bad news for me is I only have three starts left from him and definitely want to use him at the John Deere Classic. What to do, what to do?

Luke Donald

If you said Donald as the answer to the trivia question, you were extremely close. The Brit actually missed by just one placement with a T26 in 2010. The last three years he has finished T19 (’13), solo sixth (’12) and T4 (’11), while making his last seven cuts. Factor in that he’s coming off a solo second at Harbour Town, has two other top-10s since the beginning of March and Donald looks like an extremely strong contender on a ball-strikers course.

RUIN

There’s a few names on the list below that will probably surprise you. I toyed with taking them off, but I’m not keen on just tossing you names like J.J. Henry every week. Seriously, if you were going to pick Henry, would you comment below? That’s rationale I’d love to hear. In lieu of the easy way out, I’m about to tell you to avoid four major champions and a former Players champ. Yup, kahoonas. Let’s get to it.

Tim Clark

A winner in 2010 at TPC Sawgrass, Clark has struggled this year, including missing two straights before a T38 at the RBC Heritage. You might think of him as a ball-striker, but his history on this course suggest otherwise. Five missed cuts and a withdrawal outweighs his win and a T9 (’09). Clark ranks third in driving accuracy but is struggling on approach, leading to the scoring troubles.

Jason Dufner

It’s actually surprising to see Dufner has just one missed cut this year, which came at his last start in The Masters, considering you really haven’t heard his name uttered much at all. The 2013 PGA Championship winner has two top-10s and everything else has been a quiet good-but-not-great round. Where we get into trouble at TPC Sawgrass is his temperament and ability to get down on himself bogs down his ball-striking. He was confident and on a roll when he put up a T6 in ’11. When he’s not, his scores reflect it. In the other years, it’s been T62, T68, MC, T32. He seems to warm up in the second half of the year, so hold off until the U.S. Open.

Louis Oosthuizen

Coming off a 25th-place finish at Augusta, Oosthuizen jumps back into play as somewhat of an enigma. On the days you think the 2010 British Open champion will play well, he doesn’t. On days you think he’s injured and won’t compete, he does. He finished T19 last year but missed the cut in his two previous tries at TPC Sawgrass. Overall, his major championships track record is sub-par outside of two stellar finishes. I don’t know what to make of him, which means I don’t trust him.

Justin Rose

With three top-10s on the PGA Tour this year, including a T8 recently at the Zurich Classic and a solo fifth last week in Quail Hollow, Rose is in quality form entering The Players. But for whatever reason, TPC Sawgrass has hurt him. The 2013 U.S. Open victory has two MC’s, a T51 and a T45 in his last four tries in Ponte Vedra. Something will have to give this week, where I wouldn’t be surprised if he did play well but chancing it can be problematic. Still, he falls into a so-so Yahoo B group, so I’m actually considering putting him on my roster as a strategy of being my group’s leader. If I do it, I’m calling this move The Sabbatini.

Webb Simpson

I liked what Simpson did at Quail Hollow, his home course, despite a T38 result. He got off to a good start, then stuck to the middle of the pack. The 2012 U.S. Open champion has a T5 in The Players from last year, but his three previous editions were MC, T69 and MC. We’re now very far removed from the blistering six weeks he put up right up until the beginning of February. Since, his scoring average sits at 72.95, with just two rounds of 20 rounds in the 60s.

As always, you can find me on Twitter @bricmiller if you want to discuss The PLAYERS Championship, argue vehemently with my selections or sift through fantasy dilemmas you may have. Good luck!

This week’s picks:

Yahoo!

Group A: L. Donald (S), H. Stenson

Group B: R. McIlroy (S), J. Furyk (S), Z. Johnson, S. Stricker

Group C: S. Garcia (S), G. McDowell

(Last week: 158 points; Spring segment: 737; Spring rank: 1,863; Season points: 2,730; Full Season rank: 686 – 99th percentile).

PGATour.com

R. McIlroy, Z. Johnson, L. Donald, S. Garcia

(Last week: 221 points; Season: 4,573; Rank: 4,266)

Golf Channel

Group 1: R. McIlroy

Group 2: Z. Johnson

Group 3: J. B. Holmes

Group 4: J. Overton

(Last week: $243,984; Season: $8,624,750; Mulligan: $86,710; Rank: 8,353 of 38,811)