If you liked last week’s Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill, you are in for a treat this week with The Players Championship.
It’s become known as the “Fifth Major,” to many and is easily my second favorite tournament of the year to watch, trailing only The Masters.
Don’t get me wrong, I love watching the U.S. Open, The PGA, and what I still call, the British Open, but the Masters and The Players are the top two and are there for one main reason.
It’s the same course every year. In this case it’s the TPC Sawgrass in Florida.
When you watch those two tournaments, you know where the hole placements are going to be; you know where the tee shot needs to go; and how they have to hit their approach.
If there’s one thing The Players has for me over The Masters, it’s the closing holes. The 16th, 17th, and 18th are as good as it gets for any tournament.
The 16th is a short par five and does offer the chance to get home in two, but the last half of the hole is guarded by water to the right and might be more of a visual, mental hazard but it serves its purpose, making the hole a bit of a tightener for the best players in the world. And this is the easiest of the three holes.
The 17th might be the most famous hole on the Tour and that is not a slight to some of the other great holes but rather a testament to the greatness of this hole. The short par 3 is not a tough distance – only 137 yards – but the island green is surrounded by water and be the first round or the last round, it is not bargain with the intensity increasing each day. The entire hole is lined with stadium seating and by the time Sunday rolls around, you can feel the intensity through the TV.
As tough as standing on the tee is on the 17th hole, it pales in comparison to the 18th hole.
The final hole of the golf tournament has the golfers staring at a water nightmare off the tee, as the dogleg left hole has water guarding the fairway/green the entire length of the hole.
The more you are willing to bite off on the tee shot can make the second shot much easier. So many times, over the years I have seen golfers go right with their tee shot, often going through the fairway and into the tough. It does take the water out of play, but a bad lie in the rough brings the water right back into play as the golfer deals with the entire left side of the green is surrounded by water.
I think you only feel comfortable on the tee if you have a 3-4 stroke lead.
Rory McIlroy is the defending champion, but he is dealing with back issues that forced him to withdraw from the Palmer last week.
Early reports appear good for McIlroy but with a back problem you never know.
Scottie Scheffler, along with McIlroy, are the two golfers shooting for third Players title and a win would place them on the hallowed ground Jack Nicklaus as the only three-time winners of The Players.
Justin Thomas is also a former champion, and he will be back for the second time this season after returning from back surgery.
The top players in both the world rankings as well as the FedEx Cup standings are entered.
The tournament is loaded with great groups to follow but for my purpose I am focusing on four groups. All tee times are P.D.T.
Akshay Bhatia, Brooks Koepke, and Tony Finau tee off at 5:28 a.m.; Scottie Shaffler, Tommy Fleetwood, and Justin Thomas tee off at 5:52 a.m.; Sahith Theegala, Rickie Fowler, and Jordan Spieth go at 10:30 a.m.; and Rory McIlroy, Hideki Matsuyama, and Xander Schauffele go at 10:42 a.m.
The tournament plays extremely well on television with the contrast of all the water on the course running right up to the richness of the fairways and the color of the bunkers.
The tournament TV schedule is as follows: Thursday-Friday, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. on the Golf Channel; Saturday, 11 a.m.- 4 p.m. on NBC; Sunday, 10 a.m.-3 p.m. on NBC.