Tag: 2022 Players Championship

Chilled out Anirban Lahiri warms to the idea of making his maiden PGA Tour victory a rich one at 2022 Players Championship

“I think I started feeling my toes probably around the 10th or 11th hole,” said Lahiri.

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – From hot and humid to rain and wind to chilly and bitter cold, the Players Championship has seemingly endured all four seasons and everything but locusts and boils.

It took 54 hours, 16 minutes to complete the first round on Saturday and half that time to finally make the 36-hole cut on Sunday afternoon. As a result, the third round began, but players will have to finish at least 27 holes on Monday before a victor can be crowned.

How much has the Players lacked continuity? Sam Burns, one of the 36-hole co-leaders, said he had to ask his caddie what day it was today.

“I really wasn’t even sure,” Burns said. “It kind of felt like we were starting a new tournament today.”

Paul Casey, who finished his first round on Thursday, said he couldn’t recall having two consecutive days off during a tournament.

“How would I characterize it?” said Casey, who is tied for fourth. “It’s been weird.”

When play was suspended due to darkness, India’s Anirban Lahiri had vaulted into the lead at 9 under through 11 holes of his round at the Players Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass, one stroke ahead of Tom Hoge and Harold Varner III.

One day after howling winds caused chaos to the leaderboard and sent many of the best players in the world packing their bags after missing the cut, the wind died down, the temperature warmed a tad as the day went along and the birdies returned.

Players: Leaderboard | How to watch Monday finish

Golf Channel analyst Paul McGinley used a boxing analogy to describe the difference between the conditions from one day to the next and the way players shifted from defense to attack mode at Pete Dye’s famed course.

“Yesterday they were on the ropes, ducking and diving the punches thrown at them,” said Golf Channel analyst Paul McGinley. “Today, it was about coming off the ropes. It was time to throw punches now, get on the front foot and take on the course and start firing at flags.”

Few landed more blows than Lahiri, who signed for 67 in his opening round on Thursday and was among the players who didn’t play for two days. After spending his down time watching a cricket test match, he headed to the course on Saturday afternoon and lugged a duffel bag filled with cold-weather gear to the back of the range and tried on various outfits to figure out the most layers that he could wear and swing a club.

“Going to bed last night I was a bit scared how cold it was going to be. I’m not used to playing temperatures sub-40,” he said.

On Sunday morning, he said he wore four layers and carried a fifth as temperatures dipped into the 30s.

“It was just brutally cold,” said Lahiri. “I think I started feeling my toes probably around the 10th or 11th hole. I was numb ankle down for the first three holes.”

But Lahiri recalled playing in colder conditions.

“I think the coldest I’ve ever been in my life was probably the 2013 Ballantyne’s Championship in Jeju, Korea,” he said. “I was borderline hypothermic the whole day. I was so happy I missed the cut.”

On Sunday, his putter warmed up at the 11th hole of his second round as he canned an 11-foot eagle putt en route to shooting 73. Lahiri’s putter stayed hot in the afternoon as he reeled off four birdies on the front nine, including a 25-foot putt at the par-5 ninth. He made his lone bogey of the third round at the 10th, but bounced back with a two-putt birdie at the par-5 11th to regain the solo lead.

Lahiri climbed as high as No. 40 in the world in 2015 and played on the International Team at the Presidents Cup that same year. But he’s dipped to No. 322 in the world entering the Players and still is seeking his maiden PGA Tour title. Still, his self-belief that he belongs on the PGA Tour has remained intact.

“You grind away, you keep chipping away, you keep working on your game, and when it clicks, it clicks. It could be this week, it could be next week. As long as it happens, and that’s the belief you’ve got to have, and that’s the commitment you’ve got to have,” Lahiri said. “I’m just happy that I’m playing well. I’m just happy that I’m hitting my irons well. I’m just happy.”

Hot on his heels at 8 under through nine holes when play was suspended were Hoge, winner of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am last month and the other 36-hole co-leader at the Players after shooting 71 in the second round, and Varner III, who won the Saudi International the same day as Hoge and shot a pair of 69s at TPC Sawgrass.

Colombia’s Sebastian Munoz was the hottest man on the course with six birdies through 14 holes to improve to 7 under for the tournament and a tie for fourth place with Burns and Casey.

The shot of the day belonged to Ireland’s Shane Lowry, who aced the island-green par-3 17th hole with a pitching wedge from 124 yards.

“Special things happen sometimes,” Lowry said. “It’s pretty cool to do it there, one of the most iconic holes in golf.”

Asked if he would celebrate his hole-in-one during the evening, Lowry said, “No, hopefully tomorrow night. Hopefully celebrating something else.”

With 17 golfers within four strokes of the lead and as many as 27 holes still to go, it’s anyone’s guess as to who will be celebrating on Monday – hopefully – with a check for $3.6 million, the Tour largest winner’s check.

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2022 Players Championship: How to watch the Monday finish at TPC Sawgrass

For the first time since 2005, TPC Sawgrass will have golf on a Monday.

The first round of the 2022 Players Championship took 55 hours and 16 minutes. The end of the second round and ensuing cut didn’t happen till Sunday.

For the first time since 2005, TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, will have PGA Tour golf on a Monday. There’s even still a remote chance the “fifth major” spills over to Tuesday.

Good thing next week’s PGA Tour event, the Valspar Championship in Tampa, isn’t that far away.

For those who have already been attending this week, any fan holding any competitive-round Stadium Pass ticket or hospitality venue ticket from Thursday, Friday, Saturday or Sunday can get in for free Monday.

Apologies for those who have to work but here’s a look at the viewing options for Monday at the Players. All times Eastern.

The Players: PGA Tour Live on ESPN+ | Leaderboard

How to watch/listen

Monday, March 13

TV

Golf Channel: 8-11 a.m., conclusion of third round
Golf Channel: 11 a.m.-1 p.m., Live From the Players
Golf Channel: 1-6:30 p.m., final round
Golf Channel: 6:30-8:30 p.m., Live From the Players

STREAMING

Peacock: 8 a.m.

RADIO

SiriusXM: 1-7 p.m.

Monday’s final round

This marks the eighth Monday finish in the history of the tournament and the fourth at the Stadium Course. It’s also the first Monday finish since the Players moved to its current March spot on the PGA Tour schedule. But again, due to the tournament’s three-hole playoff format, it is possible action spills over to Tuesday.

Weather

The temperature is expected to be 56 degrees at the restart at 8 a.m. Monday.

The PGA Tour reports a 20 percent chance of rain in the morning hours and into the early afternoon. High temps on Monday should get into the mid-60s.

We recommend interesting sports viewing and streaming opportunities. If you sign up to a service by clicking one of the links, we may earn a referral fee.

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Erik van Rooyen proving he’s more than a mustache at 2022 Players Championship

“It kind of has a mind of its own. Especially with the windy conditions here, it just goes all over the place.”

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – The man with the striking ‘stache – think Wyatt Earp at the O.K. Corral – has game.

While the 32-year-old South African looks like he just stepped out of a black-and-white Western with a couple of six-shooters on his hips, he’s been a forceful presence with his clubs through the first four days of The Players Championship on the Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass.

He holed out from 62 yards on the par-5 9th to end his round and holed a bunch of 20-footers for birdie on his outward nine to finish Sunday’s storm-delayed second round on the first page of the leaderboard.

“Hit it perfect,” van Rooyen said of his shot that found the bottom of the hole.

When play was suspended due to darkness at 7:35 p.m. local time, van Rooyen was 5 under through 45 holes. That placed him four shots out of the lead set by Anirban Lahiri in the Tour’s flagship event that boasts the best field in golf and a purse of $20 million.

Players: Leaderboard | PGA Tour Live on ESPN+ streaming

Although he’s well known for going nuclear and destroying a tee marker in the 2021 PGA Championship, the video going viral and leading him to genuinely fall on his sword with an apology, his mustache is all the rage.

He’d like to change that, obviously, with his play on golf courses worldwide, but he’s having fun with the hair above his upper lip.

“Honestly, it’s the same thing over and over. ‘Love the mustache.’ ‘Love the mustache, man.’ Yeah, it’s good fun,” van Rooyen said. “Honestly, I didn’t really plan on it, but it’s sticking here a bit longer than I thought it would.

“It kind of has a mind of its own. Especially with the windy conditions here, it just goes all over the place. So I don’t have the control over it.”

What he does have is more control of his playing schedule since he won the 2021 Barracuda Championship, his lone PGA Tour title. It came with a two-year exemption that freed him up to plot out a schedule to his liking instead of being forced to chase as many starts as he could to keep his playing status.

“I think the feeling was vastly different a year ago, all new golf courses, trying to find my feet out here, and not playing well compared to everything at my feet this year,” he said. “I feel like I’m playing really well this year. I had two good finishes in the Middle East on the (DP World Tour). I haven’t quite scored well enough out here yet, but I’m finding my way.”

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Lynch: The Mona Lisa of one-dimensional holes – 17th at TPC Sawgrass – tested something we seldom see at the Players Championship

TPC Sawgrass still poses its share of challenges, but its iconic 17th hole is the Mona Lisa of one-dimensional golf.

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – The 17th at Sawgrass is the Mona Lisa of boring holes, but it tested something we seldom see now: imagination.

Too often, professional golf—in particular the strain presented on the PGA Tour—tilts toward the one-dimensional, not only in the repetitiveness of individual stroke play but in the consistency of course conditions that envelop players every week like a comfort blanket intended to minimize blubbering.

What variety there is exists mostly in the questions asked hole by hole, and even that has been diminished in the modern power game as players bludgeon courses into submission rather than seduce them in the manner of yore. The Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass still poses its share of nettlesome challenges for the best players in the world, but its iconic 17th hole is the Mona Lisa of one-dimensional golf.

That’s not to say it’s a wholly lousy hole. It’s indisputably entertaining, which is no small matter when it comes to fan engagement, dramatic theater, merchandise branding and hospitality sales. It’s daunting too, a necessary stress test in the closing stretch of tournament play. In normal circumstances, it’s not particularly difficult, even for recreational chops (it’s the shortest hole on the course and the green is huge). But No. 17 is woefully lacking in the one aspect that makes a golf hole truly interesting: options.

Unless you consider “live vs. die”” to be a real option.

Great golf holes offer a choice of routes that depend upon a player’s skill, confidence or courage. On 17 of the holes at TPC Sawgrass, a poor swing leads to car crash golf—injurious, but offering the possibility of recovery. But the penultimate hole at Pete Dye’s creation is plane-crash golf, where a poor swing is fatal. That’s why the least interesting hole here was the focus of attention when high winds buffetted the Players Championship, producing more squealing splashdowns than a kid’s water slide.

In a game of numbers, some of those we witnessed at Sawgrass felt like golf seen through a funhouse mirror, and it made for one of the most beguiling days in recent memory on Tour. Sure, weather conditions on Saturday were extreme, but it took that extreme to expose just how much torpor has been induced by the norm.

Among the spectacles that were awesome to behold in whipping winds were Brandel Chamblee’s mane and Justin Thomas’s 69. JT’s caddie, Bones Mackay, told me Sunday morning that it was among the top-five rounds all-time he has ever carried for, a captivating mix of sublimely flighted shots and clutch putts, all while knowing he had been diddled by the draw.

Twice during his round, Thomas hit pitching wedges 185 yards, while delivering a glorious 5-wood into the 18th green from 193 yards. His scorecards show two 3s on 17, but numbers don’t do justice to the situation. “When you have a 7-iron on that hole and it’s into off the left, it’s a lot more fun when someone tells you a story of them doing it versus you have to it,” he said.

Players: Leaderboard | How to watch | PGA Tour Live on ESPN+ streaming

Playing alongside Thomas, Rory McIlroy also hit 7-iron to the 17th, landing it on the front of the green 123 yards away. Asked afterward how far he normally hits that club, he replied: “185. It’s crazy.”

One group ahead, Brooks Koepka had hit an 8-iron into the 16th that flew 205 yards in the air. He turned around and struck the same club into the wind on 17. It flew 105 yards, coming up well short of dry land. He just laughed.

“It was 138, and I hit 118 front, which is really the only number we were kind of looking at,” said Dustin Johnson. “I hit a pretty good 8-iron with a low draw.” Pressed on how far that shot would usually travel, he said 165 yards. “It was kind of a chip,” he said with a shrug.

The 17th demanded a creativity that is somewhat lacking in its design, something beyond stock shots with stock clubs. Even with that, reward wasn’t assured. Koepka saw his playing partner Scottie Scheffler punch a 6-iron to the back pin, which ended up rinsed over the green. “You flight it low enough like Scottie did, the grandstands, the screen, everything in the back, you almost flight it too low and the wind doesn’t touch it,” he said. “It’s a tough one.”

Tough, but not unfair. Players who spoke after Saturday’s shenanigans unanimously said the set-up was difficult (brutally so) but had not crossed the line, a gracious sentiment that is so often denied the USGA.

The essential nature of the challenge was best summed up by Keegan Bradley, who drew a stark comparison between two 9-irons hit in his round. On the 12th, it was from 95 yards. Four holes later, the same club flew 206 yards. “To me there’s no yardage,” he said. “It’s just the trajectory of your ball, whatever club you can get to fit that window, that’s the shot.”

And that’s why the third day (albeit just the first and second rounds) of the Players was so wildly engaging. Every week the PGA Tour tests execution, but Saturday at TPC Sawgrass tested both execution and imagination—and many who are well-equipped for the former were found lacking in the latter.

Bubba Watson shapes his shots more than anyone on Tour and carded a stout 68. That could make one wonder why his imaginative approach hasn’t translated to a better record in the Open Championship, since links golf ought to be an inviting canvas for an artist of his caliber. But Sawgrass was very soft and Watson’s ball mostly stopped where it landed, whereas he has proven poorly wired for the fickle bounces of the ground game overseas.

Golf is a capricious game and it’s impossible to legislate chance out of it. Tournament organizers have no interest in guaranteeing equality of outcome, but they cannot even ensure equality of opportunity. In course conditions, sure, but Mother Nature’s writ overrules that of the PGA Tour’s chief referee, even in Ponte Vedra Beach. Whoever wins the 48th Players Championship—presumably on Monday—he might reflect that the most crucial stretch of his week was spent in a hotel room, sheltered from the less favorable side of the draw. Any victory will be hard-earned, but there’s no shame in hoping the eventual champion was among those faced and aced a test that is administered all too infrequently these days.

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Shane Lowry aces famed par-3 17th at TPC Sawgrass in 2022 Players Championship third round

There had been 1,075 swings since Ryan Moore had the last ace at No. 17 during the 2019 Players.

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – Shane Lowry’s tee shot at the par-3 17th at TPC Sawgrass was better than most.

The burly Irishman took aim at the famed island green, playing 123 yards in the third round of the 2022 Players Championship. His pitching wedge pitched about 5 feet behind the hole, which was six paces from the front and five paces from the left edge, spun back and circled the cup for a hole-in-one.

Lowry smiled from ear-to-ear and celebrated by high-fiving playing competitors Ian Poulter and Hayden Buckley and giving Poulter and caddie Bo Martin chest bumps. Then he waved his arms up and down, encouraging fans to cheer louder.

There had been 1,075 swings since Ryan Moore had the last ace at No. 17 during the 2019 Players. It was the 10th ace at 17 since Brad Fabel in 1986.

Lowry slapped hands with fans on his way to the green. When he retrieved the ball from the hole, he heaved it into the crowd setting off a brief battle for it. The lucky fan who came up with the ball near the 18th tee made his way to the rope line and Lowry gladly signed it for him.

One day earlier, the 17th hole gave up just two birdies as high winds punished poor shots. In all, 29 balls became souvenirs at the bottom of the lake.

Lowry got revenge for the field, and the ace lifted Lowry to 4 under for the tournament and four strokes off the lead during the third round.

It was his second career ace on the PGA Tour. The other? How about at 16 at Augusta National. Not a bad pairing. Expect a pint or two of Guinness to be consumed. Lowry, good man that he is, already had beer sent to the media center, a tradition unlike any other.

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Tiger Woods reflects on what he’s most proud of from Hall of Fame career in interview with NBC’s Mike Tirico aired during Players Championship

Woods sat down with Tirico the night of his World Golf Hall of Fame induction.

A lot has been said of Tiger Woods in the last week following his induction alongside former PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem, three-time U.S. Women’s Open champion Susie Maxwell Berning and trailblazer Marion Hollins into the World Golf Hall of Fame.

On the night of his induction, the 15-time major champion sat down with NBC’s Mike Tirico to discuss his family and career. In the interview, which aired during Sunday’s TV coverage of the Players Championship, Woods spoke about everything from his relationship with both his mother and father to what he’s most proud of from a career that amassed a record-tying 82 PGA Tour titles and record 11 PGA Tour Player of the Year Awards.

“I think the consistency in which I played, that’s something I was very proud of,” said Woods, who spent 683 weeks – or 13 years – atop the Official World Golf Ranking. “I played at a high level for a long period of time. I won my fair share of tournaments, I lost my share of tournaments, but I was proud of the work that I put in to keep myself there and keep trying to get better.”

“But also I think something I’m the most proud of is the cut streak,” Woods added, referencing his streak of 142 consecutive cuts made, a feat that seems only possible in video games. “Because you’re gonna have plenty of bad days … bad things just happen, right? But I didn’t mess it up for like over six years, and that is something that I am truly very proud of.”

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These big names won’t be cashing a big check after missing the cut at the 2022 Players Championship

Thanks in part to a wild weather week, a lot of the world’s best players struggled.

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – With the strongest field in golf, it’s almost inevitable that some of the biggest names in golf would have an off week and miss the cut. But this year, thanks in part to a wild weather week, more of the world’s best players struggled than normal.

It took 2-over 146 to finish among the top 65 and make the cut. (Seventy-one golfers in all made it.) There was cut drama as Scott Piercy finished with a quadruple-bogey 7 at 17 and a three-putt bogey at 18 to go from comfortably inside the cutline to packing his bags at 3-over 147. Squeaking in on the number were former Players champion Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler, who has won two of his past three starts. Other big names weren’t so lucky.

Several players all firmly inside the top 20 in the world that had no answers for the wacky weather conditions that meant the 36-hole cut wasn’t made until Sunday afternoon.

Players: Leaderboard | How to watch | PGA Tour Live on ESPN+ streaming

Most of them were doomed by the “luck of the draw,” as the late-early wave endured the worst of the rain on Friday and high winds when play resumed on Saturday. In all, 44 players made the cut among the early-late wave compared to 27 from the late/early wave.

TPC Sawgrass is a course that exposes any weakness in a player’s game and it did just that to some of golf’s best this week. Let’s take a closer look at what went wrong.

Players Championship cut finally made following bitterly cold Florida morning at TPC Sawgrass

When 36 holes were complete, Sam Burns and Tom Hoge were atop the leaderboard at 7 under.

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – There is no snow on the ground, but winter was definitely in the air Sunday morning at TPC Sawgrass.

When players took to the Stadium Course for resumption of the Players Championship’s second round at 8:15 a.m. ET, the wind chill factor made it feel like it was 25 degrees. Caddies were dipping towels into buckets of water to clean clubs and golf balls in the future; the towels froze up quickly.

The thermometer struggled to get past 35 for much of the morning.

It didn’t cross 50 until around 12 noon.

“It was freezing,” said Tommy Fleetwood, who finished off a 1-over 73 that left him at 5 under through 36 holes. “It was really, really cold this morning. The sun warmed things up a little bit. But this morning was like as cold as I think I’ve ever played a Tour event, for sure.”

Players: Leaderboard | How to watch | PGA Tour Live on ESPN+ streaming

Storms beginning Wednesday night forced the second round into Sunday. The tournament also had to deal with ferociously high winds on Saturday. The first round took 54 hours, 16 minutes to complete. The second round? Finished in a mere 27 hours, one minute.

“It was not warm,” said Harold Varner III, who has posted consecutive 69s to sit at 6 under. “I’m in a lot of clothes right now. Funny enough, I used to live here, so I’ve played it colder. It is what it is.”

When 36 holes were complete, Sam Burns and Tom Hoge were atop the leaderboard at 7 under; Burns shot 69 in the second round, Hoge a 71.

A shot back in a tie for third were Harold Varner III (60) and Erik van Rooyen (67). Another shot back at 5 under were Fleetwood, Abraham Ancer (71), Paul Casey (69), Corey Conners (69), Keith Mitchell (72), and Taylor Pendrith (71).

The cut came in 2 over with 71 players moving on, including Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler, who made the cut on the number.

Among those missing the final two rounds were Brooks Koepka, Jordan Spieth, Xander Schauffele, Patrick Cantlay, Tony Finau, Adam Scott and Jason Day.

“I was onto my third sweater, I think, and I still wasn’t warm enough,” said Hoge, who won earlier this year at Pebble Beach. “You know what, I think we definitely got the good end of the draw. That’s golf, I guess. It was certainly difficult out there still this morning. I felt there were a lot of challenging golf shots out there.

“I just tried to hit a lot of fairways and greens. I managed it very well until the 18th hole. But it was a solid day for me, and hopefully I keep that going.”

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2022 Players Championship: How to watch Sunday’s NBC TV coverage, ESPN+ live streaming coverage

On a day we’d normally be enjoying the final round at TPC Sawgrass, players are still finishing the second round.

What a wild week in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida.

Normally we’d all be enjoying Sunday’s final round of the Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass, but lots of rain led to lengthy delays earlier in the week. The first round alone took 55 hours and 16 minutes.

A Monday finish is a certainty, but with the tournament’s three-hole playoff format, there’s a remote chance the “fifth major” spills over to Tuesday.

Hey, at least next week’s PGA Tour event, the Valspar Championship, isn’t that far away.

Here’s a look at your viewing options for Sunday at the Players. All times Eastern.

The Players: PGA Tour Live on ESPN+ | Leaderboard

How to watch/listen

Sunday, March 13

TV

NBC: 1-6 p.m. ET

STREAM

ESPN+: 8:15 a.m.-6 p.m. ET

RADIO

SiriusXM: 1 p.m.-6 p.m. ET

Third-round action

After they made a rare Sunday cut, the third round will begin at about 2:15 p.m. ET, with golfers playing in threesomes off Nos. 1 and 10 tees. They will play as much as they can today but the leaders won’t start their third rounds until about 4 p.m. ET and may only get to the turn before running out of daylight.

Weather

The rain, rain finally went away and there is 0 percent chance of more on Sunday, according to the PGA Tour’s weather report.

The skies will be mostly sunny but the high temperature will only get to 54.

As for that wind: ” Northerly winds could gust over 20mph at times this morning and will shift to the northeast this afternoon and gradually diminish,” according to the report.

Sunset is 7:32 p.m. Saturday’s action was suspended due to darkness at 6:29 p.m. ET.

After Daylight Saving, Sunday will be 7:32 p.m. Saturday’s action was suspended due to darkness at 6:29 p.m. ET.

On Monday, there is a 20 percent chance of rain in the morning hours and into the early afternoon. High temperaturess on Monday should get into the mid-60s.

We recommend interesting sports viewing and streaming opportunities. If you sign up to a service by clicking one of the links, we may earn a referral fee.

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Players Championship has had great Monday finishes: Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods among the winners

The two biggest stars in golf history over the last 60 years won the Players on a Monday.

Hal Sutton had the right club, on that day.

Fred Funk hit into a bunker he’d never been in before, then got a huge break on the lie.

Raymond Floyd schooled an up-and-coming PGA Tour star who would one day join him in the World Golf Hall of Fame.

And the two biggest stars in golf history over the last 60 years added Players Championships to their lengthy resumes.

And they all happened on a Monday.

The Players Championship will have a Monday finish at the Players Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass because of storms on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. It will be the eighth Monday finish in the history of the tournament and the fourth at the Stadium Course.

No one – the Tour, players, fans and TV partners – is ever happy with a Monday finish. It’s made for longer weeks, cuts into preparations for the next event on the schedule, denies many fans who held Sunday tickets the chance to see the winner walk down the 18th fairway and results in lower ratings.

But in the case of The Players, the Monday finishes have resulted in some of the most memorable moments in tournament history and certainly among the most worthy winners.

Jack Nicklaus has won a record three Players Championships and two of them were on a Monday, at two venues, one in the summer and one in the spring.

Tiger Woods won the first of his two Players titles, closing it out two days after sinking his famous “Better than Most,” putt at No. 17 and holding off Vijay Singh – who executed perhaps the most stunning and inventive short-game shot in tournament history.

Floyd won on a Monday, the last year The Players was contested at the Sawgrass Country Club.

Both of Hal Sutton’s Players titles and Funk’s biggest professional triumph – yep, on Mondays.

That’s three members of the Hall of Fame, a major champion in Sutton and one of the most respected, blue-collar winners on the PGA Tour during his time in Funk.

Not a bad set of winners for any tournament, on any day.

Here’s the history of Players Monday finishes: