Special branch - new sixth tee tree honours Sawgrass designer

Scottie Scheffler plays his shot from the sixth tee prior to THE PLAYERS Championship on the Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass. Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images

They say everything old is new again. So it goes with the “new” overhanging live oak tree in front of the sixth tee at TPC Sawgrass that will surely rekindle some old gripes at that Players Championship.

A tree that players had to flight their drives under on the par-4 sixth tee was one of the more vilified aspects of the original Pete Dye-designed course, and when it became diseased in 2014 and had to be removed many players welcomed its demise. One of them cheering was two-time Players champion Davis Love III, who was ironically tapped to lead a project to revitalize the Dye aspects to the course including restoring the tree on the sixth tee whose removal he once tirelessly advocated for during his playing days.