Tag: Players Championship

Scottie Scheffler wins a bet with his caddie, Tom Hoge’s record round and Aaron Rai comes up aces among takeaways from third round at 2023 Players Championship

Scottie Scheffler would move back to No. 1 in the world with a win.

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — Scottie Scheffler won a year-long bet with his caddie on Saturday. On Sunday, he’s hoping to win the Players Championship, return to World No. 1 and earn the largest check on the PGA Tour.

Scheffler fired a 7-under 65 at TPC Sawgrass on Saturday to grab the 54-hole lead with a total of 14-under 202, two strokes clear of Australian Min Woo Lee.

Scheffler, who had to finish off his second-round 69 in the morning, vaulted into the lead with a birdie-eagle start in the afternoon. After pulling his second shot at the par-5 second hole, he lofted a pitch from the rough and jarred the 62-foot shot and then jawed at caddie Ted Scott having recorded his 10th hole-out…and it’s only March.

“I had a decent lie there in the rough and was able to hit a flop shot pretty much exactly where I wanted to land it,” he said. “I was definitely fortunate to see it go in, and then Teddy and I got a year-long thing going that I just beat him on and he owes me something, but he didn’t have any of it, and so he owes me. It’s an IOU from Teddy.”

Scheffler made his lone bogey at the seventh, but it barely slowed him down as he bounced back with consecutive birdies. He closed with birdies on two of his final three holes as he posted his career low at the Stadium Course and claimed his seventh career 54-hole lead/co-lead on Tour. The reigning Masters champion is seeking to win for the second time this season —he defended his title at the WM Phoenix Open in February — and supplant Jon Rahm as World No. 1. But Scheffler knows that winning will take care of the latter.

“I think the ranking is just an algorithm,” he said. “For me, I would much rather win the tournament than get back to No. 1 in the world. So that will be my focus going into tomorrow is just going out and having a solid round of golf, and the rankings will be the rankings.”

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Watch: Colt Knost had a hilarious reaction to Tom Hoge breaking his TPC Sawgrass course record during 2023 Players Championship

Colt Knost watched on a phone from the golf course as his record was broken.

Tom Hoge had a record-setting performance Saturday during the third round of the 2023 Players Championship.

Hoge set a TPC Sawgrass course record, shooting 10-under 62 with 10 birdies and no bogeys. Nine players had previously shot 63 in Ponte Vedra Beach, most recently Dustin Johnson in the final round in 2022.

One of those with the previous record is Colt Knost, now a member of the CBS golf broadcasting team. He shot a 63 in the second round in 2016.

And he wasn’t too thrilled his course record is no more.

Knost was playing golf Saturday himself, and he watched on a phone as Hoge broke his record at TPC Sawgrass. His reaction is hilarious.

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2023 Players Championship Sunday tee times, TV and streaming info at TPC Sawgrass

Everything you need to know for the final round of the Players Championship.

It’s time for the final round of the PGA Tour’s flagship event.

The 2023 Players Championship in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, is being contested at TPC Sawgrass, a par-72 layout with the icon hole being the par-3 17th island green.

It was a wild Saturday. Tom Hoge fired a course-record 10-under 62, and Aaron Rai hit an ace on 17. However, the name at the top is familiar.

Scottie Scheffler birdied the 18th hole to shoot 7-under 65 on Saturday and take a two-shot lead heading to Sunday. Scheffler, who has five PGA Tour wins, is at 14 under, two shots clear of Min Woo Lee, and four in front of Cam Davis.

From tee times to TV and streaming info, here’s everything you need to know for Sunday’s final round of the 2023 Players Championship. All times Eastern.

1st tee

Tee time Players
7:40 a.m. Sahith Theegala
7:44 a.m.
Sepp Straka, Adam Scott
7:53 a.m.
Patton Kizzire, Aaron Baddeley
8:02 a.m.
Kevin Kisner, Will Zalatoris
8:11 a.m.
Justin Thomas, Tom Kim
8:20 a.m.
Scott Stallings, Ben Martin
8:29 a.m.
Joel Dahmen, Matthias Schwab
8:38 a.m.
Eric Cole, Chesson Hadley
8:47 a.m.
Alex Smalley, Jerry Kelly
8:56 a.m.
Maverick McNealy, Stephan Jaeger
9:11 a.m.
Shane Lowry, Keith Mitchell
9:20 a.m.
Austin Smotherman, Brendon Todd
9:29 a.m.
Sam Ryder, Sam Burns
9:38 a.m.
Brian Harman, Xander Schauffele
9:47 a.m.
Lucas Glover, Danny Willett
9:56 a.m.
Nate Lashley, Will Gordon
10:05 a.m.
Mark Hubbard, Gary Woodland
10:15 a.m.
Taylor Pendrith, Russell Henley
10:25 a.m.
Kramer Hickok, Tyler Duncan
10:35 a.m.
Cameron Young, Ryan Fox
10:50 a.m.
Francesco Molinari, Davis Thompson
11 a.m.
Tony Finau, Byeong Hun An
11:10 a.m.
Brandon Wu, Wyndham Clark
11:20 a.m.
Garrick Higgo, Hideki Matsuyama
11:30 a.m.
Tyrrell Hatton, Max Homa
11:40 a.m.
Ben Griffin, Si Woo Kim
11:50 a.m.
Collin Morikawa, Adam Svensson
12 p.m.
Jason Day, Viktor Hovland
12:10 p.m.
Taylor Moore, Justin Suh
12:20 p.m.
Dylan Wu, Adam Hadwin
12:35 p.m.
Rickie Fowler, Patrick Cantlay
12:45 p.m.
Denny McCarthy, Jordan Spieth
12:55 p.m.
Taylor Montgomery, Justin Rose
1:05 p.m.
David Lingmerth, Tom Hoge
1:15 p.m.
Christiaan Bezuidenhout, Sungjae Im
1:25 p.m.
Aaron Rai, Chad Ramey
1:35 p.m.
Cam Davis, Tommy Fleetwood
1:45 p.m
Scottie Scheffler, Min Woo Lee

TV, streaming, radio information

You can watch Golf Channel for free on fuboTV. ESPN+ is the exclusive home for PGA Tour Live streaming. All times Eastern.

Sunday, March 12

TV

NBC: 1-6 p.m.

Radio

SiriusXM: 12-6 p.m.

STREAM

ESPN+: 7:45 a.m.-6 p.m.
Peacock: 1-6 p.m.

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Tom Hoge breaks course record at TPC Sawgrass after barely making the cut at The Players

One of the toughest courses on the PGA Tour was no match for Tom Hoge on Moving Day at The Players

What a 24 hours for Tom Hoge.

The No. 33rd ranked golfer in the world just barely made the cut at the 2023 Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass on Friday, notching a birdie on No. 17 to get him right on the number to advance to the weekend.

On Saturday, he etched himself into history at one of the most notoriously difficult courses on the PGA Tour. Hoge carded a course record round of 62 with 10 birdies during a bogey-free round and broke a tie at 63 held by nine players.

Dustin Johnson famously tied the course record at 63 last year with an eagle on No. 18. Hoge tied the record through 17 holes and easily cleaned up for birdie on his 18th to finish the day after starting on the back nine. That moved him from two-over par on the tournament to eight-under and a tie for eighth place heading into Sunday in the richest event on the Tour schedule.

There’s having a solid moving day, and then there’s rocketing up 57 spots on the leaderboard as Hoge did.

The 33-year-old strung together birdies at hole Nos. 2, 3, 4, 8, 9, 11, 12, 15, 16 and 18, scoring 31 on both the front and back nine. Before Saturday, Hoge had never shot better than 66 in any round at TPC Sawgrass’ Stadium Course.

He’s walked off the course +6600 at BetMGM to win the event and claim the $4.5 million prize.

Regardless of whether or not he’s able to pull it off, he’ll forever be known as a legend at an iconic stop each year on the Florida swing.

Aaron Rai aces the 17th island green at TPC Sawgrass, second hole-in-one this week at 2023 Players Championship

“It was a little bit of a blur.”

It happened again.

An ace on the par-3 17th hole at the famous island green. This time, it was Aaron Rai on Saturday during the third round of the Players Championship in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida.

On Thursday, Hayden Buckley hit one. Rai did it in similar fashion, hitting his shot about 15 feet past the front left pin before it spun back and into the hole.

“Felt at a very good number with my gap wedge,” Rai said. “Hit it great, looked great in the air and very pleased to see it go in. That was an incredible moment.”

It’s the first time in Players history there has been two holes-in-one at the 17th hole in the same year. It’s the third one in the past two years, with Shane Lowry making one in a similar location during the third round last year.

On Saturday, the par-3 17th was playing 122 yards. Here’s a look at everyone who has hit a hole-in-one on the 17th in Players history.

2023: Hayden Buckley, 1st round; Aaron Rai, 3rd round
2022: Shane Lowry, 3rd round
2019: Ryan Moore, 1st round
2017: Sergio Garcia, 1st round
2016: Willy Wilcox, 2nd round
2002: Miguel Angel Jimenez, 1st round
2000: Paul Azinger, 3rd round
1999: Joey Sindelar, 1st round
1997: Fred Couples, final round
1991: Brian Claar, 3rd round

The ace put Rai to 6 under thru 17 holes. He also birdied the par-4 18th hole after a great approach shot to finish at 7-under 65 and 9 under for the tournament.

“It was a little bit of a blur,” Rai said. “I saw it go in, and then I looked to the left to almost see, is it real and I saw almost the crowd’s hands in the air.

“In the second after that, I looked to the right towards my caddie and he came running at me. So it happened very fast, but it feels very vivid now that I’m even talking about it and remembering some of those images. So I couldn’t quite believe that it happened, but very, very special. Very special. Something I’ll always remember.”

Buckley was the first in Players history to go ace-birdie on 17 and 18. Rai became the second, but he was the first to finish birdie-ace-birdie.

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Justin Thomas makes an incredible eagle at the 18th during third round of Players Championship

What a shot from JT.

For the most part, it has been a forgettable week for Justin Thomas.

He entered this year’s Players Championship as one of the betting favorites, however, he struggled through the first two rounds making the cut right on the number (2 over).

Thomas was even through his first eight holes Saturday at TPC Sawgrass in Ponta Vedra Beach, Florida, before stripping a drive down the 18th fairway — his ninth of the day.

He sent his 146-yard approach shot to the right, catching the green by just a few feet.

Thomas’ ball landed with some draw spin and worked its way down the slope before finding the bottom of the cup.

Through nine holes, Thomas was 2 under for the round, even for the championship and 11 back of Scottie Scheffler.

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Early riser: Scottie Scheffler climbs morning leaderboard as 2023 Players Championship resumes

Scottie Scheffler completed his second round with an early-morning 69 at the Players Championship.

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — Waking up for a tournament round at 4 a.m. is tough for the average golfer.

Doing it without coffee? For many, flat-out unthinkable.

That didn’t stop Scottie Scheffler, who burned the early-morning oil and rocketed up the leaderboard against a field that’s traditionally the strongest in all of golf.

Moving day began bright and early for Scheffler, who resumed his suspended second round at the crack of dawn and made the most of his tee time with a jump at the Players Championship. Ranked second in the world, Scheffler closed his round with a 7-under 137, entering the clubhouse two strokes behind Adam Svensson of Canada.

The secret to success for a golfer aiming at No. 1 in the Official World Golf Ranking? Flexibility.

“Just adjusting to the conditions. It was quite soft and it was actually a bit cooler,” he said.

The quest to climb the board started early. Really early.

Scheffler said that he woke up at 4 a.m. and arrived at the Players Stadium Course around 4:45. And while he said he has become a coffee connoisseur of late, even ordering an espresso machine during the Open Championship at St. Andrews, he said he puts his coffee routine on hold during tournaments. No matter the wake-up time.

Coffee or no coffee, Scheffler didn’t show signs of an empty fuel tank. Paired with Rory McIlroy in a two-man group after top-ranked Jon Rahm withdrew Friday due to illness, Scheffler found part of the challenge was to keep moving.

“I was walking as slow as possible, which still wasn’t even close to being slow enough,” he said.

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He began Saturday midway through the par-5 11th, making birdie at 11 and 16 while staying out of trouble throughout the resumed round to wrap up a 69.

Saturday morning’s round was the latest winning sign for Scheffler, who owns five PGA Tour victories within just over a year going back to the 2022 Phoenix Open. If he seals his sixth on Sunday at the Players, he’ll bring home a $4.5 million check for the winner. That’ll buy a whole lot of coffee.

At the Stadium Course, he knows he can’t take anything for granted.

“What makes me a little nervous is the stuff kind of around,” he said. “You don’t really know if you’re going to get a good or bad break.”

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2023 Players Championship: Here are the notables, including Rory McIlroy, who missed the cut

“Very blah,” said McIlroy on his performance. “You just have to be really on to play well here.”

PONTE VEDRA BEACH —The cutline at the Players Championship was cruel to some of the game’s biggest stars, a reminder that there should be no guarantees of a paycheck at the highest levels.

Rory McIlroy, who has been an advocate of reduced field, no-cut designated events beginning in 2024, finished his second round on Saturday morning but will have the rest of the weekend off.

“Just very blah,” McIlroy said of his rounds of 76-73—149 at TPC Sawgrass. “Yeah, I guess the course, you just have to be really on to play well here. If you’re a little off, it definitely magnifies where you are off. It is, it’s a bit of an enigma. Some years I come here, and like it feels easier than others.”

Play was suspended on Friday afternoon due to inclement weather, and on Saturday morning the course played easier as the wind laid down and the greens softened. It made scoring easier but not enough to hold the cutline at 1 over. It moved back a stroke to 2-over 146, allowing 75 players in the 144-man field to continue in the trophy hunt. That included the following players who made it on the number: Shane Lowry, Tom Kim, Justin Thomas, Eric Cole, who eagled 16 to make it on the number, and 56-year-old PGA Tour Champions regular Jerry Kelly, who bogeyed his final hole to finish 2 over but it held up to become the oldest player to make the cut.

It also marks the end of Jon Rahm’s Tour-best streak of 25 straight made cuts. He withdrew from the tournament before the second round with a stomach ailment, snapping his streak. The new leader for most cuts made in a row is Xander Schauffele, who extended his streak to 18 this week.

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Here are some of the other big names who left town empty-handed.

Players Championship: Keith Mitchell had an all-time bad break when he drove his ball in the water, slammed club in frustration seconds before horn blows

This is both hilarious and terrible luck.

You want to talk about bad beats, well, Keith Mitchell suffered one of the worst ones in recent memory Friday.

Seconds before the horn blew to suspend play for the day due to inclement weather at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, during the second round of the Players Championship, Mitchell hit his tee shot on the par-4 5th, his 14th hole of the day.

He slammed his club in frustration as his ball sailed toward the water, eventually finding the hazard right of the fairway.

If he just waited two seconds, he would have been able to play the shot Saturday morning.

Play is scheduled to resume at 7 a.m. ET.

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Christiaan Bezuidenhout, Adam Svensson lead after two days at the Players Championship

Meet the two players leading the Players Championship after Friday’s second round was cut short.

When the horn blew Friday at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, for the Players Championship, two unfamiliar names sat atop the leaderboard.

Chad Ramey was 10 under par after two birdies on Nos. 11 and 12 — his second and third of the day — but came back to Earth with bogeys on Nos. 13 and 1, and a quadruple-bogey at the par-3 17th thanks to two balls in the water. He’s now 4 under, four back.

Ramey trails Christiaan Bezuidenhout and Adam Svensson who both sit at 8 under. Both players are 4 under in their second rounds.

As for the stars, Scottie Scheffler is 5 under but left the course looking at a 17-foot putt for eagle at the par-5 11th. Collin Morikawa, who entered the second round one shot behind Ramey, is 1 over through 11 holes and now sits at 6 under.

If the two names on top are unfamiliar to you, you’re not alone. Let’s meet the two leaders at the 2023 Players Championship, which was official suspended due to inclement weather at 4:27 p.m. ET on Friday.

Players: Weather, updated schedule

Christiaan Bezuidenhout

Score: 8 under.
Country: South Africa.
Last hole completed: No. 5 (currently on No. 6, four more to play).
World Golf Ranking: 81
Best previous finish at the Players: 41st, 2021.

Adam Svensson

Score: 8 under.
Country: Canada.
Last hole completed: No. 2 (currently on No. 3, seven more to play).
World Golf Ranking: 57.
Best previous finish at the Players: None (first-timer).

Who else is on the leaderboard?

Bezuidenhout and Svensson hold a two-stroke lead over clubhouse leader Ben Griffin, who shot a 71 Friday. Min Woo Lee and Collin Morikawa are also at 6 under. Griffin has completed his round, while Lee has four holes to play and Morikawa has seven.

At 5 under are Taylor Pendrith and Scheffler. At 4 under are Will Gordon, Jason Day, Viktor Hovland, Denny McCarthy, Byeong Hun An, Chad Ramey and Adam Hadwin.

The second round will resume at 7 a.m. ET and the third round is expected to begin around 10:40 a.m. ET on Saturday.

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