Tag: 2021 Players Championship

Lynch: ‘Searching for perfection,’ a major champion shoots 85 at Players Championship

“We’ve confused his mind trying to get him back to … 2016, searching too much for perfection instead of sticking to the basic stuff.”

The north end of the Thursday leaderboard at the Players Championship is usually where you find small triumphs, men who survived their first-round bout without face-planting on Pete Dye’s celebrated canvas. The south end of that leaderboard is where you find tiny tragedies, and none of the 154 competitors here appeared more lamentable than Henrik Stenson.

Less than five years ago, the 44-year-old Swede was good enough to win the Open Championship. He won the Players in 2009 too. But as the day wore on, Stenson was 20 strokes off Sergio Garcia’s lead and firmly DFL after an atrocious 85.

Stenson’s day was littered with dregs: six 6s, a 7, a triple-bogey on 17, five other bogeys, and two anomalous birdies that wrong-turned into an orgy of scorecard destruction.

His previous worst score in 48 rounds at TPC Sawgrass was 79, a benchmark he blew by on the 17th green when his 63-footer for bogey came up five feet short. Afterward, I asked his coach, Pete Cowen, where things went wrong.

Eamon Lynch
Eamon Lynch

“Between us, we’ve confused his mind trying to get him back to the level he was at in 2016, searching too much for perfection instead of sticking to the basic stuff,” Cowen said. “I blame myself as much as anybody. The coach has to take the blame when that happens. It could be mental as well. He’s thinking about how to swing it when he’s hitting the shot, which is a recipe for disaster.”

It wasn’t always thus. In 2013, Stenson famously won a European Tour event in Dubai while hitting 69 of 72 greens, which Cowen describes as “PlayStation golf.” The veteran coach said that is the virtually unattainable standard to which Stenson defaults as his performance goal.

“Searching for perfection is the nature of the beast. He wants to be perfect,” said Cowen, who has coached the six-time PGA Tour winner for 20 years. “He can’t accept a three-yard draw, can’t accept it at all. He’s like, ‘No no no! It’s got draw on it.’”

“He always perceived himself as someone who hits it dead straight. ‘I don’t have this left in me when I’m playing my best!’ He did, but he didn’t think he did.”

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Thursday’s 85 was about as far from perfection as it seems possible for an elite golfer to get. He lost 5.8 strokes to the field off the tee, ranking worst in the field. He lost 8.8 strokes tee to green, also DFL. He found only 5 fairways and 8 greens. He lost two strokes against the field both approaching and around the greens, was 3 of 10 scrambling, and shed another 2.4 strokes putting. His was the rare example of a major winner’s scorecard that offered not a single glimmer of light, no hope on which to build tomorrow.

Since leaving the canceled Players Championship a year ago, Stenson has made 14 starts around the world, producing eight missed cuts, one WD, and no finish higher than T21. TPC Sawgrass is not a venue where a man with that record is likely to discover his game. It’s death by paper cuts, where doubt and fear is inculcated on almost every shot, where confidence is constantly eroded, where hardened competitors feel a trickle of cold sweat at the very moment they need icy calm.

I asked Cowen how far Stenson’s game is from where the former world No. 1 wants it to be. “Miles away,” he shot back. “Miles away from where he wants to be in his own mind.”

Is he that far away in your mind?

“No.”

Why?

“Because he’s a golfer.”

As Cowen spoke, the golfer — a man who effortlessly shot 63 to outduel Phil Mickelson at Royal Troon less than five years ago — strode onto the range, ready to grind anew.

On Friday at 12:38 p.m. he will go to the 10th tee — the scene of one of his Thursday birdies — and try again, hoping to find some truth in the old cliche that things can only get better.

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Finally, Phil Mickelson puts the little things together, plays well at Players Championship

Phil Mickelson finally put the little things together and is off to a solid start at the Players Championship.

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – For weeks Phil Mickelson has repeatedly said he was close to playing some good golf.

His practice sessions at home were productive, the money games were paying off and Lefty felt just right heading out to the PGA Tour.

But his game got lost in translation.

He started his year by not breaking par in the American Express and missing the cut. The following week, he broke par once and finished in a tie for 53rd. Then he flew halfway around the world to tie for 53rd in the Saudi International. Flew back and then shot 74-80 at Pebble Beach and missed the cut.

Another week of good work at home went for naught again as he tied for 20th in the Cologuard Classic on the PGA Tour Champions.

His poor play – which extends back into 2020 where his best finish in his last 11 starts on the PGA Tour was a tie for 44th – dropped him out of the top 100 in the official world rankings for the first time since 1993. That’s 1,425 weeks, folks.

Players Championship: Leaderboard

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So, of course, on Thursday, at the problematic Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass, where Mickelson won The Players Championship in 2007 but later said he couldn’t believe he won around this place, and when Rory McIlroy signed for a 79, Tony Finau a 78, Henrik Stenson an 85 in the first round of the PGA Tour’s flagship event, Mickelson turned in his best round of the year.

With birdies on his first two holes and two more on his last three holes, Mickelson posted a 1-under-par 71 and collected some hope for coming days.

“I haven’t played well in a long time, and although I’ve felt like it’s close, I haven’t been scoring. To finally shoot a decent number, that feels good and I’ll try to build off of that,” Mickelson said. “The parts have felt like they have been there, but I haven’t been scoring, so to get off to a good start is nice.”

Mickelson said it’s been the little things that have kept him down.

“Short game hasn’t been as sharp, haven’t putted as well,” he said. “My iron play hasn’t been quite as good. But it hasn’t felt far off, but I just haven’t like put it together. So my whole thing is to just try to shoot a number, just try to score and not really worry about the technical side right now.

“It’s always come kind of pretty easily for me to visualize and play fearless and see the shot clearly, and when that’s not happening easily and you actually have to sit down and work on it, it is a challenge. But what I have found over the years is when I struggle in a certain area of my game and I talk about it or I just discuss it with other people or teach what I’ve learned, I end up being more conscious of what I need to do and it actually helps me fix it.”

As for dropping out of the top 100—he’ 101st – Mickelson wasn’t crushed.

“I really haven’t thought about it, to be honest,” he said. “It was a cool run. I haven’t played well lately, and I just want to play well. It just feels good to play good golf, and there’s nothing physically inhibiting me from playing good golf.

“I’ve been mentally making the game harder than it is. I just need to fix that, just think a little bit better.”

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Are Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele becoming America’s dynamic duo?

Ahead of the Players Championship, Golfweek’s Adam Schupak asks are Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele America’s dynamic duo?

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PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – On Saturday morning of the 2019 Presidents Cup, Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele were being beaten rather handily in a morning alternate-shot match when they were informed that Tiger Woods wanted to send them back out together in the afternoon. What did they think about that?

“We kind of looked at each other and didn’t really hesitate,” Cantlay recalled on Wednesday on the eve of the Players Championship. “We were like, ‘Yeah, put us out in the afternoon, we’ll go get it done.’ And we won that afternoon and played really well.”

It was the start of a beautiful friendship that has only blossomed on the golf course, over dinner and while playing cards, particularly gin. While there are several months to go before qualifying for the U.S. Ryder Cup team is completed and captain’s choices are made, Cantlay and Schauffele are quickly developing into America’s best duo.

Think about it: It’s highly unlikely that Tiger Woods will be able to play with Justin Thomas as they did to great effect at the Presidents Cup and JT’s successful partnership with Jordan Spieth in France still seems dicey despite Spieth’s recent resurgence. Brooks and DJ? I don’t think so. And who do you pair with Patrick Reed? So many questions for U.S. Captain Steve Stricker, but he would be wise to keep the Cantlay-Schauffele pairing intact.

Players Championship: Tee times, TV | Odds | Fantasy picks

For starters, they are two of the hottest players in the world. Cantlay has recorded six straight top 20 finishes, including a win at the Zozo Championship and a runner-up at the American Express. He’s No. 7 in the world and winning a significant title such as the Players this week would be the next box for him to check in solidifying his place in the game’s upper echelon. Schauffele is No. 5 in the world having made a Tour-best 23 straight cuts and finishing runner-up eight times since his last victory at the Sentry Tournament of Champions in 2019. He’s knocked on a lot of doors and no one would be surprised if he claimed the Players or a green jacket next month or really any of the four majors this season.

Ever since the Presidents Cup, Cantlay and Schauffele have become regular practice-round partners.

“Both of us were sort of like I would say lone soldiers for the most part, in terms of playing practice rounds by ourselves. And I know his team pretty well and he knows my – now he knows my team pretty well – but I pretty much knew everyone on Pat’s team before I knew Pat really well himself. So, it was kind of an easy mix. We just kind have a pretty laid-back schedule for a practice time. We do enjoying a game every week, it’s very competitive, and we feel like when we play against each other it sort of sharpens ourselves for the best week possible.”

Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay during a practice round prior to the Sentry Tournament Of Champions. (Photo by Cliff Hawkins/Getty Images)

On Tuesday, rather than battle head-to-head, Cantlay and Schauffele teamed up against Thomas and Spieth in a spirited nine-hole match on the front nine at the Stadium at TPC Sawgrass.

“We had them down every single way and JT made like a 35-footer on the last and Pat and I both missed our birdie putts,” Schauffele said.

“It hurt tying,” added Cantlay.

These two are part of a mutual admiration society. Here’s Schauffele waxing rhapsodic about Cantlay: “It’s almost impossible to rattle him,” Schauffele said. “He really doesn’t have a weakness and so there’s a lot for me to learn from him in terms of short game shots and how he approaches the game. So, it’s been great for me. I’m not sure if he’s learned anything from me, but I definitely learned something from him.”

When those plaudits were repeated to Cantlay, he held serve: “See, there he goes again, just being the best partner you could ask for, saying nice things,” Cantlay said. “He’s just good people. So, I feel like if it’s not something golf, which sometimes it is, we talk golf and we talk strategy I’ll learn something just that I can use in daily life, just because he’s such a good guy.”

As their friendship grows, so has their place as two of the top American pros, both under 30 and positioned to be a tandem in international competition for the next decade. And yet they remain two of the most underrated players in the game.

“We’re not particularly flashy and so that doesn’t get a lot of attention, if we’re not winning golf tournaments,” Cantlay said.

That could change this week at the Players or some time down the road on the way to the Ryder Cup, but by the time the biennial competition is played at Whistling Straits in late September, these friends likely will be told they’re being sent back out in the afternoon together. These two won’t be afraid to go “get it done.”

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Scott Harrington is the 40-year-old virgin at the Players

Scott Harrington and Cameron Percy are both making their debut at TPC Sawgrass after long and winding roads to get their after age 40.

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – Matthew Wolff, Joaquin Niemann and Collin Morikawa are all examples of the PGA Tour’s youth movement. Wolff and Niemann won before they were eligible to celebrate legally with an alcoholic beverage while Morikawa won the PGA Championship at age 23. At the opposite end of the spectrum is Scott Harrington, the Players Championship 40-year-old virgin.

“I definitely didn’t think it would take until now to be here,” he said.

Harrington is set to make his debut at the PGA Tour’s signature event this week. But he isn’t even the oldest first-timer here this week. That dubious distinction belongs to Australian Cameron Percy, 46.

“When you write down your goals when you’re younger than this, you think, yeah, I’ll be there, but it took a long time,” Percy said. “Everyone has been coming up congratulating me. It’s pretty cool. It’s like, ‘Is this really your first time?’ I’m like, ‘Yeah.’ They’re like, ‘Wow.’”

Wow, indeed. Both Percy and Harrington are stories in perseverance. Harrington didn’t make it to the PGA Tour until earning his card by finishing No. 19 on the 2019 Korn Ferry Tour money list after grinding for 16 years on minor-league circuits. That’s after putting his career on hold in 2018 to care for his wife, Jenn, who was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma six months after they got married and now is in remission.

He made his professional debut in 2004, but concedes that it wasn’t until his late 20s, early 30s that he thought he was good enough to do well on the Korn Ferry Tour. The low point? In 2008, he had conditional status on the Korn Ferry Tour and made only three cuts in 16 starts and earned $5,776. Meanwhile, his former college teammate at Northwestern, Luke Donald, was an established star and on his way to becoming World No. 1 in 2011.

“There were times where I was thinking I’m in my prime and I should be on the PGA Tour and I’m barely cutting it on the Korn Ferry Tour,” Harrington said.

But he never gave himself a time limit to make it. Every year he could see “micro progressions.”

“I never had a year where I lost my card and financially I was able to sustain. The difference between 50th and getting your card is so small,” he explained. “You just have to turn a fifth into a second and a 10th into a sixth. It didn’t always look like I was getting better but I always felt like I was.”

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Earning his PGA Tour card in his hometown of Portland at last was an emotional experience. When asked if he felt a bit like a seventh-year senior in college finally graduating, he smiled and said, “I’m Van Wilder,” referencing the National Lampoon’s movie starring Ryan Reynolds.

In his rookie season last year, Harrington was runner up at the Houston Open, finished No. 98 in the FedEx Cup standings and earned just under $1 million. This season his best result is a tie for 14th at the Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship, where he held a share of the first-round lead. On Wednesday, he received Tiffany cufflinks commemorating his first appearance at the Players from PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan.

“On paper it may look like I’m a 40-year-old first-time Players participant but I think my best stuff is still to come,” Harrington said.

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Watch: Jordan Spieth gets incredible speech from young fan during Players practice round

This youngster got Jordan Spieth’s attention as he was walking at the Players Stadium Course — and gave him an amazing 52 seconds.

There’s a young man who attended a Players Championship practice round on Tuesday who has a future in front of him.

Judging from the 52-second video clip apparently posted by a family member, there’s any number of directions he could go.

The youngster got Jordan Spieth’s attention as he was walking from one hole to another at the Players Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass.

“Hey Jordan,” the youngster called out to Spieth. “I’m doing a report on you for school … want to hear my speech?”

Spieth stopped and said, “sure, buddy.”

The speech, as it turned out, was an oral biography of Spieth, spoken in the first person as if it were Spieth doing the talking.

The young man gave a flawless rundown on Spieth’s life, such as his date of birth and place of birth, when he learned to play golf, becoming one of the youngest golfers to win the Masters and U.S. Open, the fact that Spieth is a big Dallas Cowboys fan and is friends with former quarterback Tony Romo.

Spieth stood there for the entire presentation, obviously impressed. When the young man was done, he got a huge smile from Spieth and applause from onlookers.

Several things to point out:

• The kid might have a career in politics. He gave the speech, without any hesitation or sign of nervousness, without any notes, and also didn’t make it sound robotic. In other words, it flowed.

• The John Deere Classic people will love this, because in addition to citing Spieth’s major championships, the kid worked in Spieth’s inaugural Tour victory at the John Deere.

• He also did enough research on Spieth to know he had a special-needs sister (Ellie) and that Spieth’s foundation works to create opportunities for special-needs people.

• He also knew Spieth’s middle name is Alexander.

As of 11 p.m. on Tuesday, the Twitter post has been viewed more than 400,000 times. Among those re-tweeting was Spieth’s mother Christine, who commented “Oh, my heart.”

One other response: “the next PGA Tour commissioner, 2050.”

How about Spieth’s agent in a decade or so?

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Players Championship Fantasy Golf Power Rankings

We took a look at the fantasy golf power rankings and odds for the 2021 Players Championship, with PGA Tour picks and predictions.

A star-studded PGA Tour field is in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, this week for the Players Championship. TPC Sawgrass once again plays host to the Tour’s unofficial fifth major. Below, we look at the fantasy golf power rankings and odds for the 2021 Players Championship, with PGA Tour picks and predictions.

Brooks Koepka withdrew Sunday afternoon due to a knee injury. He’s this week’s most notable omission as Rory McIlroy tries to defend his 2019 Players Championship title. Just two of the top-40 golfers in the Golfweek/Sagarin world rankings aren’t in attendance.

Last year’s tournament was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic after just one round.

Odds provided by BetMGM; access USA TODAY Sports’ betting odds for a full list. Odds last updated Tuesday at 1:05 p.m. ET.

Fantasy golf power rankings

30. Abraham Ancer (+7000)

Tied for 12th in his debut at this event in 2019 while gaining 2.02 strokes per round from tee-to-green. He’s an excellent fit for this course but his 2021 form has been largely unimpressive.

29. Jordan Spieth (+3000)

Continues to move back up the world rankings with a T-4 finish last week at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. It was his third top-5 finish in five events this year, but it required a Saturday ace and a hole-out from a bunker.

28. Louis Oosthuizen (+6600)

A risky fantasy play or bet this week following a Thursday morning withdrawal last week, Oosthuizen was a co-runner-up here in 2017 and is putting extremely well early in 2021.

27. Lee Westwood (+10000)

Last week’s runner-up was third in the field with 1.57 Strokes Gained: Approach and led the field with 3.30 SG: Tee-to-Green at Bay Hill Club & Lodge. Those same facets of his game will translate well to TPC Sawgrass.

26. Will Zalatoris (+7000)

The Korn Ferry Tour graduate is up to No. 46 in the Official World Golf Ranking. He has four top-20 finishes and no missed cuts in six events this year.

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25. Harris English (+9000)

Ignore his poor course history of 0.61 strokes lost to the field per round at TPC Sawgrass and make English a contrarian pick. His game is above average across the board, and he has 21 rounds played at this venue.

24. Jason Kokrak (+7000)

Tied for eighth last week despite losing 0.46 strokes per round on the greens. He’s a Bermudagrass expert and should bounce back quickly with the flat stick.

23. Scottie Scheffler (+4500)

Missed the cut in his first two events of 2021 on the mainland but since has two top-10 finishes, including a fifth-place showing against an elite field at the WGC-Workday Championship.

22. Sungjae Im (+5000)

Struggled with the short game last week but gained 1.90 strokes per round with his putter. He can lean on the flat stick once again while remaining on the same surface.

21. Jason Day (+5000)

Finished T-31 at Bay Hill last week and will again be playing an event he has won before. He hasn’t truly been in contention this season, but he has made three straight cuts and is staying healthy after long battling injuries.

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20. Joaquin Niemann (+6600)

Posted back-to-back runner-up finishes in Hawaii to start 2021 and safely made the cut in two events on the mainland. He qualified for this event for the first time last year but only got to play one round. His iron play should translate well.

19. Matthew Fitzpatrick (+5000)

Three straight finishes of T-11 or better to start his 2021 PGA Tour schedule following mixed results in two European Tour events. His T-41 finish in 2019 was his best finish in four appearances in this event.

18. Paul Casey (+5000)

The veteran Englishman returned to play following a two-week break to tie for 10th last week. He was sharp with the irons while gaining 1.26 strokes per round on approach to the green.

17. Patrick Reed (+4000)

Has oddly struggled at TPC Sawgrass over his career but seems a natural fit for the course. He has a strong short game and is an accurate driver. He bested many of this week’s top contenders to win the Farmers Insurance Open in late January.

16. Hideki Matsuyama (+4000)

Held the first-round lead last year when play was called off. He’s coming off top-20 showings at the WGC-Workday Championship and Arnold Palmer Invitational and is starting to find a better putting stroke.

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15. Cameron Smith (+6000)

Shares the PGA Tour lead in par 5 scoring average with Bryson DeChambeau at 4.38. He’ll need to do his scoring there with just two of 10 par 4s at TPC Sawgrass playing below par in 2019.

14. Tommy Fleetwood (+4500)

Finished inside the top 10 in back-to-back years in 2018 and 2019 in this event. He tied for 10th last week at Bay Hill despite a Sunday round of plus-5, 77.

13. Daniel Berger (+4000)

Tied for 35th in a strong field at the WGC event in his follow-up to winning the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. He has gained 1.07 strokes on the field per round over 19 laps of TPC Sawgrass.

12. Tyrrell Hatton (+4000)

Hatton was a combined 11-under par Friday and Saturday at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, but he was 5-over both Thursday and Sunday. His putter betrayed him, but it has been a strength in the 2020-21 season.

11. Tony Finau (+2500)

Those playing fantasy golf don’t need Finau to win, and he has been as consistent as anyone on Tour in securing top finishes. He has gained 3.03 strokes per round on the average Tour pro over his last 20 rounds, according to Data Golf.

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10. Patrick Cantlay (+2200)

Returns to play after withdrawing from the WGC-Workday Championship due to illness. There shouldn’t be any lingering concerns for Golfweek’s fourth-ranked golfer.

9. Collin Morikawa (+2200)

Took last week off following his victory at the WGC event. Will make his official debut in this event, but unfamiliarity with courses hasn’t been a concern.

8. Viktor Hovland (+2500)

Like Morikawa, he has played only one competitive round at TPC Sawgrass but has also been immune to first-time jitters at many of the Tour’s biggest events. He was 11-over par last weekend after opening with a 69-68.

7. Rory McIlroy (+1600)

Continues to struggle in crunch time and finished just 3-under par at Bay Hill after opening with a minus-6, 66. He still tied for 10th and remains a better fantasy pick than a bet.

6. Bryson DeChambeau (+1600)

Added distance isn’t expected to carry the same advantage at the shorter and more intricate TPC Sawgrass. If he has a weakness, it continues to be his iron play.

5. Justin Thomas (+2000)

Tied for third here in 2016 but finished just T-35 in 2019. He’s averaging 1.13 SG: Approach per round this season, but he’s one of the riskier selections in this top tier with shaky history at TPC Sawgrass.

4. Xander Schauffele (+2200)

Golfweek’s top-ranked golfer was a co-runner-up in 2018 but missed the cut in 2019. Like Finau, he has struggled to close, but he has two T-2 finishes in five events this year.

3. Webb Simpson (+2200)

The 2018 Players champion followed it up with a T-16 finish in 2019. He’s fourth on Tour in driving accuracy, T-9 in par 5 scoring and third in bogey avoidance.

2. Dustin Johnson (+1200)

No. 1 in the Official World Golf Ranking, The Players has been one of the few marquee tournaments to evade Johnson’s trophy case. He has averaged 1.04 strokes gained per round over 39 rounds played here and should be motivated.

1. Jon Rahm (+1500)

Has a top finish of T-12 in 2019 in three appearances at this event but won last year’s Memorial Tournament at the comparable Muirfield Village Golf Club. His putter has been his lone weakness this season.

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The Players Championship: Thursday tee times, TV and streaming info

From tee times to TV and streaming info, here’s everything you need to know for the first round of the Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass.

After last year’s cancellation, the Players Championship returns to TPC Sawgrass’ Players Stadium Course on Thursday.

The defending champion from 2019, Rory McIlroy, highlights a loaded field at the PGA Tour’s flagship event in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida.

Marquee groups for the opening two rounds are: Patrick Reed, Jon Rahm, Jordan Spieth; Bryson DeChambeau, Collin Morikawa, Dustin Johnson; Sergio Garcia, Webb Simpson, McIlroy; Viktor Hovland, Patrick Cantlay, Justin Thomas; Phil Mickelson, Charles Howell III, Tony Finau.

From tee times to TV and streaming info, here’s everything you need to know for the first round of the Players Championship. All times are listed in Eastern Standard Time.

The Players: TPC Sawgrass yardage book | Winning equipment

Tee times

1st hole

Time Players
6:45 a.m. Alex Noren, Xinjun Zhang, Doug Ghim
6:56 a.m. Louis Oosthuizen, Lee Westwood, Robert MacIntyre
7:07 a.m. Phil Mickelson, Charles Howell III, Tony Finau
7:18 a.m. Sungjae Im, Kevin Kisner, Henrik Stenson
7:29 a.m. Keith Mitchell, Troy Merritt, Brice Garnett
7:40 a.m. Brian Gay, Michael Thompson, Sebastián Muñoz
7:51 a.m. Cameron Smith, Dylan Frittelli, Keegan Bradley
8:02 a.m. Kevin Na, Carlos Ortiz, Matthew Fitzpatrick
8:13 a.m. Max Homa, J.T. Poston, Russell Knox
8:24 a.m. Stewart Cink, Nick Taylor, Austin Cook
8:35 a.m. Byeong Hun An, Henrik Norlander, Christiaan Bezuidenhout
8:46 a.m. Vaughn Taylor, Jerry Kelly, Joel Dahmen
8:57 a.m. Scott Brown, Sam Ryder
12:05 p.m. Cameron Tringale, Denny McCarthy, Matthew NeSmith
12:16 p.m. Brian Harman, Cameron Percy, Bernd Wiesberger
12:27 p.m. Martin Laird, Tyler Duncan, Joaquin Niemann
12:38 p.m. Richy Werenski, Aaron Wise, Kevin Streelman
12:49 p.m. Patrick Reed, Jon Rahm, Jordan Spieth
1 p.m. Bryson DeChambeau, Collin Morikawa, Dustin Johnson
1:11 p.m. Daniel Berger, Adam Scott, Shane Lowry
1:22 p.m. Andrew Landry, Cameron Champ, Brendan Steele
1:33 p.m. Jason Kokrak, Francesco Molinari, Jason Day
1:44 p.m. Charley Hoffman, Rory Sabbatini, Cameron Davis
1:55 p.m. Matt Jones, Maverick McNealy, Will Zalatoris
2:06 p.m. Chris Kirk, Luke List, Bo Hoag
2:17 p.m. Brian Stuard, Danny Lee, Beau Hossler

10th hole

Time Players
6:45 a.m. Kyle Stanley, Lucas Glover, Tyler McCumber
6:56 a.m. Russell Henley, Tom Hoge, Scottie Scheffler
7:07 a.m. C.T. Pan, Graeme McDowell, Matt Kuchar
7:18 a.m. Gary Woodland, Billy Horschel, Ian Poulter
7:29 a.m. Viktor Hovland, Patrick Cantlay, Justin Thomas
7:40 a.m. Sergio Garcia, Webb Simpson, Rory McIlroy
7:51 a.m. Si Woo Kim, Harris English, Hideki Matsuyama
8:02 a.m. Tyrrell Hatton, Paul Casey, Xander Schauffele
8:13 a.m. Lanto Griffin, Corey Conners, Rickie Fowler
8:24 a.m. Brendon Todd, Adam Long, Andrew Putnam
8:35 a.m. Charl Schwartzel, Doc Redman, Harry Higgs
8:46 a.m. Sam Burns, Wyndham Clark, Victor Perez
8:57 a.m. Scott Stallings, Adam Schenk
12:05 p.m. Peter Malnati, Emiliano Grillo, Abraham Ancer
12:16 p.m. Anirban Lahiri, Kyoung-Hoon Lee, Robby Shelton
12:27 p.m. Branden Grace, Sung Kang, Jimmy Walker
12:38 p.m. Hudson Swafford, Brandt Snedeker, Scott Piercy
12:49 p.m. Jim Herman, Ryan Armour, Mackenzie Hughes
1 p.m. Nate Lashley, Ryan Palmer, Zach Johnson
1:11 p.m. Robert Streb, Marc Leishman Justin Rose
1:22 p.m. Chez Reavie, Bubba Watson, Pat Perez
1:33 p.m. Patton Kizzire, Jason Dufner, Danny Willett
1:44 p.m. James Hahn, Tommy Fleetwood, Harold Varner III
1:55 p.m. Adam Hadwin, Patrick Rodgers, Mark Hubbard
2:06 p.m. Ryan Moore, Sepp Straka, Scott Harrington
2:17 p.m. Jhonattan Vegas, Talor Gooch, Tom Lewis

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How to watch

Thursday, March 11

TV

Golf Channel (Watch for free on fuboTV): 12-6 p.m.

STREAMING

PGA Tour Live: 6:30 a.m.-6 p.m.
Twitter: 6:30-7:55 a.m.

RADIO

PGA Tour Radio on SiriusXM: 11 a.m.-6 p.m.

Friday, March 12

TV

Golf Channel (Watch for free on fuboTV): 12-6 p.m.

STREAMING

PGA Tour Live: 6:30 a.m.-6 p.m.
Twitter: 6:30-7:55 a.m.

RADIO

PGA Tour Radio on SiriusXM: 11 a.m.-6 p.m.

Saturday, March 13

TV

NBC (Watch for free on fuboTV): 1-6 p.m.

STREAMING

PGA Tour Live: 7:45 a.m.-6 p.m.
Twitter: 7:45-9 a.m.

RADIO

PGA Tour Radio on SiriusXM: 12-6 p.m.

Sunday, March 14

TV

NBC (Watch for free on fuboTV): 1-6 p.m.

STREAMING

PGA Tour Live: 7-45 a.m.-6 p.m.
Twitter: 7:45-9 a.m.

RADIO

PGA Tour Radio on SiriusXM: 12-6 p.m.

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Lynch: Time for Justin Thomas to turn from atonement tour to old winning ways

Justin Thomas’ season has been overshadowed by a slip at the Sentry Tournament of Champions. Now TPC Sawgrass demands his full attention.

It’s often readily apparent what ails someone on the PGA Tour. Strokes Gained metrics can be as accurate as a surgeon’s scalpel in that respect, exposing a wayward driver or a balky putter. Sometimes causation isn’t so conspicuous. Perhaps a player isn’t devoting the necessary attention to his game because he’s spending too much time in doctors offices with a sick family member, or racking up billable hours with a divorce lawyer. Statistics can’t measure such factors, but their impact on performance can be every bit as deleterious as injuries and swing flaws.

On Tuesday at the Players Championship, Justin Thomas met the media and—unlike Rory McIlroy, who vacated the podium just before him—admitted that he’s not really searching for anything in his game. “I’m just trying to keep it as simple as possible,” he said. “I think it’s easy to search for too much or think that I need to find something when I maybe don’t, if that makes sense.”

At face value, that’s an innocuous statement for most professional golfers, but a revealing one coming from a famously driven competitor who has been producing cruddy results for two months. Since January 9, to be exact. That was the third round of the Sentry Tournament of Champions, during which Thomas was caught on camera muttering a homophobic slur after missing a four-footer for par.

Sentry Tournament of Champions
Justin Thomas walks off the 18th hole during the first round of the 2021 Sentry Tournament of Champions at Kapalua. (Photo: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports)

He owned the aftermath, was fulsome in his apology and pledged to atone for the mistake. But he has not been the same player since. He eked out a third-place finish that week. In three events since, he has logged a missed cut at the Genesis Invitational and a pair of uninspired showings at the Waste Management Phoenix Open and the WGC-Workday Championship.

Thomas’s recent performances say less about his form than about the bruising impact of being confronted by a social media mob imbued with what the author Philip Roth memorably described as “the ecstasy of sanctimony.”

In that maelstrom, Thomas was dumped by one of his sponsors, Ralph Lauren. Another sponsor, Citi, publicly scolded him with a statement that veered closer to condescension than compassion. Easy to see why his mind might still be lingering on those self-inflicted distractions.

“I have definitely been better. But at the same time it’s a good opportunity for me to try to grow and learn and get stronger because of it,” Thomas said. “I think it’s kind of put a lot of things in perspective, and unfortunately for my golf, it’s taken a toll on that a little bit.”

“You know, at the end of the day I’m like an iPod Nano; I just keep shuffling,” he added, with a humorous flourish worthy of Jimmy Fallon.

TPC Sawgrass isn’t hospitable terrain even for players who are focused, and Thomas’s record here is mixed. In five appearances he has only one top-10 finish (T3, five years ago) but he’s never missed a cut and no one has made more birdies here since 2015, 98 in all. He didn’t add to that tally last year since the Players Championship was called after one round as the COVID-19 pandemic began its deadly march across the country. Just as he did last year, Thomas has returned to a house near the course that he is sharing with Rickie Fowler and Jordan Spieth. He got in Sunday, and got a little emotional too.

“The last time I was up there and Rickie and I were sitting on this couch with his wife and we’re trying to figure out, what are we going to do, what’s going to happen, what’s going on. I’ve never seen anything like this,” he recalled. “It definitely brought back some very odd, bizarre memories, but it’s crazy to think it’s been a year. It’s crazy to think we’re still in it.”

A view of the 17th green at TPC Sawgrass after the cancellation of the 2020 Players Championship. (Photo by Sam Greenwood/Getty Images)

The pandemic was the backdrop to a challenging professional landscape, one to which Thomas adjusted better than most. After the PGA Tour resumed play in June after three months locked down, Thomas won the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational and had seven other top 10s—including three seconds—through the end of the year. The dawn of ’21 brought an altogether more personal challenge.

Thomas has been asked about the fallout from the homophobic f-bomb at most press conferences since Maui. He hasn’t shrunk from the inquiries. At every asking, he owns it, expresses his regret and talks about his need to learn from it. What Thomas can’t say—but what needs saying nonetheless—is that it’s time for him to move beyond it, to compartmentalize whatever personal progress he hopes to make from the professional performance he needs to deliver.

He can work on being a better person at home. Out here, he needs to refocus on the business at hand.

“It can go astray so fast,” he said Tuesday. “Maybe just have some things go on in your personal life…” He was talking about the ephemeral nature of the professional golfer’s existence and the many things—the specter of injuries, the fickleness of form, the fugaciousness of confidence—that can upend a career.

“That’s just all on you. You’re the only one out there that’s going to play each and every day, each and every week, each and every year. You really just have to make the best out of what you have.”

That’s a governing principle for Thomas, the idea of ownership, taking responsibility for his failures as much as his successes. It’s a mindset he will need competing on one of the most demanding venues on Tour. Pete Dye’s masterpiece at TPC Sawgrass is a medieval rack upon which the world’s best golfers are stretched to find where they break and where they hold. Of the 154 men in the field this week, Thomas stands alone in already having faced and survived that examination in 2021.

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The Players Championship field by the rankings

The entire Players Championship field is broken down below according to the Golfweek/Sagarins and the OWGR.

As usual, a deep field has turned up at TPC Sawgrass for the Players Championship. Dustin Johnson, No. 1 in the Official World Golf Ranking, and Xander Schauffele, No. 1 in the Golfweek/Sagarin Pro Rankings, top the field. The top 16 players in the Sagarins are all in attendance and so are the top 11 players in the OWGR.

The entire Players Championship field is broken down below according to the Golfweek/Sagarins and the OWGR.

So far in the 2020-21 Tour season, the average ranking of the winner heading into the week in which he won a PGA Tour event has been 102.19 in the Golfweek/Sagarins and 111.76 in the OWGR.

Players GW/Sagarin OWGR
 Xander Schauffele 1 5
 Dustin Johnson 2 1
 Jon Rahm 3 2
 Patrick Cantlay 4 9
 Viktor Hovland 5 13
 Tony Finau 6 14
 Webb Simpson 7 10
 Bryson DeChambeau 8 6
 Daniel Berger 9 15
 Rory McIlroy 10 11
 Justin Thomas 11 3
 Will Zalatoris 12 46
 Tyrrell Hatton 13 7
 Joaquin Niemann 14 29
 Zach Johnson 15 116
 Louis Oosthuizen 16 22
 Patrick Reed 18 8
 Harris English 19 18
 Adam Scott 20 24
 Paul Casey 21 19
 Cameron Tringale 22 89
 Russell Henley 23 58
 Abraham Ancer 24 28
 Brian Harman 25 95
 Collin Morikawa 26 4
 Corey Conners 27 44
 Sungjae Im 28 17
 Hideki Matsuyama 29 23
 Matthew Fitzpatrick 30 16
 Ryan Palmer 31 26
 Cameron Smith 32 27
 Scottie Scheffler 34 30
 Tommy Fleetwood 35 21
 Kevin Kisner 36 35
 Kevin Na 37 25
 Chris Kirk 38 84
 Christiaan Bezuidenhout 39 34
 Sam Burns 40 87
 Patton Kizzire 42 207
 Mackenzie Hughes 44 53
 Billy Horschel 45 33
 Si Woo Kim 46 54
 Jason Kokrak 47 32
 Kevin Streelman 48 59
 Cameron Davis 49 133
 Matt Jones 50 85
 Sergio Garcia 52 43
 Lanto Griffin 53 50
 Jordan Spieth 54 52
 Emiliano Grillo 56 144
 Brendon Todd 57 49
 Brendan Steele 58 78
 Robert MacIntyre 59 42
 Ian Poulter 60 62
 Max Homa 61 38
 Bernd Wiesberger 62 41
 Alex Noren 63 94
 Richy Werenski 64 102
 Talor Gooch 66 82
 Jason Day 67 47
 Sepp Straka 68 151
 Charley Hoffman 69 125
 Carlos Ortiz 70 45
 Doug Ghim 72 257
 Francesco Molinari 73 92
 Adam Hadwin 77 96
 Lee Westwood 80 31
 Sebastián Muñoz 81 60
 Scott Stallings 84 251
 Henrik Norlander 85 99
 Bubba Watson 86 56
 Keegan Bradley 87 138
 Rory Sabbatini 89 114
 Mark Hubbard 90 153
 Matt Kuchar 92 51
 James Hahn 93 154
 Justin Rose 94 39
 Charles Howell III 95 141
 Adam Long 98 64
 Harold Varner III 99 131
 Doc Redman 100 137
 Michael Thompson 101 105
 Stewart Cink 103 148
 Wyndham Clark 105 129
 Scott Piercy 107 184
 Chez Reavie 108 67
 Rickie Fowler 109 70
 Maverick McNealy 111 130
 Tyler Duncan 113 161
 Shane Lowry 114 40
 Kyle Stanley 115 212
 Lucas Glover 116 147
 J.T. Poston 117 66
 Denny McCarthy 118 221
 Andrew Putnam 119 123
 Joel Dahmen 121 74
 Gary Woodland 122 48
 Adam Schenk 123 248
 Austin Cook 125 201
 Troy Merritt 129 171
 Matthew NeSmith 130 146
 Dylan Frittelli 131 68
 C.T. Pan 133 170
 Bo Hoag 134 228
 Jason Dufner 135 336
 Luke List 138 165
 Pat Perez 139 227
 Peter Malnati 140 156
 Cameron Percy 144 290
 Charl Schwartzel 147 208
 Tom Hoge 150 113
 Jhonattan Vegas 151 177
 Anirban Lahiri 152 452
 Nick Taylor 154 127
 Byeong Hun An 156 80
 Marc Leishman 157 37
 Patrick Rodgers 158 209
 Martin Laird 160 93
 Brian Stuard 161 197
 Branden Grace 164 75
 Brice Garnett 165 254
 Andrew Landry 173 121
 Cameron Champ 179 81
 Russell Knox 185 213
 Phil Mickelson 190 101
 Danny Lee 191 164
 Nate Lashley 193 122
 Danny Willett 194 69
 Kyoung-Hoon Lee 199 149
 Ryan Armour 200 231
 Victor Perez 204 36
 Aaron Wise 217 145
 Ryan Moore 224 206
 Tom Lewis 229 90
 Brandt Snedeker 231 140
 Jim Herman 232 120
 Harry Higgs 234 139
 Keith Mitchell 242 203
 Vaughn Taylor 250 204
 Robby Shelton 266 177
 Xinjun Zhang 271 248
 Sam Ryder 277 269
 Robert Streb 294 117
 Brian Gay 300 199
 Scott Brown 313 253
 Beau Hossler 321 319
 Scott Harrington 335 327
 Henrik Stenson 341 91
 Hudson Swafford 350 189
 Sung Kang 361 124
 Graeme McDowell 367 110
 Tyler McCumber 383 298
 Jimmy Walker 440 482
 Jerry Kelly N/R 907

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PGA Tour institutes ‘Bryson Rule’ with internal OB left of the lake on No. 18 at TPC Sawgrass

Bryson DeChambeau won’t be aiming to the 9th hole while playing TPC Sawgrass’ 18th hole after internal out of bounds was added to the hole.

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – Call it the Bryson Rule.

Just days after Bryson DeChambeau said he would consider aiming left of the the water at the dogleg-left par-4, 462-yard 18th hole at the Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass, the Players Championship Rules Committee has installed an internal out of bounds left of the lake for play of hole 18.

On Sunday, after DeChambeau drove within 100 yards of the 550-yard par-5 sixth hole on both Saturday and Sunday and closed out his one-stroke victory at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, he was asked if there were any unique angles at Pete Dye’s famed layout that he was dreaming up for this week.

“I have thought about sometimes on 18 going left into 9. But we’ll see, with the stands and everything, if it’s even worth it,” he said. “But that’s really the only one that I could see being unique and a little different as of right now. There’s really not another hole.”

The Players: TPC Sawgrass yardage book

That would require one of his tape-measure blasts across the lake running the length of 18 and potentially into a sliver of rough right of the ninth cart path and the water. Another option would be to hit all the way into the ninth fairway, but under that scenario he’d face a blind shot over hospitality tents.

“It just gives you a better shot into the green, I think, personally, where you can just hit it a little long and you’re always going to be OK,” he explained. “It’s probably not worth it. I mean, the cover’s like 310, but we’ll see. I just, I look at all options and hopefully there’s an advantage there. But if not I’ll just hit 4-iron down the fairway and hopefully an 8-iron or 7-iron into the green.”

Asked on Tuesday during his pre-tournament press conference if he was serious about taking a circuitous route to the 18th green, DeChambeau was non-committal but still thinking outside the box.

“I’ll probably give it a try, but it’s most likely not going to happen,” he said. “I haven’t seen it yet, but if there’s stands there there’s really no reason to go for it, when I could just drive it 100 yards from the green if I get a good wind normally. It’s not really that big of an advantage, but taking the water out of play and having an easier second shot, it may be easier, I don’t know.”

Rules officials heard about DeChambeau’s latest gambit and nipped any thoughts of taking a unique route at 18 in the bud. Any shot coming to rest left of the white stakes on 18 will be determined to be out of bounds.

“In the interest of safety for spectators, volunteers and other personnel, the Players Championship Rules Committee has installed an internal out of bounds left of the lake for play on hole 18,” the Tour said in a statement.

The Tour noted that similar instances of internal out of bounds for safety purposes have occurred at The Open Championship (hole 9) in 2017, the 2021 Sony Open in Hawaii (hole 13 and hole 18), and most recently, the 2021 Arnold Palmer Invitational (hole 6).

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