Answer any as the spirit moves you:
1. Did everyone play each hole using the same strategy or did aproaches vary?
As I saw it, approaches varied considerably, mostly so far as layup distance at 16 and strategies for going at the green in two, the club used for the tee shot at 17 and the line of the drive at 18. I think 15 is a green you can't really come up with a strategy for until you have played it more than three or four times.
2. Which architectural elements if any played conclusive roles in the matches? Which played significant roles? Which played surprising or unexpected roles?
The green site at 16 regularly turns matches, and I saw a few turned and heard stories of others being turned during Buda. 17 green as well, which goes totally against the links "ground game" approach. So many people make a mess of what is a wedge or less for most because of the blindness coupled with just how confounding that green is, especially when it's downwind, and you know you can't land it short, but by the same token you can't see how a ball pitching on the green can possibly stay on.
3. What was the best architectural feature in this stretch? (Please give your definition of "best.")
The 16th green complex. For a par 5 that measures under 450yds from where the yellow tees are most days, there are far more 6s made than 4s. That shot is a whole lot of daily conditions mixed with imagination, ball striking and luck, perhaps more than any other shot I have faced in golf. Even if you lay up, the correct line and zone moves with the pin and wind.
4. Taken as a whole, how would you describe the nature of the test?
I'd say it's a stretch that separates "players" from the rest. There are low numbers to be had if you can keep your head and play the conditions of the day, but ample chance to trip up and leak a whole lot of oil.
5. Match or medal: same, different, better, worse?
I have to vote, if we are talking about competition, for stroke. You stand on 15 tee knowing you can make a good fist of the final four, and perhaps should make a good fist of them, but it takes so very little for it to go horribly wrong. It's just you vs the course.
6. Can someone crawl into Gary Player's head and offer your most thoughtful explanation of his choice of that stretch?
He may have just pulled a Jim Golby and finished 4, 5, 3, 3... otherwise I don't see that they are the best four consecutive holes in the world. I don't even think they are the best consecutive 4 at Deal (14-17, in my book).