PGA Tour 2023 - The Players Championship

[Splatt]

G’day Golfers,

After a few weeks of elevated events, we’ve arrived at a bit of a culmination and a preview of the major season with The Players Championship. Home to the nightmarish swing-copying Golden Man, the Fifth Major, as it likes to be known, is arguably the biggest non-major event of the season.

Or, it used to be.

With the introduction of the new talent-filled designated events, has The Players Championship lost a bit of its allure?
It used to be the first time in the season that all of the big names would face off and give us a bit of a taste of the major season. It would be a great time to see who can hold up under pressure, whose game is up to scratch, and who needs a bit of refinement before the first major of the season.
But, this year is different.
Before The Players this year, we’ve already had FOUR designated events where the best of the best have gone head-to-head, and to me, it feels like that steals a bit of the shine from what The Players used to be.
It’s a bit like arriving at Christmas day and realising you’ve been eating a Christmas ham and turkey every weekend for the past few weeks.
In saying that, I’ll always welcome a Christmas lunch
 

Although, there’s more to The Players than a field of highly ranked players.

 

TPC Sawgrass is an amazing course that almost steals the spotlight every year from the eventual winner. It’s been featured in almost every golf video game ever made and its home to one of, if not THE, most iconic par-3 one The Tour rotation.
For any player who fears water (such as myself) this is a stress-inducing course with water featuring in 17 of 18 holes.
TPC Sawgrass (Stadium Course) is a 7,275-yard par-72; a Pete Dye design, it has long been considered one of the trickiest courses to navigate on Tour.
A first for this year is a new back tee on the par-5 9th hole which makes for the first 600-yard hole in Players history.

This is set to be a stacked field with 49 of the top 50 in the Fedex cup rankings and 43 of the OWGR top 50 teeing it up. So, even though we’ve already had some rich fields, this will still be a great test to see who’s playing well ahead of The Masters next month.
Some interesting stats:

·         All 14 players who have already won on Tour this season will be teeing it up at The Players

·         At least 30 pros will compete in the first Players event (including my homeboy Min Woo Lee)

·         The water surrounding the 17th is said to claim around 120,000 balls per year. Sawgrass has to call in divers four times per year to collect them.

·         Fred Couples is one of the only golfers proud of a hole-in-three. One year after his first found the water on 17, his next slam dunked the hole.

 

Last year, the weather made for an almost unplayable event, which threatened to almost push out to a Tuesday finish. Cam Smith started both his front and back nines at TPC Sawgrass with four straight birdies on route to a final-round 66 and a one-stroke victory over Anirban Lahiri. His putting was a force to be reckoned with, one-putting 8 of the final 9 holes for a record tieing 10 birdies in a round. Unfortunately, he won’t be back to defend as he left the PGA Tour for LIV (the LIV signing that honestly hurt me the most).

Field Highlights:

·         Tom Kim – Not had the start to the season that many had hoped or expected out of the young 20-year-old, a T-5 at The Sentry to start the 2023 calendar year, then a missed cut at The Sony, and a T-6 at The American Express to follow that up. Since then his form hasn’t got much better with a T-50, T-45, and a T-34 at the Arnold Palmer last week. However, this course will suit his game well, TPC requires a solid approach game which, even when Kim is struggling, always gains shots on the field.

·         Tony Finau – He’s not been featured too heavily in the TV coverage this year, but Finau has played some consistent golf. He’s had 3 top-10’s, 7 top-25’s, and 1 win so far this season. He missed the cut here last year during that terrible weather, so he’ll be itching to prove himself this year.

·         Xander Schauffele – Another player who is always there and always threatening the top of the leaderboard. He’s played 7 times this seasons and not yet missed a cut, of those 7 rounds he’s had 3 top-10’s and 4 top-25’s. He has a strong putting game and a strong approach game, both of which will do very well at TPC Sawgrass. He had 3 wins on tour last year, including 2 back-to-back. I would expect to see him as a multiple winner again on tour this season.

·         Justin Thomas – Many critics of JT have been saying he’s hit a bit of a slump and lost a bit of form, which for the expectations that JT puts on himself, may be true. However, I’ll take a JT “slump” any day; he’s played in 6 events this year and not missed a cut, he’s also had a top-10 and 4 top-25’s. He also likes this course, winning this event in 2021.

·         Max Homa – Max is having a career-best season so far. He’s already won twice on Tour this year and had 4 top-10’s, he’s also playing some great golf and always looks to be in contention. He finished T-14 last week after nearly winning The Genesis a few weeks prior which just goes to show he plays well on tough courses and in pressure situations. He was T-13 last year at The Players and something tells me he’ll better that result this year.

 

I’m also sure Rahm will be up in the mix this weekend, the same as with Rory, Scheffler, Cantlay, and Morikawa. This is a stacked field, but as we saw last week with Kitayama, it doesn’t necessarily mean one of the big names is going to win.

The full field list can be found here.

This will be another important round for the MGS Pick ‘Em, are you going to be going with some big names, or are you taking a bit of a risk?
Also, do you think this event has lost a bit of shine, or do you think The Players is bigger than just a stacked field?

Golfers, that’s it from me. May your picks make the cut, and may Golden Man stay out of your dreams.

Splatt

[GolfSpy_APH]

I am so happy the goldman is the photo here... absolutely made my day!

Picks are in, lineup is set and even managed to squeeze some time off to sit down and watch for the weekend. 

[Kenny B]

I think Rahm comes back into form and wins... IF he listens to his caddie, and not try to take the hero shot this year.

[Bang60]

I've a feeling Ryan Fox is close after his 4th "low" round at Arnies place last week, c'mon Foxy...

[Rickp]

Saw a bit of the Caddie play on #17, happy to see coverage like that.

[JonathanJones]

This field is loaded. Could go so many different ways. 

 

[Splatt]

R.I.P Gone too soon

 

[GolfSpy_APH]

 

Really hoping to see a repeat here for Rickie!

[gman8966]

Heard Cam Smith might be walking around as a fan this year. How cool would that be to meet him and drink a few beers with him!?

[tony@CIC]

Can't wait to see who gets a HIO on #17 this year. This and the Masters are my two favorite events. 

[GolfSpy TCB]

Watching World #1, #2 and #3 playing together... and admiring how starkly different each of their swings are compared to each other.  Golf is an amazing sport.

[Kenny B]

18 hours ago, Bang60 said:

I've a feeling Ryan Fox is close after his 4th "low" round at Arnies place last week, c'mon Foxy...

I don't think that TPC Sawgrass is Foxy's type of course, but he could prove me wrong!

[Rickp]

1 hour ago, gman8966 said:

Heard Cam Smith might be walking around as a fan this year. How cool would that be to meet him and drink a few beers with him!?

I think he’s going fishing.  Shame he’s not there as a player but his choice.

[Rickp]

Didn’t take long for an Ace on 17, Hayden Buckley.

[JonathanJones]

#1 #2 #4 ranked players on the same stream? Yes please. Good call ESPN+ 

[cnosil]

39 minutes ago, JonathanWJones said:

#1 #2 #4 ranked players on the same stream? Yes please. Good call ESPN+ 

Not hard to stream together when they are all in the same pairing; not really an ESPN call.  

[JonathanJones]

41 minutes ago, cnosil said:

Not hard to stream together when they are all in the same pairing; not really an ESPN call.  

Gotta give them an ounce of credit at least lol

[cnosil]

21 minutes ago, JonathanWJones said:

Gotta give them an ounce of credit at least lol

Per Rory, not very entertaining to watch him play he’s making bogeys.  

[GolfSpy SAM]

49 minutes ago, cnosil said:

Per Rory, not very entertaining to watch him play he’s making bogeys.  

As someone who has him anchoring (this is the understatement of the year, btw, as my team is basically Rory all by himself - he's the anchor, the boat, the sail, the chum bucket) his fantasy team, I agree. Painful, lol. But Ramey and Morikawa are playing absolutely lights-out (I have neither, btw), and there's definitely some incredible golf being played. 

[GolfSpy SAM]

4 minutes ago, GolfSpy_SAM said:

As someone who has him anchoring (this is the understatement of the year, btw, as my team is basically Rory all by himself - he's the anchor, the boat, the sail, the chum bucket) his fantasy team, I agree. Painful, lol. But Ramey and Morikawa are playing absolutely lights-out (I have neither, btw), and there's definitely some incredible golf being played. 

Plus, now I've got Homa to watch - he's a Valencia, CA kid, where I live currently, so it's been awesome to watch him play the last couple years.  And he's paired with JT and Spieth, which is another killer group (bogeys or not)

[JonathanJones]

1 hour ago, cnosil said:

Per Rory, not very entertaining to watch him play he’s making bogeys.  

Yea but Scottie played good. The group Im waiting for is JT, Speith and Homa. 

[Bang60]

3 hours ago, Kenny B said:

I don't think that TPC Sawgrass is Foxy's type of course, but he could prove me wrong!

The pundits here say otherwise but we know how much they know lol  

[JonathanJones]

Greens must be hard to read. Quite a few missing some close ones today. 

[2puttbogey]

Rory must think it’s one of the no cut events.

[JonathanJones]

7 minutes ago, 2puttbogey said:

Rory must think it’s one of the no cut events.

The way Jordan and JT are playing I feel the same. 

[Kenny B]

Jordan pulled out a respectable round.  JT seems to have a speed problem on the greens today.

[Rickp]

3 minutes ago, Kenny B said:

Jordan pulled out a respectable round.  JT seems to have a speed problem on the greens today.

I only saw bits & pieces of the action today but Rory was MIA, JT & JS at times looked lost.  Never saw any of Rahmbo but that was probably a good thing.  Going to be an interesting 3 days.

[TylorJudd]

8 hours ago, GolfSpy_SAM said:

As someone who has him anchoring (this is the understatement of the year, btw, as my team is basically Rory all by himself - he's the anchor, the boat, the sail, the chum bucket) his fantasy team, I agree. Painful, lol. But Ramey and Morikawa are playing absolutely lights-out (I have neither, btw), and there's definitely some incredible golf being played. 

Lol hasn't Colin missed the last 2 cuts?

[Bang60]

2 hours ago, TylorJudd said:

Lol hasn't Colin missed the last 2 cuts?

Actually I’ve missed more  

[Bang60]

2 hours ago, TylorJudd said:

Lol hasn't Colin missed the last 2 cuts?

 

Just now, Bang60 said:

Actually I’ve missed more  

I think “Collin” has missed 2?