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Jeff Overton walks to the island green at TPC Sawgrass during practice for The Players Championship on Tuesday. The 17th hole causes much distress to many a golfer.
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. - A corridor beneath the grandiose clubhouse is lined with black-and-white photographs from more than a quarter-century of winners at The Players Championship since it moved to the notorious TPC Sawgrass.
    They have little in common except they beat the best field in golf and got very rich.
    There is powerful Adam Scott, 23, and pea-shooter Fred Funk, 48, the youngest and oldest champions.
    Hal Sutton captured this event twice, once as a svelte young man in his second year, later at age 41 with a paunch, sweat stains and five of the most famous words uttered on the 18th hole of the Stadium Course - ''Be the right club today!''
    Past champions feature the power of Tiger Woods, Greg Norman and Fred Couples, the accuracy off the tee of Calvin Peete, grinders like Tom Kite, Lee Janzen and Justin Leonard, the pure ball striking of Nick Price, the short game of Phil Mickelson.
    ''It suits good players,'' Paul Goydos concluded Wednesday. ''If you show up here with your best game, you have a shot to win. I don't think anyone walks out there and says, 'I can't play this golf course.' "
    There are a few things about The Players Championship that fall into the death-and-taxes category.
    * Woods has no chance of winning because he's not here. He had surgery on his right knee two days after the first major,
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giving him time to recover before the second major, making his absence a setback for the tournament debated as the fifth major.
    * Every player will watch anxiously until his tee shot on the 17th hole hits the island green, if it does.
    * The winner will walk away with $1.71 million, more money than any other single tournament offers on the PGA Tour.
    But making a sound prediction on which style of game the Sawgrass best suits is like spinning a roulette wheel.
    ''Everybody can play their own game on this golf course,'' said British Open champion Padraig Harrington, twice a runner-up. ''There's a lot of different strategies. Probably the greatest thing about the course is you can watch a threeball [threesome], and they'll consistently hit different clubs off the tee.''
    Power is negated because everyone can reach the par 5s in two shots, except for the ninth hole, where the entrance to the green is blocked by a massive oak. And now that the fairways have been refurbished to allow for fast, firm conditions, the par 4s are all about position. Length really only helps on a couple of holes.
    ''You can probably get away with probably three holes where you'd have to hit driver,'' Lee Westwood said.
    Perhaps the greatest testament to the variety of winners at The Players Championship is that Mickelson will try to become the first player in 35 years - this is the 27th year at the Stadium Course - to successfully defend his title.
    Mickelson was asked why it has been so hard on defending champions.
    ''Until this year?'' he said to laughter. ''I don't know. I have no idea.''
    If anyone is a favorite at The Players, it would be Mickelson based on the trophy in his possession and his No. 2 world ranking.
    ''He's giving us a little bit of a break at the moment,'' said Scott, two weeks removed from a playoff victory in the EDS Byron Nelson Championship.
   
   
    The Players Championship
    Past champions
   
    First round, today
    TV: The Golf Channel, 11 a.m.
    2007 Phil Mickelson
    2006 Stephen Ames
    2005 Fred Funk
    2004 Adam Scott
    2003 Davis Love III
    2002 Craig Perks
    2001 Tiger Woods
    2000 Hal Sutton
    1999 David Duval
    1998 Justin Leonard