PGA Tour 2024 - The Players

[Splatt]

G’day Golfers,

Major season is so close you can practically smell the blood, sweat, lipped putts, and tears. It all ramps up from here starting with, the pseudo 5th major, The Players Championship.
This, in my humble opinion, is one of the best tournaments outside of the majors, played on one of the best courses outside of Augusta, and, to take things up a notch, it is The Players 50th anniversary this year.

 

It's shaping up to be a great weekend of golf. Let’s get stuck in.

But first, an awful golf joke for your arsenal.

What time is it when an elephant steps on your golf ball?
*
Time to get a new golf ball!
(Truly awful that one )

As mentioned, The Players Championship is in it’s 50th year this year, and boy has it seen some incredible action of it’s half-century run. I mean, you could say it’s a tournament that’s better than most:

 

 

One of my favourite recent memories is on the final leg of Justin Thomas’s victory in 2021. On the 18th and final hole of the tournament, Thomas was in the lead as he pierced his tee into the ground and nestled his ball on top for his final tee shot of the tournament. He hit a low hook which, at least on the shot tracer, looked like it was heading directly for the water. Luckily it stopped short of lake and Thomas’s reaction is priceless.

 

The Players Championship is played at the stunning TPC Sawgrass (Stadium Course) located in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. Established in 1980, and home to The Players Championship since 1982, TPC Sawgrass is often seen as the masterpiece of golf course architect virtuoso, Pete Dye.
TPC Sawgrass is a par-72, 7,275-yard course with about as much water as the pacific ocean.
By far the most famous hole on the course is the island par-3, 17th hole. Although only 137 yards (125m) long this is a trick ypar-3 which has been the undoing of many a great round at Sawgrass. Club selection and a close eye on the weather are critical here as the many trees around the hole cause lots of swirling winds and unexpected ball flights.
It is estimated that TPC Sawgrass fish out over 100,000 balls a year out of the water surrounding the 17th; that number would be double if I was a member.

 

Last year, Scottie Scheffler dominated the field here winning by 5 shots while hardly breaking a sweat. After shooting a 65 on a difficult Saturday, Scottie distanced himself from the rest of the field for the inevitable win.
Worryingly for everyone else playing this weekend, Scottie has swapped to a mallet putter and seems to have figured out his one flaw in his game.

 

 

Field Highlights

·         Scottie Scheffler – I haven’t mentioned Scottie in ages…. Oh, wait. Well, of course he’s going to be the talk of the town around this event: defending champ, current world number 1, won last week. Scottie is in prime position to win again at TPC Sawgrass and become the first player EVER to defend his title at The Players Championship. That’s how hard this tournament is, in it’s 50 year history, no one has ever won it twice in consecutive years. If Scottie putts like he did in the final round last week, it’ll be very hard for anyone else to rain on his parade.
 

·         Min Woo Lee – Let him cook! Cards on the table, I’m incredibly biased towards Min Woo Lee because he’s a hometown hero. However, bias aside, Min Woo is a genuinely a player to watch this weekend. The boy from Oz is still chasing his first victory on the PGA Tour but he’s heading the right way towards achieving that goal this year. He’s currently tee’d it up 5 times this year and not missed a cut with an agonizingly close taste of victory coming only a few weeks ago at the Cognizant Classic where he finished T-2. Lee also performed well here last year, he went into the final round in solo-2nd place 2 shots behind the eventual winner, Scottie Scheffler. However, a final round 76 saw him tumble down the leaderboard.
 

·         Viktor Hovland – Hovland has been pretty quiet this year despite not missing a cut. He has yet to find a top-10 with his best finish coming at The Genesis Invitational with a T-19. Hovland did well here last year. He started the final round tied for 14th place, but a final round score of 68 saw him shoot to a T-3 finish. I’m sure Hovland will be a regular amongst the top of the leaderboard quite a lot this year, he’s possibly just a bit tired after a very successful year last year with 3 wins.
 

·         Wyndham Clark – The rise of Wyndham Clark has been anything but meteoric, however, no one can deny he’s playing some pretty damn good golf at the moment. He’s already in the winners circle this year after a win at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, and he finished solo-2nd at last weeks Arnold Palmer Invitational. On top of all that, he also won his first major last year at the U.S Open. If anyone is going to give Scottie Scheffler some trouble this week, my money is one Wyndham Clark.
 

The field is stacked and the rest of it can be found here.

We’re set up for an awesome event this week at The Players Championship. From all reports we seems to be safe yet again from an appearance from Gold Man, so that’s a huge plus.

 

Can anyone stop Scottie Scheffler from picking up his second win of the season and becoming the first player EVER to defend The Players championship?

Let me know what you think?

 

SPLATT

Edited March 13 by Splatt

[Triple_Putt]

Sawgrass is my second dream course only behind Augusta.  I’m sure Scottie will be tough to beat but I’m betting on him!

[cnosil]

8 minutes ago, Splatt said:

Can anyone stop Scottie Scheffler from picking up his second win of the season and becoming the first player EVER to defend The Players championship?

Let me know what you think?

 

Scottie is the one that will stop Scottie.   Can he continue putting well or will he be streaky and fall off this week.   The PGA Championship is an approach and putting competition.  Maybe even with a mediocre putting performance his typical approach play will be enough. 

[BallsLeon]

@Splatt thanks for making these threads, always enjoy reading them!

Going with a bit of a dark horse pick... I think after a mediocre performance at API Jason Day is going to come charging back. With big pants comes big responsibility, and I think he's ready to fill them.

[jayyarr]

1 minute ago, cnosil said:

Scottie is the one that will stop Scottie.   Can he continue putting well or will he be streaky and fall off this week.   The PGA Championship is an approach and putting competition.  Maybe even with a mediocre putting performance his typical approach play will be enough. 

Its sad how true this is.  His ball striking is really just so much better than everyone else. Its sad that he just needs to be an average putter and could really just go on a run where not many guys in the pga could actually keep up.  Specially with rahm gone. 

[RickyBobby_PR]

3 minutes ago, jayyarr said:

Its sad how true this is.  His ball striking is really just so much better than everyone else. Its sad that he just needs to be an average putter and could really just go on a run where not many guys in the pga could actually keep up.  Specially with rahm gone. 

The hot putter is usually the one who wins. It’s early in the season and Scottie isn’t leading most categories this year like he has. The difference between guys on the tour isn’t that much when you look at stats. But despite what some thing about the current game and lack of skill by players today Scottie, Morikawa, hovland and some others show that there is still skill needed other than just hitting driver.

look at strokes gained stats like accuracy and thing like that from the fairway and rough and see how many names are leading some of the categories and how little success on tour.

Scottie is a superstar and if he ever gets a handle on his putting he will go on runs like some of the greats have 

[GolfSpy_APH]

Going to be a fun week!

Thanks for the awesome post @Splatt!

[ILMgolfnut]

I saw something on YouTube the other day that they get an average of three golf balls out of the water for every golfer who plays the 17th at TPC Sawgrass. Meaning that people keep trying it over, and over, and over...

[bens197]

I'm feeling a first time winner this week...it's all the rage this season...

I'm going with Cam Young and that new TSR 2 wood

 

[cnosil]

My prediction is Zalatoris; i think he gets 4 solid rounds this week. 

[Josh Parker]

14 minutes ago, bens197 said:

I'm feeling a first time winner this week...it's all the rage this season...

I'm going with Cam Young and that new TSR 2 wood

 

I think it may also be a first time winner but if Scottie is putting well, watch out. We will see how my pick'em does.

[RickyBobby_PR]

39 minutes ago, ILMgolfnut said:

I saw something on YouTube the other day that they get an average of three golf balls out of the water for every golfer who plays the 17th at TPC Sawgrass. Meaning that people keep trying it over, and over, and over...

Well you kind of have to try over and over since the drop zone is on one of the forward teeing spots so there’s not dropping up near the green if playing by the rules of golf.

[bens197]

3 minutes ago, Josh Parker said:

I think it may also be a first time winner but if Scottie is putting well, watch out. We will see how my pick'em does.

Scottie should win this before the event even begins.  I'd love to see him tear through a string of events and rack up more W's.  He's so good for the Tour right now.

[revkev]

1 hour ago, ILMgolfnut said:

I saw something on YouTube the other day that they get an average of three golf balls out of the water for every golfer who plays the 17th at TPC Sawgrass. Meaning that people keep trying it over, and over, and over...

The two times that I played there we had a total of 3 balls on the green out of 8 attempts - and one of the times included an assistant pro from the club.  I'm happy to report that I'm 2 for 2.  It's really cool to play - very intimidating - but it is hardly the only visually intimidating hole on the course - not by a long shot.

[William P]

Great post @Splatt! Thank you.

[jbern]

Great writeup as usual @Splatt! I'm excited for this week, especially because the weather looks pretty mild so we might see a lot of low scores (which I enjoy watching). 

3 hours ago, cnosil said:

My prediction is Zalatoris; i think he gets 4 solid rounds this week. 

I like the Willy Z pick here. Scottie is an obvious front-runner. I'm going to pick Tommy Fleetwood as my winner. Sawgrass may not suit him perfectly, but I enjoy watching his game and hopefully I'll be enjoying it late on Sunday afternoon.

[Huse343]

I see Scottie winning by at least three. With him being so good off the tee and with his approach, if he continues his putting from last week, there is not one player in the world that can beat him.

39 minutes ago, jbern said:

Great writeup as usual @Splatt! I'm excited for this week, especially because the weather looks pretty mild so we might see a lot of low scores (which I enjoy watching). 

I like the Willy Z pick here. Scottie is an obvious front-runner. I'm going to pick Tommy Fleetwood as my winner. Sawgrass may not suit him perfectly, but I enjoy watching his game and hopefully I'll be enjoying it late on Sunday afternoon.

I agree on the four good rounds this week, but I don’t think he wins. I think Scheffler is taking this one again.

[Shankster]

I’ve got a good feeling about Denny McCarthy this week. (Who the …. Is Denny McCarthy?) 

I am not sure I can LIVe in this era of pro golf.

[Splatt]

8 hours ago, BallsLeon said:

Going with a bit of a dark horse pick... I think after a mediocre performance at API Jason Day is going to come charging back

J-Day is a solid pick. He's been playing well and he's definitely found a bit of the old Day that used to dominate

[Splatt]

And we're away!!

Rory is off to a great start. He's birdied 4 of his opening 5 holes.

He's driving like he won't miss a fairway all day

[BallsLeon]

Jordan and Rory arguing on 7, didn't see all of it but Jordan doesn't like Rory's drop location? ... wouldn't the location be up to the rules official?

Edited March 14 by BallsLeon

[Wheelieb]

Why does it feel like Hovland is always involved with someone going in the water during one of the first 2 rounds at the players?

[mikeanthony]

1 minute ago, BallsLeon said:

Jordan and Rory arguing on 7, didn't see all of it but Jordan doesn't like Rory's drop location... wouldn't the location be up to the rules official?

Same. Had the tv on mute and didn’t have cc on, but Jordan clearly didn’t appear to be happy. I thought his drop looked appropriate and fair … based on the replay, it looked as though it bounced into the water at the point of the bunker on the opposite fairway across the water, which is where he dropped. 

Same delay happened at 18th tee as well. 

[Wheelieb]

4 minutes ago, BallsLeon said:

Jordan and Rory arguing on 7, didn't see all of it but Jordan doesn't like Rory's drop location... wouldn't the location be up to the rules official?

They weren’t arguing per se. Everyone heard Jordan say he didn’t want Rory to take a bad drop and ask an official. He said he was looking up further. 

[Splatt]

5 hours ago, Wheelieb said:

They weren’t arguing per se. Everyone heard Jordan say he didn’t want Rory to take a bad drop and ask an official. He said he was looking up further. 

The PGA Tour just posted the full 8 minute clip of it.

Adding this to it:

'yelled about turtles'

 

 

Edited March 14 by Splatt
Added Kyle Porter Tweet

[GolfSpy_APH]

On 3/13/2024 at 4:54 PM, cnosil said:

My prediction is Zalatoris; i think he gets 4 solid rounds this week. 

I may have to change my picks... forgotten man!

[Respryn]

Always been some surprise winners at the players so watch out for L Aberg quietly gone out about his business today.

[Splatt]

Some BIG names at the pointy end of the leaderboard after round 1
This is already the strongest leaderboard of the year!

The Full leaderboard can be found here

Note: Jimmy Stranger, Chan Kim, Eric Cole, David Skinns, Ben Martin, Sam Stevens, Sami Valimaki, Charley Hoffman, & Harry Hall have a few holes left when play for the day was called and are yet to complete round 1.
 

[Shapotomous]

11 hours ago, Splatt said:

And we're away!!

Rory is off to a great start...

He's driving like he won't miss a fairway all day

Was this the jinx ?!?!?! 

[JSki_Golf]

Has anyone seen Lucas Glover's new Prototype DF3 Broomstick putter in person at the Players and I love how stacked the leaderboard is already after day 1.