Players Championship celebrates 40 years at Sawgrass - the course with the island hole

When the Players Championship was first contested at TPC Sawgrass in 1982, it was likened to crazy golf by some players.

«I've never been very good at stopping a five-iron on the hood of a car,» was Jack Nicklaus' take on the greens, while Fuzzy Zoeller was even more dismissive, asking: «Where are the windmills and animals?»

This week marks the 40th anniversary of the PGA Tour's flagship event being held on the Florida course and while the holes and players' thoughts of the place have been refined, the challenge remains as stern as ever.

The tournament, which was moved back to its original March date in 2019 after a 12-year stint in May, is often referred to as the men's unofficial 'fifth major' and features 46 of the world's top 50 teeing it up in a 144-strong field this week.

The prize pot is the biggest in golf. with the winner claiming $3.6m (£2.73m) from a whopping $20m fund — that's a 33% increase on last year.

The Players had led a nomadic existence from its first staging in 1974. Nicklaus won three of the first five at different courses, no other player has since won more than two.

In 1979, the now iconic Sawgrass Stadium Course course was flat, swampy land — a 415-acre site infested with snakes and alligators.

The PGA Tour famously bought the land for $1 and commissioned renowned course designer Pete Dye to transform it into a 'stadium style' course fit to host its biggest event.

It was a new concept, born out of then PGA Tour commissioner Deane Beman's frustration from trying to watch a tournament with other spectators.

At 5ft 7in, Beman struggled to see the action. He noticed some fans used homemade periscopes or brought stepladders. It planted a seed.

Dye drew up rudimentary plans to satisfy investors but then largely