Tag: The Players Championship

A Ryder Cup-type showdown at The Players Championship would be great theater

How could Sunday’s final round not have a little Ryder Cup feel to it, a possible prelude to September at Whistling Straits?

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – On a leaderboard seemingly as crowded as Times Square on New Year’s Eve, there’s no shortage of compelling, feel-good story lines heading into the final round at the Players Championship.

How heartwarming might it be for European fans to see Lee Westwood, the 47-year-old Englishman, earn his first victory on American soil in 11 years with girlfriend, Helen Storey, carrying his bag.

If underdog stories are your thing, the odds of a golfer ranked No. 257 in the world like Doug Ghim – with one top-10 finish in 18 months of Tour membership – winning his first tournament at TPC Sawgrass are astronomical.

Chris Kirk, a husband and father of three kids, is a remarkable comeback tale after taking six months off in 2019 to address his alcohol dependency issues, and has now enjoyed 23 months of sobriety.

Players Championship: Leaderboard | Photos | Tee times, TV info

That trio is either on top of the leaderboard or close enough to it to be hoisting the Players gold trophy come Sunday evening.

But more than anything else, what golf fans should be stoked to see from this eclectic leaderboard in the final round is a Ryder Cup appetizer. Let’s have a battle to the finish line, starring top-10 Americans Bryson DeChambeau (No. 6) and Justin Thomas (No. 3), dueling with Europeans Jon Rahm, Paul Casey, 2008 Players champion Sergio Garcia and Westwood.

Imagine fans tuning in across the globe for a potential Sunday showdown between Players leader Westwood (13-under-par) and second-place occupant DeChambeau, a remake of last week’s Arnold Palmer Invitational mano-a-mano won by golf’s biggest rising star.

How could that not have a little Ryder Cup feel to it, a possible prelude to what we might see in September at Whistling Straits?

Bryson DeChambeau

When asked about whether the Players would have a Ryder-type atmosphere because of the USA-Europe element at the top of the leaderboard, DeChambeau replied: “Maybe. Look, we’re all focused to win this golf tournament, focused to win the Players championship. This is a chance that I’ve wanted my entire life.

“Growing up watching the Players, and finally having this opportunity is going to be something special. For sure in regards to the Ryder Cup-type atmosphere, maybe.”

There was no maybe about it as DeChambeau came off a birdie at the par-5 16th hole. As he pumped the gallery heading to the 17th tee, and again as he walked the cart path toward the island green, some fans on the hill were giving him a standing ovation. It was as if DeChambeau was a boxer entering the ring for a heavyweight championship fight.

Well, isn’t that precisely the kind of a raucous atmosphere we’re used to seeing at the Ryder Cup? DeChambeau has raved all week on how much inspiration he draws from the positive crowd reaction he receives almost everywhere he goes.

He’s not Tiger 2.0, but DeChambeau might be the next-best thing golf has to offer at the moment. Even four-time major champion Rory McIlroy, after a long pause during an interview on Saturday, acknowledged that his game has gotten sidetracked by trying to create more distance off the tee to keep up with Bryson, who added 40 pounds of muscle the past two years.

It’s certainly feasible that McIlroy, who missed the cut at the Players, envisions DeChambeau not only as a Tour rival, but potentially a Ryder Cup adversary for the next decade. The American bomber was heartened by McIlroy’s respect for his game.

“You know, I appreciate it, first off,” said DeChambeau. “The second comment I would have that, I wasn’t trying to influence anybody. I was just trying to play my own game and hit it as far as I possibly could.

“This journey I’m on is not taken lightly. I’ve tried to figure out a bunch of different variables that you have to in order to hit it straight, hitting it really far.”

If DeChambeau wants to win for the second consecutive week on a vastly different layout than Bay Hill, he’s going to have to overcome five accomplished Europeans that are either leading the Players or within three shots of Westwood, including Casey (9-under), Rahm (9-under), Garcia (8-under) and Englishman Matthew Fitzpatrick (8-under).

And then there’s Justin Thomas, the No. 3-ranked American who came within a missed birdie putt at No. 18 of tying the Stadium course record. Still, on Saturday moving day, Thomas shot 64 and soared up the leaderboard into a third-place tie with Ghim at 10-under-par.

“Yeah, I wish all rounds were that way,” said Thomas. “I hit the ball beautifully.”

So beautiful that in a round where he carded seven birdies and one eagle, Thomas needed a combined length of putts just 49 feet, 8 inches to get those red numbers.

“As long you hit the ball in the fairway, it’s not very long, you got four par-5s, you can realistically eagle – besides No. 9 you can, but it’s not likely. You can eagle every par-5, you got a short hole and you can make eagle on this weekend at [par-4] No. 12.

“So you can have crazy stuff happen out here and you can really, really shoot a low number.”

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Realistically, a minimum dozen players have a shot to take home the $2.7 million first-place paycheck. But with Westwood and DeChambeau playing in the final group for the second straight Sunday, it’s hard to not think about whether second-place Bryson can take down the Englishman again.

The stakes have never been higher for Westwood, who has missed only eight greens in three days and hasn’t won on American soil since the St. Jude Classic in 2010.

“Yes, no doubt,” Westwood replied when asked if this would be his greatest career victory. “It’ll be the biggest tournament that I’ve ever won.”

It’s conceivable Westwood may get his greatest challenge from DeChambeau and Thomas, possibly coming down to shot-making on the 17th and 18th holes where the Stadium crowds – even at 20 percent capacity due to COVID – are most raucous. But he dismissed the whole Ryder Cup narrative thing.

“No, I think the Ryder Cup is the last thing on the players’ mind,” said Westwood. “Everyone is focused on winning the Players.”

Fair enough, but it didn’t escape DeChambeau that he might be developing some sort of budding rivalry with Westwood. That’s quite remarkable considering he’s 20 years younger than the man he’s again battling for a PGA Tour victory.

“I guess so,” said DeChambeau. “He’s making a lot of amazing putts, too. That’s what it takes to win golf tournaments.”

And a Ryder Cup.

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Lee Westwood stays the course, adds to his lead in The Players Championship

Lee Westwood’s 68 on Saturday increased his lead in The Players Championship to two shots entering final round at TPC Sawgrass.

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Within the vortex of Move Day at the Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass, surrounded by competitors rising and falling on the leaderboard on Saturday, Lee Westwood stayed his own personal course and ended the third round of The Players Championship exactly where he started: the sole leader.

He even improved his position by one shot. Westwood is likely to need that cushion, and a few more to hold off a host of contenders — chief among them Bryson DeChambeau, his final-round playing partner last Sunday in the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill in Orlando.

The 47-year-old Westwood, who has won international tournaments in four decades, gave DeChambeau all he could handle before losing by one shot.

They’re together again this Sunday.

“It’s round two … the rematch,” Westwood said.

Players Championship: Leaderboard | Photos

On another gorgeous Northeast Florida day, Westwood made a gutty 5-foot par save at the last to salvage a 68 for a 54-hole total of 13-under-par 203, two shots ahead of DeChambeau (67) and three clear of Justin Thomas (64) and Doug Ghim (68).

Paul Casey (67), Jon Rahm (67) and Brian Harman (69) were tied at 9-under and 2008 Players champion Sergio Garcia (71), Chris Kirk (71) and Matthew Fitzpatrick (72) are at 8-under.

Cameron Smith of Jacksonville (65) and 2017 Players champion Si Woo Kim (67) are 7-under.

When the final round begins, a dozen players will be within four shots of Westwood, who slept on the Sunday lead in the 2010 players, only to be passed by Tim Clark.

Westwood began the day with nine pars in a row. But he birdied Nos. 10, 12 and 16, then made a startling 25-foot putt for birdie at No. 17.

“I was playing well all day, trying to be patient and wait for the good things to happen,” said Westwood, who has 23 top-10 finishes in major championships and The Players, and has found way to come up short every time – or had someone like Clark snatch it from him.

And he’s ready for another Sunday duel with DeChambeau, who reserved his spot in the final twosome by making a 14-foot par putt at No. 18, followed by an emotional series of fist pumps.

“I’m really looking forward to it,” Westwood said of another chance to play with DeChambeau in a final round. “I enjoy playing with him and I enjoy his company. I enjoyed last Sunday and I’m going to enjoy this Sunday.”

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DeChambeau, who continued plotting his way around the course instead of trying to out-muscle it, had only one bogey, at No. 14.

He said he likely will have to seize the day on Sunday, because Westwood, who shot his second bogey-free round in a row at the Stadium Course and has gone 44 holes in a row without a blemish on the card, doesn’t seem as if he’s going to beat himself.

Westwood hit 15 greens on Saturday and scrambled for with little sweat on the three he missed.

“Yeah … Mr. Consistency,” said DeChambeau, who followed his usual pattern by making birdie on three of the four par-5 holes, plus the short par-4 12th. “I mean, his driving is impeccable, his iron play is impeccable and he makes putts when he needs to. Fortunately for me last week I was able to get the job done, and I think tomorrow is going to be an incredible battle.”

But the last twosome can’t assume that the low man will be the tournament winner.

Thomas birdied his first four holes and had a chance at the last to tie the course record. The little-known Ghim, who has recorded only one top-10 finish on the PGA Tour, ran a bogey-free streak of holes to 33 and looked nothing like a first-time Players participant.

And international stars such as Rahm, Casey and Garcia will be ready to pounce.

But Westwood is hungry for his signature victory after so many close calls.

“The biggest, undoubtedly,” he said, when asked how he would measure winning The Players against his 42 international titles. “It will be the biggest tournament I’ve ever won.”

Given the pressure, the field and the course, the presence of players such as Thomas, Garcia, Rahm and Casey on the leaderboard is expected.

Doug Ghim
Doug Ghim waves to the gallery on the 14th green during the third round of the Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass. (Photo: Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports)

But the exception is Ghim, a University of Texas teammate with Jordan Spieth. He has taken a more winding path to the PGA Tour through international circuits and the Korn Ferry Tour, and is ranked 257th in the world.

Ghim held the lead briefly but actually seemed relieved to be working from behind on Sunday.

“Especially coming from an inexperienced position, not having the lead going into tomorrow might even be a good thing,” he said. “This golf course is so difficult and to think about having the lead so early in the tournament … I’ve just got to do the best I can to execute the way I’ve been doing and we’ll see. I’ll learn from it no matter what.”

Thomas made the biggest move of the day with his career-best score in The Players. He had a birdie putt attempt at No. 18 to tie eight other players for the course record of 63 but was content with his result and his position.

“The greens are still pretty soft, but you know they’re going to set it up tougher on Sunday,” he said. “You know where the pins are going to be, and the greens are going to get a little bit more baked out. It’s going to be a little windier, and it’s a Sunday of a Players. It’s a huge event and nerves are going to be there.”

Players Championship: Sunday tee times, TV and streaming info

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

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After last year’s cancellation, the Players Championship is back at TPC Sawgrass’ Players Stadium Course this week.

After 54 holes of the PGA Tour’s flagship event in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, Lee Westwood leads by two shots at 13 under. Bryson DeChambeau is in solo second at 11 under after carding a 5-under 67. Justin Thomas, who shot the low round of the day with a 8-under 64, and Doug Ghim are T-3 at 10 under.

Jon Rahm is among three players to be T-5 at 9 under while Sergio Garcia and two other are T-8 at 8 under.

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

Players Championship: Leaderboard | Photos

Tee times

1st hole

Time Players
7:50 a.m. Scott Harrington
7:55 a.m. Collin Morikawa, Martin Laird
8:05 a.m. Rory Sabbatini, Nate Lashley
8:15 a.m. Patrick Rodgers, James Hahn
8:25 a.m. Cameron Percy, Louis Oosthuizen
8:35 a.m. Dustin Johnson, Adam Scott
8:45 a.m. Jhonattan Vegas, Aaron Wise
8:55 a.m. Michael Thompson, Lucas Glover
9:05 a.m. Nick Taylor, Russell Knox
9:15 a.m. Dylan Frittelli, Sungjae Im
9:25 a.m. Zach Johnson, Keegan Bradley
9:40 a.m. Ryan Moore, Brendan Steele
9:50 a.m. Charley Hoffman, Billy Horschel
10 a.m. Brian Stuard, Kramer Hickok
10:10 a.m. Scott Piercy, Kyoung-Hoon Lee
10:20 a.m. Adam Hadwin, Harold Varner III
10:30 a.m. Phil Mickelson, Charles Howell III
10:40 a.m. Joaquin Niemann, Brendon Todd
10:50 a.m. Denny McCarthy, Matt Jones
11:05 a.m. Scott Brown, Tyler McCumber
11:15 a.m. Daniel Berger, Ryan Armour
11:25 a.m. Christiaan Bezuidenhout, Jason Kokrak
11:35 a.m. Victor Perez, J.T. Poston
11:45 a.m. Corey Conners, Jason Day
11:55 a.m. Jordan Spieth, Patrick Reed
12:05 p.m. Patton Kizzire, Lanto Griffin
12:15 p.m. Will Zalatoris, Tom Hoge
12:25 p.m. Adam Long, Shane Lowry
12:40 p.m. Talor Gooch, Harry Higgs
12:50 p.m. Ryan Palmer, Abraham Ancer
1 p.m. Cameron Smith, Si Woo Kim
1:10 p.m. Sergio Garcia, Matthew Fitzpatrick
1:20 p.m. Brian Harman, Chris Kirk
1:30 p.m. Paul Casey, Jon Rahm
1:40 p.m. Justin Thomas, Doug Ghim
1:50 p.m. Lee Westwood, Bryson DeChambeau

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How to watch

Sunday, March 14

TV

NBC: 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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Cameron Smith has adventuresome 65 to rocket up Players Championship leaderboard

Cameron Smith of Ponte Vedra Beach made the quickest early run up the leaderboard in Saturday’s third round of The Players Championship.

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PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – Cameron Smith’s 65 on Saturday at the Players Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass in the third round of The Players Championship was anything but a product of tee-to-green efficiency.

It was, however, a marvelous display of imagination, daring and some luck – both good and bad.

Smith, an Australian who has joined the large contingent of PGA Tour players to settle in the Jacksonville area, matched the tournament’s low round to that point when he made a par putt of two feet, seven inches at No. 18 – after earlier thinking about taking an unplayable lie when his drive strayed off the fairway – and was in a tie for third at the time he finished at 7-under-par 209.

It was Smith’s first score in the 60s at The Players and his fourth under-par round in 11 trips on the Stadium Course.

Not shabby for a guy who had to get up-and-down for par and finish with a birdie on his last three holes in the second round just to make the cut on the even-par number.

Players Championship: Leaderboard | Photos

Lee Westwood shoots bogey-free 66 to lead Players Championship

Veteran Lee Westwood takes charge atop a diverse, international leaderboard in The Players Championship.

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There’s something for everyone on the second-round leaderboard of The Players Championship.

Golf royalty, European style? There’s venerable Lee Westwood of England, coming off a near-miss in winning the Arnold Palmer Invitational last week in Orlando. The 47-year-old winner of 44 worldwide events shot a classy, bogey-free 66 at the Players Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass on Friday to take the 36-hole lead at 9-under-par 135.

Then there’s 18-hole leader and 2008 Players champion Sergio Garcia of Spain, who sparkled with a 65 in Thursday’s first round. He resisted several urges to implode and battled back with his third eagle of the tournament, at No. 11, and birdies on two of his last three holes for as 72 and a tie for third at 7 under.

In between those two is one of the next generation of British stars, Matthew Fitzpatrick, who played his last 10 holes at 4 under with no bogeys for a 68. He will join Westwood, 21 years his senior, in the final twosome in Saturday’s third round.

Players Championship: Leaderboard | Photos

With Dustin Johnson, Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth floundering and Brooks Koepka injured, Bryson DeChambeau leads the American superstar flight. Last week’s winner at Bay Hill bounced back nicely from a double-bogey on his first hole and shot a second 69 to tie for fifth at 6 under, setting up another weekend of Must-See Bry-TV on the NBC telecast.

If tales of redemption warm the heart, there’s Chris Kirk. The University of Georgia graduate, who kicked alcoholism to return to the PGA Tour, had a remarkable stretch in the middle of his round when he played six holes at 6-under — highlighted by an eagle-two at No. 1 — and matched Garcia’s first-round score for the lowest of the tournament so far to join the Spaniard at 7 under.

And if hard-working pros who are one part talent and one part grit stir the soul, may the PGA Tour’s Gold Standard event present Denny McCarthy (69, with a rare hole-in-one at No. 3), Brian Harman (71), Doug Ghim (67), Charley Hoffman (68) and Sungjae Im (66), who are tied with DeChambeau at 6-under.

The second round was suspended at 6:36 p.m. ET, the second day in a row the field of 154 players couldn’t darkness. Eight players will return on Saturday at 7 a.m. ET to finish the round and the official cut will come.

That even-par cut is not likely to change and will claim defending champion Rory McIlroy, Tyrrell Hatton, Bubba Watson, Xander Schauffele, Tommy Fleetwood, Viktor Hovland and 2018 Players champion Webb Simpson.

Lee Westwood with his caddie Helen Storey during the second round of The Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass – Stadium Course. Mandatory Credit: Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports

On a day when 16 players finished within five shots of Westwood’s pace, he may yet wind up being the best story. A Ryder Cup stalwart and a winner on every continent where golf is played, Westwood has been chasing a major championship without success for his entire career.

He has 18 top-10 finishes in major championships and nine top-three finishes. He also has five top-10s in The Players, beginning with a tie for fifth in 1998, the first year he ever played the Stadium Course.

But he’s secure in the effort he’s given and possesses enough self-awareness to not let it eat at him – at least on the surface.

“I care less about the outcomes,” he said. “I still care about my performance, and that in turn leads me to work as hard as I’ve always worked. But I’ve been working with a psychologist for a few years now, and we just focus on the process, we don’t focus on the outcomes and things we can’t control. The only thing I can control when I go out there is the process and making sure I have fun. I make sure I have fun.”

How could he not on Friday? On another sun-splashed day, Westwood hit 14 greens and poured in birdie putts ranging from a 30-footer at No. 3 to his closing five-footer at No. 9.

And don’t think he won’t have some weekend fired. He took DeChambeau to the brink last week, gouging out a par from a horrid lie in a fairway divot at Bay Hill and forcing DeChambeau to make a five-footer for par to win.

Westwood doesn’t have DeChambeau’s size, strength or natural ability. But he does have his own band of guts and guile.

“I think to compete in any of these tournaments against the best players in the world, you can’t have any weaknesses in your game,” he said. “I wouldn’t be able to say I’m doing this better or that better [but] there’s not a shot out there I’m afraid of. There’s not a shot out there I’ll walk up to and think, I haven’t got this one.”

And if the weekend comes down to another Westwood vs. DeChambeau duel, DeChambeau said he’s up to it on a thinking man’s course.

“You’ve just got to fight for every shot,” he said. “It’s about focusing on the shot at hand and making sure you put it in a place where you can make par or make birdie from. I’m always trying to giving myself the best opportunity and completely forget the last shot that happened.”

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McCarthy and Kirk have recent history of winning on the First Coast to give them confidence. McCarthy won the Korn Ferry Tour Championship in 2018 at the Atlantic Beach Country Club and Kirk won the Korn Ferry King & Bear Classic last June, the second tournament after that tour, and the PGA Tour, returned to golf.

“Definitely some good vibes here in Jacksonville,” McCarthy said.

Recovering from substance abuse has left Kirk with a healthy outlook on life and his game.

“I certainly have my highs and lows still, like anybody, but my perspective is so different now that a bad day or a bad week is just not really going to bother me,” he said. “When I walk off the golf course, that’s it. It doesn’t matter anymore.”

One stirring local story was that of Tyler McCumber, making his first Players Championship start, 33 years after his father Mark won the 1988 Players. McCumber shot 72 in the first round but ensured he would play the weekend when he shot 69, highlighted by a 28-foot birdie putt at No. 17 – his second birdie of the week at the Island Green.

“I’m definitely in control of my golf ball, which is great,” he said. “You know, hitting a lot the shots that I’m seeing. Just sort of feel like I’m plotting my way around the course pretty well.”

Late in the day, Brendon Todd added another hole-in-one, using a 5-wood from 213 yards out for the seventh hole-in-one in tournament history at the long par-3 eighth hole. Like McCarthy, it was his first career ace in Tour competition.

Lynch: Bryson DeChambeau’s brains matter more than his brawn at TPC Sawgrass

DeChambeau is not so much a brute who relies upon one club than he is a determined problem solver, fastened on engineering solutions.

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – Almost everything about Bryson DeChambeau is incongruous. He’s basically a nerd who loves being a showboat; a deeply thoughtful man who is wanting for self-awareness; a golfer with power sufficient to raze any course but whose mind leans to the exactness of the scalpel when it comes to problem solving.

If he’s to win the Players Championship on Sunday, it will require another exercise in contradiction: disappointing his fans by largely denying them what they’ve come to see.

The 20% crowd capacity here at TPC Sawgrass is almost 100% focused on DeChambeau, and they ain’t clamoring for protein shake recipes. They only want to see him pulverize his driver. Unfortunately, they’re following him around a course where he won’t need to deploy his heavy artillery all that often.

DeChambeau knows when he is disappointing fans by the reaction when he reaches into his bag. “It’s always like, ‘aww’ with an iron. Driver, it’s like, ‘yeah!’,” he said Friday.

Eamon Lynch
Eamon Lynch

So far, the World No. 6’s game plan of occasionally disappointing his fans is working: he has shot a pair of 69s that put himself firmly in the frame to win on the PGA Tour for a second consecutive week. Those 69s also expose the limits of the popular perception of DeChambeau’s strategy: that his aim is only ever to batter a course into submission (with his driver), that his method is simply to overpower any obstacle (with his driver), that its effect is to render obsolete any hazard (with his driver).

All of which is only partially true.

“People mistake that his search for distance is coming from a ‘grip it and rip it’ mentality, but it has its own in-depth analysis and strategy to it,” said Chris Como, DeChambeau’s swing whisperer told me Friday morning. “He only utilizes that when it’s appropriate. It’s not as appropriate here since you hit a lot less drivers.”

Unlike at Winged Foot, where DeChambeau rode the big stick to a six-stroke victory in the U.S. Open last September. “Hitting a ton of drivers at Winged Foot was a thoughtful approach, given the scenario,” the coach explained. “Really narrow fairways, long rough, trying to carry it as far as possible, knowing no one is going to hit a lot of fairways. It’s just a better place to play from on average. Out here, he is definitely taking a precision game plan just because he thinks it’s appropriate for this set-up.”

Through 36 holes, DeChambeau hasn’t really been that precise — he has hit just six fairways each day — but then his definition of precision is like the difference between drone strikes and nuclear missiles: one based on the use of targeted power (but power nonetheless) to eliminate a specific problem.

Take the 18th hole at TPC Sawgrass.

DeChambeau’s announced plan of attack for the closing hole made news three days before a single shot was struck at the Players. He mused aloud on pummeling driver across the lake left of the fairway toward the adjoining 9th hole, leaving himself a shorter approach shot and, depending on the pin position, a more favorable angle. It didn’t take long for the PGA Tour to declare his targeted landing area internal out of bounds, negating his out-of-the-box plan.

I asked Como if all the chatter about the plan to annex the 9th distracted from DeChambeau’s nuanced strategy to win at TPC Sawgrass, a course where he has had two middling finishes in his prior starts.

“I don’t know if that was by design. I think sometimes he just talks very freely, which is part of his charm, right?” he replied with a laugh. “People obviously reacted to that line of thinking, but I don’t think there was any metagame to it.”

Somewhat lost in the kerfuffle about DeChambeau’s length and his making a mockery of architectural conventions, is that the controversial plan for the 18th illuminated the 27-year-old’s essence: he is not so much a brute who relies upon one club than he is a determined problem solver, fastened on engineering solutions to pesky deficiencies in his game. That 18th was a brainteaser for him.

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In eight previous rounds at TPC Sawgrass, DeChambeau was 7-over par on the 18th and had never hit the green in regulation. So when his initial solution to this quandary was deep-sixed by Tour officials bearing white stakes, he was forced to devise another, because — as he admitted Friday — he doesn’t have a driver play on the 18th, at least not if he’s denied air rights over the lake toward the 9th.

“No. Not with my dispersion,” he said. “I’d be trying to hit a rope hook down the same kind of curve of the fairway.”

“If I overdraw it, it’s in the water. If I hit it just a little straight it’s in the trees. There’s nothing. I’ve got nothing there,” he explained. “That’s why I was thinking about going down 9. Dangit.”

His Plan B has been successful: both days he roped 4-iron down the right side of the fairway leaving a short iron to the green. He hit it in regulation and made two routine pars.

“It’s what is the lowest score on average he feels like he can make on a hole.” Como said of the strategic mindset DeChambeau has adopted. “That may be an over-par score depending on the set-up. Every hole is looked at with a thorough strategy aspect to it.”

Of course, distance provides DeChambeau that luxury of flexibility, enabling him to hit irons while most of his competitors must assume greater risk by hitting driver. Precision based on power. While fans bray for him to hit driver, DeChambeau is artfully dismantling TPC Sawgrass with irons, a seductive and effective marriage of power and planning, born of an obsessive will to decode the vagaries of the game.

“I’m a perfectionist, and I’ll continue to be so until the day I die and until the day I stop playing this game,” he said. “That’s just the way I am. I love it about me, that’s what makes me work hard and fight for every shot out there, but at the same time it makes me worry about stuff a lot.”

Halfway home at the Players, he doesn’t have much cause for worry. The same might not be said of his opponents.

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Watch: Brendon Todd cards first career ace at the Players Championship

Brendon Todd aced the par-3 8th hole Friday at The Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass. Watch his reaction.

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Brendon Todd aced the eighth hole Friday at the Players Championship, earning the first hole-in-one of his PGA Tour career.

As he approached the sixth tee at TPC Sawgrass, Todd was sitting even par on the round after bogeying the par-4 sixth two holes earlier and starting his round with a birdie on No. 2.

Todd, who won twice on Tour last season, teed off at the 213-yard, par 3 hole with a 5-wood. The ace was the seventh hole-in-one at No. 8 in Players Championship history and the first since Michael Thompson in the first round of the 2013 tournament.

The 35-year-old was T-56 at even par at the turn on Friday and 2 under on the round.

Players Championship: Leaderboard | Photos

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Viktor Hovland assessed two-shot penalty Thursday at the Players Championship

Viktor Hovland was assessed a two-shot penalty Thursday at the Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass.

Viktor Hovland took it on the chin on Thursday.

The 23-year-old Norwegian incurred a two-shot penalty after the first round of the Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass’ Players Stadium Course in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida.

Hovland, a two-time winner on Tour, inadvertently played his ball from the wrong spot while on the green at the par-4 15th hole.

According to the Tour: “Viktor Hovland was assessed a two-stroke penalty under Rule 14.7 for playing a ball from the wrong place. Hovland marked his ball on the 15th green, moved it one putter-head length for another player, and then moved it again in the same direction rather than replacing it.”

Players Championship: Leaderboard | Photos

“I think he heard about it from someone in his home country,” said Rules official Gary Young. “I think it might have shown up on the feed in Norway. He and his caddie reached out to our committee and asked if we had any video of it, because he had no recollection of doing it.”

“He had left the property,” Young said. “I sent him a clip of the video, and he’s very comfortable with the result, that he’s getting the penalty. He understands the rule. He didn’t know he did it.”

If you’re wondering why Hovland wasn’t disqualified for signing an incorrect card, check out Rule 3.3b(3), which states a player can be retroactively penalized shots for unknowingly violating a rule.

After initially signing for a 2-under 70, Hovland now sits at even par, T-42.

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Billy Horschel’s six birdies on Thursday at the Players Championship means $6,000 goes to Feeding Northeast Florida

Billy Horschel’s six birdies on Thursday at the Players Championship means $6,000 goes to Feeding Northeast Florida.

Billy Horschel looked on the bright side of his day.

He made six birdies on Thursday in the first round of The Players Championship, at the Players Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass, which means $6,000 goes to Feeding Northeast Florida as part of his annual pledge at the Players to donate $1,000 for each red number.

But Horschel also made a triple-bogey 7 at the par-4 sixth hole, which knocked him off the front page of the leaderboard, and had a bogey at the par-3 eighth.

Horschel managed to work in two more birdies, at Nos. 7 and 9, and finished at 1-under 71, his seventh sub-par score at The Players in his last nine rounds.

More: Billy Horschel helping to drive out hunger in Northeast Florida

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“Nobody’s running away with this yet,” he said. “Anything under par is a good score.”

The good news about his pledge is that following a birdie with a bogey doesn’t erase the money he donates to the cause that has become his passion.

Horschel said that $6,000 translates into a huge number of meals for food-insecure persons served by Feeding Northeast Florida.

“Six birdies, 6K, which means feeding people 36,000 meals,” Horschel said. “A really good day.”

But the rules of golf require that players give back strokes when they make bogeys or worse, and Horschel accepted the blame for the big number he took on the usually tame sixth home.

He split the fairway but at 152 yards into the green, he said he was between an 8- and a 9-iron.

Players Championship: Leaderboard | Photos

Horschel took the 9-iron, downwind, but the ball got up in the air and didn’t cover the false front on the green, a subtle design ploy by architect Pete Dye.

The ball spilled back off the green and he hit two pitches that didn’t clear the false front. Horschel then over-cooked his fifth shot 40 feet past the hole and two-putted from 26 feet.

“I probably should have hit the 8-iron [into No. 6], put it 30 feet past the hole,” Horschel said. “It’s a little sour because I had a good round going. But I’m happy with how I battled back.”

Horschel birdied No. 7 on a 12-foot putt, bogeyed No. 8 after missing the green short-right, but birdied No. 9 on a 10-foot putt.

He had birdied Nos. 15, 16 and 17 in succession on his front nine to come within one shot of the lead at that point, with putts of 13 feet at No. 15, less than 2 feet at No. 16 and an 18-footer at No. 17.

Horschel took the time to praise TPC Sawgrass director of agronomy Jeff Plotts for the course conditions.

“I texted him [Wednesday night] to let him know what an incredible job he and his staff have done,” Horschel said. “The guys have raved about the course all week.”

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Steve Stricker wakes up 300 miles away, goes to sleep tied for 12th in Players Championship

Steve Stricker woke up 300 miles away and will go to sleep tied for 12th at the Players Championship.

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – Steve Stricker was laying in bed in his home in Naples in southwest Florida at 6:45 a.m. Thursday when the phone rang.

He woke up in a hurry.

Stricker got word he had moved up to first alternate for the Players Championship when Harris English withdrew with a bad back.

“I’m coming,” Stricker told the other end of the phone.

And with that, the U.S. Ryder Cup captain shifted into overdrive. The day before when he moved up to second alternate he talked to a local guy who would allow Stricker to use his plane to fly to the northeast of the Sunshine State.

He was already packed. And then called and asked English’s caddie, Eric Larson, who had carried Stricker’s bag in the past, if he wanted to pick up his bag. The answer was yes.

And out the door Stricker went.

Players Championship: Leaderboard | Photos

“They scrambled the pilots together and I actually got in the air at about 8:30, quarter to 9,” said Stricker, who then got word in the air during the 50-minute flight that he was in the tournament after Justin Rose withdrew with a bad back.

Stricker landed in St. Augustine, with a car waiting for him at the airport. A half hour later he was in the PGA Tour’s testing facility for COVID-19. In less than four hours after waking up, he was on the back range at the Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass waiting for results of his test.

Negative.

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And then, with a new caddie on his bag, he shot 2-under-par 70 on a day full of carnage on Pete Dye’s diabolical track to finish in a tie for 12th.

And then he  had to figure out his accommodations.

“I actually didn’t even play or hit a ball Monday or Tuesday at home or back in Naples. I played Bay Hill last week (in the Arnold Palmer Invitational) and that kind of beat me up a little bit, especially on Sunday,” Stricker said. “I just got some rest, played about 14 holes yesterday, didn’t even hit any balls. I played with my wife and so I came here with not a lot of expectations.

“But excited to be here and I know my game is in decent form, so I was excited to come here to a place that I have played a bunch before. The hard part was just trying to get the speed of the greens, the chip shots, how they’re going to roll out, all that kind of stuff. How you play those shots out of the rough.

“That was the hard and challenging part.”

He figured it out quickly. He birdied four consecutive holes on his first nine to get on the first page of the leaderboard. But he made two bogeys in his last 10 holes and didn’t add to his birdie column but all things considered, he was one happy guy when the round ended.

“I made four birdies in a row and I wasn’t trying to get ahead of myself or anything like that,” Stricker said. “I think I just kind of was running out of gas on the other side, just trying to make pars at that point and get it to the house.”

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