Tag: TPC Sawgrass

Everything you need to know about the unsung heroes of Scottie Scheffler’s Players win: his body team

Van Biezen was busy with his day job tending to the needs of a hockey team that’s hoping to win a Stanley Cup.

On Friday morning, Troy Van Biezen, the director of sports performance and science with the NHL’s Dallas Stars, received an emergency text.

It was from Marnus Marais, the South African-born physical therapist who he handpicked to take over for “his guys,” when he stepped aside this season after 21 years of averaging more than 200 nights a year on the road to provide consistent chiropractic care to Tour pros. His “guys” have included four world No. 1s – Tiger Woods, Justin Thomas, Jordan Spieth and Scottie Scheffler – the latter three he passed on to Marais.

The reigning world No. 1 had just finished receiving treatment from Marais on the course during the second round of the Players Championship for what Van Biezen termed a cervical strain to the neck with radiating pain in the right shoulder. Which was way better than Scheffler’s attempt to describe the injury on Sunday night.

“I wouldn’t even really know how to describe it. We can get Marnus up here, and he can explain it a lot better than me, but basically where the joint is, sometimes it kind of locks up in the fascia was the term I think that he used, like the joint muscles around it somehow get stressed,” Scheffler said. “I don’t know; I’m not a doctor.”

Marais has been working with top players for 10 years on the PGA Tour and already had an impressive stable so Scheffler was in good hands. In fact, Marais was in a peculiar position with one of his other clients, Xander Schauffele, being one of the tournament frontrunners and eventually holding the 54-hole lead. (He finished T-2.) But Van Beizen has worked with Scheffler since he’s 14 years old and Scheffler and Spieth, Si Woo Kim and Tom Kim still work with him and receive treatment when they are at home in Dallas. So the message from Marais after he gave Scheffler treatment said simply, “You got the train going. I’m just trying to keep the train on the tracks.”

“That was a gut-check round,” Van Biezen said of Scheffler’s 69 on Friday despite having trouble turning his neck to the left.

“He couldn’t finish his backswing because that’s where he felt a sharp pain,” Van Biezen said.

2024 Players Championship
Scottie Scheffler celebrates with the trophy after winning during the final round of THE PLAYERS Championship at TPC Sawgrass on March 17, 2024 in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)

“Curving the ball right to left with longer clubs is very difficult, just because I can’t get fully turned back,” Scheffler explained Saturday. “Overall I’m just using my hands a lot, trying to hit shots, I would describe it as kind of slapping it around out there is kind of what I’m doing. Just using my hands as much as I can, and just trying to slap it around, get it up there somewhere near the green and hopefully get up-and-down or make some putts.”

Scheffler also noted it was difficult to putt because it hurt to rotate his head. Ted Scott, Scheffler’s caddie, said he told his wife on Friday night that he didn’t expect his boss to play on the weekend. “Adrenaline is a crazy thing,” Scott said.

Van Biezen may have been busy with his day job tending to the needs of a hockey team that is among the leading contenders for this season’s Stanley Cup, but he also knows the tendencies and movement patterns of Scheffler better than anybody so he was in regular contact with Marais.

“Scottie is a Formula 1 race car and I’m the pit crew chief,” Van Biezen once said. “I’m the guy looking under the hood to see how the engine is running.”

Van Biezen said Scheffler has experienced neck pain before but never during a tournament.

“It’s happened to me in college a few times. Hasn’t happened in a while. It’s just one of those things, it’s unfortunate timing. But outside of that, it’s nothing serious,” Scheffler said, downplaying it as “just a little pain in the neck.”

“Ever wake up with a crick in your neck? When you turn you get that pinch, right? That’s kind of what he was experiencing. It’s happened before, never during play and we’ve always been able to resolve it fairly quickly,” Van Biezen said.

Then he gave another example of a time Scheffler showed his true grit, during the third round of last year’s British Open, despite being in pain.

“A lot of people don’t know this but his back went out on him on the range during the British Open,” Van Biezen said. “He came to me and said, ‘I can’t even bend over to get my shoes off.’ It was cold and wet and that didn’t help the situation. I had 19 minutes to work on him. You can mitigate things pretty quickly.”

Van Biezen and Scheffler both credited Marais with being the unsung, behind-the-scenes hero of Scheffler’s five-stroke comeback victory thanks to a final-round 64 at TPC Sawgrass on Sunday.

“The longer this played out we knew it would get better,” Van Biezen said. “Yesterday, he was able to get to the top of the swing, set the club and square the clubface better, especially off the tee.”

“I’m a pretty competitive guy, and I didn’t want to give up in the tournament. I did what I could to hang around until my neck got better. Today it felt really good,” Scheffler said after his win. “Marnus did a great job getting me going, getting it massaged out, and I was very thankful.”

With Scheffler off this week and headed for home, he texted Van Biezen last night and said, “Hey, can I see you today?”

“Usually we train a bunch in the off weeks but I guess it might just be a recovery-treatment day,” Van Biezen said.

Let the pit crew chief get a week to check under the hood and the world No. 1 should be as good as ever, if he wasn’t already in racing to victory on Sunday.

Scottie Scheffler well on his way to winning hole-out bet with caddie Ted Scott

“He’s a competitor so I like to figure out ways to make him competitive. It’s just a way to keep him engaged.”

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PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. –  As if Scottie Scheffler hasn’t won enough money in the last two weeks, he’s more than halfway to winning his annual chip-in bet with caddie Ted Scott.

As Scheffler took aim with his 56-degree sand wedge at the par-4 fourth hole from 92 yards, NBC lead analyst Kevin Kisner predicted, “This one oughta be dancing around the hole.”

Was it ever. It spun into the hole for an eagle to kickstart Scheffler’s remarkable rally from five shots back to repeat as champion of the Players Championship. Scott smiled and flashed six fingers, noting that it marked the sixth hole out this season for Scheffler, who needs to make 10 of them this year to win their annual bet.

“I got off to a slow start this year. I didn’t hole out any until Riv,” said Scheffler, referring to Riviera Country Club, host of the Genesis Invitational last month. “But I’ve hit the ground running pretty quick after that.”

Scheffler added: “So it was actually I think it was last year this time (at the Players) where I got to 10. So now we’re at six and hopefully we can keep the momentum rolling and get some of Teddy’s money back in my pocket.”

Scott said that they re-set the bet after Scheffler won last year, but that he failed to get to 20 hole-outs. It may have been due to Scott losing count of his boss’s hole-outs.

Scott called the bet an old caddie trick – Jordan Spieth and Michael Greller have had a similar practice for years – and while the caddies are often on the losing end, they wind up profiting if their pro is holing out, so there’s really no downside.

“It’s like fishing where the fish thinks it’s getting something,” Scott explained. “He’s a competitor so I like to figure out ways to make him competitive. It’s just a way to keep him engaged.”

Scott noted that during their first year together in 2022 that he and Scheffler had an argument over the contest when Scheffler contended his hole out should count and Scott held firm that it didn’t count because it wasn’t a chip.

“It’s 150 yards,” Scheffler complained.

“I guess he trumped me on that,” Scott said, noting that hole-outs have counted ever since.

The hole-out on No. 4 at TPC Sawgrass will go down as one for the ages. Scott better start saving up to pay off their bet.

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2024 Players Championship prize money payouts for each PGA Tour player

It pays to play well on the PGA Tour.

It pays to play well on the PGA Tour, especially at the flagship event. Just ask this week’s winner, Scottie Scheffler.

The 27-year-old won the 2024 Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, after an 8-under 64 in the final round to claim his eighth PGA Tour victory at 20 under. For his efforts, Scheffler will take home the top prize of $4.5 million, the biggest prize on Tour.

IT’S BRACKET MADNESS: Enter USA TODAY’s NCAA tournament bracket contest for a chance at $1 million prize.

Brian Harman, Wyndham Clark and Xander Schauffele each missed birdie putts on the 18th green to finish T-2 at 19, one shot out of a playoff. All three will bank $1,981,667.

With $25 million up for grabs, check out how much money each PGA Tour player earned this week at the 2024 Players Championship.

Prize money payouts

Position Player Score Earnings
1  Scottie Scheffler -20 $4,500,000
T2  Brian Harman -19 $1,981,667
T2  Wyndham Clark -19 $1,981,667
T2  Xander Schauffele -19 $1,981,667
5  Matt Fitzpatrick -16 $1,025,000
T6  Si Woo Kim -15 $875,000
T6  Hideki Matsuyama -15 $875,000
8  Ludvig Aberg -14 $781,250
T9  Sahith Theegala -13 $706,250
T9  Maverick McNealy -13 $706,250
T11  Joel Dahmen -12 $606,250
T11  Taylor Montgomery -12 $606,250
T13  Corey Conners -11 $489,583
T13  Christiaan Bezuidenhout -11 $489,583
T13  Nate Lashley -11 $489,583
T16  Sam Ryder -10 $406,250
T16  Sepp Straka -10 $406,250
T16  Doug Ghim -10 $406,250
T19  Shane Lowry -9 $285,536
T19  Harris English -9 $285,536
T19  Dylan Wu -9 $285,536
T19  Kurt Kitayama -9 $285,536
T19  Alex Noren -9 $285,536
T19  Adam Schenk -9 $285,536
T19  Rory McIlroy -9 $285,536
T26  Mackenzie Hughes -8 $186,250
T26  Chris Kirk -8 $186,250
T26  Nick Taylor -8 $186,250
T26  Matt NeSmith -8 $186,250
T26  Matti Schmid -8 $186,250
T31  Ben Martin -7 $152,812
T31  Mark Hubbard -7 $152,812
T31  Sungjae Im -7 $152,812
T31  Taylor Moore -7 $152,812
T35  Denny McCarthy -6 $119,286
T35  Jimmy Stanger -6 $119,286
T35  Aaron Rai -6 $119,286
T35  Tommy Fleetwood -6 $119,286
T35  Lee Hodges -6 $119,286
T35  Brice Garnett -6 $119,286
T35  Jason Day -6 $119,286
T42  Grayson Murray -5 $93,750
T42  David Lipsky -5 $93,750
T42  C.T. Pan -5 $93,750
T45  Adam Scott -4 $70,062
T45  Ryan Moore -4 $70,062
T45  Jake Knapp -4 $70,062
T45  Tony Finau -4 $70,062
T45  Collin Morikawa -4 $70,062
T45  Sam Burns -4 $70,062
T45  Austin Eckroat -4 $70,062
T45  J.T. Poston -4 $70,062
53  Andrew Putnam -3 $60,250
T54  Min Woo Lee -2 $57,500
T54  Francesco Molinari -2 $57,500
T54  Zac Blair -2 $57,500
T54  Martin Laird -2 $57,500
T54  Sami Valimaki -2 $57,500
T54  Cameron Young -2 $57,500
T54  Tom Hoge -2 $57,500
T54  Emiliano Grillo -2 $57,500
T62  Thomas Detry -1 $55,000
T62  Viktor Hovland -1 $55,000
T64  Seamus Power E $53,500
T64  Max Homa E $53,500
T64  Tyler Duncan E $53,500
T64  J.J. Spaun E $53,500
T68  Rickie Fowler 2 $51,500
T68  Patrick Cantlay 2 $51,500
T68  Chan Kim 2 $51,500
T68  Peter Malnati 2 $51,500
72  Gary Woodland 3 $50,250
73  Keith Mitchell 4 $49,750

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Scottie Scheffler makes PGA Tour history with 2024 Players Championship win, title defense

“He found a way, which is what the great players do.”

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PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – Scottie Scheffler refused to relinquish the Players Championship trophy.

It didn’t matter if he suffered from neck pain, or if he fell as many as nine strokes off the pace in the third round, Scheffler made no excuses. He persevered until his neck improved on Sunday and fired a final-round 8-under 64 at the Players Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass to edge Wyndham Clark, Brian Harman and Xander Schauffele, three of the top-10 players in the world, and become the first player to repeat as champion in the 50-year history of the Players.

“It’s tough enough to win one Players,” said Scheffler, whose final-round 64 tied for the lowest for a Players champion, joining Fred Couples in 1996 and Davis Love III in 2003, and he tied Justin Leonard in 1998 with his five-shot comeback. “So to have it back-to-back is extremely special.”

The final round played out under glorious sunshine at the Pete Dye-designed masterpiece and turned into great theater on Sunday. Schauffele, the reigning Olympics champion, entered the final round with a one-stroke lead and remained in front with six holes to go thanks to a splendid short game. But he made back-to-back bogeys at Nos. 14 and 15 to drop two back. He bounced back with a birdie at 16 but missed a golden opportunity from 7 feet at 17. When his second shot at 18 flew 62 feet past the hole to the back ridge of the green, he placed his hands on his knees in disappointment as if he knew he’d let the title get away. Schauffele, who closed in 70, is winless the last six times he’s been in the final pairing.

“When I went to bed last night, it’s not exactly how I envisioned walking off the 18th green,” Schauffele said.

Harman, the reigning British Open champion, rallied from an opening-round 72, and made four birdies in a five-hole stretch starting at No. 7 to join the fray. He closed to within one with a birdie at 15 but managed just pars on the closing three holes. His 17-foot birdie putt to force a playoff at 18 never had a chance and he closed in 68.

“I had my chances,” he said, “just didn’t cash in.”

Clark, the reigning U.S. Open champion, made bogey at 14 and fell to 17 under, but he added a birdie at 16 and stuffed his approach to 4 feet at 17 for another one. His 17-foot birdie putt at 18 was the last-ditch effort to force overtime and it caught the left lip and cruelly spun out the right side. Clark covered his mouth with his right hand in disbelief.

“I don’t know how that putt doesn’t go in,” said Clark, who shot 69. “It was kind of right center with like a foot to go, and I knew it was going to keep breaking, but it had speed and I thought it was going to go inside left, and even when it kind of lipped, I thought it would lip in. I’m pretty gutted it didn’t go in.”

Scheffler, who was warming up on the range in case of a playoff, heard a collective groan from the gallery that said it all. He won for the second straight week but this one was a pain in the neck – literally. On his second hole of his second round, he strained his neck while hitting a long iron that required two separate mid-round sessions with his personal physical therapist to continue and shot 69.

“I told my wife Friday night, I don’t see him playing this weekend,” said Scheffler’s caddie, Ted Scott. “His mobility was maybe 10 degrees.”

The 27-year-old Scheffler received treatment on his injury after the round, which also radiated pain to his right shoulder, and woke up the next day feeling a touch better. It hurt to finish his swing and he took one more club on most shots. As he put it, he “slapped it around,” somehow closing with four birdies in his final five holes on Saturday to stay in the trophy hunt.

“He found a way, which is what the great players do,” Scott said.

Scheffler said he felt “close to normal” on Sunday, though Scott isn’t buying it. On the range before the final round, Scheffler, who wore two strips of KP tape on the left side of his neck, asked Scott to check his alignment.

“When he opened up to hit the shot and looked at the shot, his hips opened up 20 degrees. He couldn’t turn his head (left),” Scott said. “I didn’t know how today would go. Adrenaline is a crazy thing.”

The juices were flowing when Scheffler holed out from 92 yards for eagle at the fourth hole. Scheffler clenched his fist, then slapped hands with Scott who flashed six fingers to Scheffler, noting it’s his sixth hole out of the season. Scheffler followed with an 18-foot birdie putt on 5. He caught fire around the turn making four birdies in a five-hole span beginning at No. 8.

“Maybe this could be our day,” Scott recalled thinking.

It didn’t hurt that Scheffler played bogey-free over his last 31 holes. At No. 11, Clark eyed the leaderboard for the first time all day and there was confirmation that Scheffler, who’d beaten him the week before too at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, had made his move. He chuckled and said, “Of course.”

Schauffele noticed the charge in front of him, too. “Just another week,” he said.

“He’s the best player in the world, and this is a championship golf course,” Harman said.

Indeed, Scheffler is going to be a pain in the neck to beat for some time. Scheffler splashed out of a pot bunker to a foot at 16 to set up his final birdie and reach 20 under, the lowest winning score at the Players since Greg Norman’s record 24 under aggregate in the 1994 Players.

Scheffler became the seventh man to win the Players multiple times, joining Jack Nicklaus, Hal Sutton, Davis Love III, Fred Couples, Steve Elkington and Tiger Woods. It marked Scheffler’s eighth wins in 26 months, and he’s got an iron-clad hold on world No. 1. But Scheffler isn’t the type to let any of it go to his head. He recalled that just last month he hit a tee shot at the Genesis Invitational and a fan yelled out, “Congrats on being No. 1 Scottie. Eleven more years to go.”

That’s all it will take to match Woods’s reign at the top of the mountain of men’s professional golf. He did note that he already matched Woods with two wins at the Players. After the trophy ceremony, Scheffler was prepping to take photos with his family and gripped the golden trophy loosely with one hand. His sister, Callie, offered to help him, but Scottie would hear none of it. “I’ve got it, I’ve got it,” he said.

He most definitely does – and for a second straight year.

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Patrick Cantlay confirms meeting with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund for Monday

Golfweek was first to report a group of PGA Tour players were nearing a meeting with the PIF.

On Friday, Golfweek was first to report a group of PGA Tour players were nearing a meeting with the head of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund in an effort to continue to broker a deal between the Tour and the controversial sovereign wealth fund that has been disrupting men’s professional golf.

Two sources told Eamon Lynch a meeting was tentatively scheduled for Monday at a private residence in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, following the conclusion of the Players Championship at nearby TPC Sawgrass. Patrick Cantlay, a player director on the PGA Tour policy board, confirmed the meeting with Sports Illustrated on Sunday and tabbed the event as a meet-and-greet.

“Well, I’ve gotta hear out what they have to say, and I will always do my best to represent the entire membership whenever I am in a meeting in that capacity,” Cantlay told SI after his final round at the Players Championship. “I think more information is always better.”

Cantlay didn’t provide any details for the meeting. It’s unknown who else from the Tour, PIF or Strategic Sports Group may be in attendance.

“If it weren’t to happen, we would go on in a similar paradigm to how we’re going on right now,” Cantlay said when asked about if a deal could not be consummated. “I think there’s pros and cons.”

Five of the six player-directors on the Tour’s Policy Board — all of whom now also serve on the board of the new for-profit entity, PGA Tour Enterprises — were in the field at the Players this week: Patrick Cantlay, Jordan Spieth, Adam Scott, Peter Malnati and Webb Simpson. Only Tiger Woods did not compete. Joe Ogilvie, a retired veteran who was added to both boards last week as a liaison to player directors, plans to arrive in Ponte Vedra Beach Sunday in advance of an Enterprises board meeting scheduled for Tuesday at Tour headquarters.

From Golfweek’s original report on the meeting:

A meeting between Al-Rumayyan and the players would be intended as an informal ice-breaker in a bid to advance negotiations between the Tour and the PIF, talks which have been largely stalled since the June 6 announcement of a Framework Agreement between the parties. A faction of player-directors remains angered about the secretive process leading to that agreement and are known to be skeptical of a deal with the Saudis, who have poured billions of dollars into LIV Golf.

Earlier in the week during his annual State of the Tour address, PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan confirmed he met with PIF governor and LIV Golf chairman Yasir Al-Rumayyan in Saudi Arabia in January and that he was accompanied by representatives of the SSG. In January, SSG invested $1.5 billion into PGA Tour Enterprises, the vehicle through which the future of the sport will be shaped.

“While we have several key issues that we still need to work through, we have a shared vision to quiet the noise and unlock golf’s worldwide potential,” Monahan said of the “accelerated” discussions. “It’s going to take time, but I reiterate what I said at the Tour Championship in August. I see a positive outcome for the PGA Tour and the sport as a whole. Most importantly, I see a positive outcome for our great fans.”

Golfweek’s Eamon Lynch contributed to this article.

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Giddy after a 66, Peter Malnati goes on a rant (and shares more than he probably should)

Before he finished his rant, Malnati found time to torch LIV’s team-golf concept.

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — Peter Malnati has been working overtime – on his game so that he can continue living his dream on the PGA Tour, on his role as a Tour player director because he cares about the future of professional golf and feels a responsibility to voice the concerns of the players outside the top 50 and most importantly, as a husband and father of two.

It doesn’t leave much time to talk to the press, but after making eight birdies, including sticking inside 2 feet at 17, and shooting 66 on Saturday during the third round of the 2024 Players Championship, Malnati went on a rant about the state of the professional golf and shared some thoughts on what unification might look like for the PGA Tour and LIV Golf.

“I think something needs to happen for our sport,” he said. “I want to see a unified game where, when we have events like the Players Championship, that we have all the best players in the world and we’re proud to call ’em PGA Tour members. That’s what I want. I don’t know how we get there, but that’s what I want.”

Malnati also voiced what many players surely think but have been reluctant to say about this week’s Players.

“Whoever wins this golf tournament is going to have achieved the most incredible accomplishment, to win on this golf course, against this field, but it would be even better if we had Jon Rahm here. I’ll just say it. It would be even better. It would be an even better win,” he said. “So that’s something that we as a membership and as leaders of the membership, we need to figure that out, how do we make this happen for people to come back, and do it in a way that has some semblance of fairness, some semblance of just, how do we do it in a way that can at least somewhat pass the sniff test and get us to a place where, when we have championships like this, we have a group of the best players – like, we already have a group of the best players in the world – how do we get to a place where we have all of the best players in the world here.”

Players: Leaderboard, tee times, hole-by-hole

Malnati may have best articulated how LIV players would be permitted to return.

“That might be the thing that’s most top of mind for people. You would find opinions that ran the gamut, from guys that just have a line in the sand that say never, and guys – I mean, I think Rory’s been pretty outspoken that he wants to see the best players playing on the PGA Tour – so we’re going to have to net out somewhere in the middle.”

He reiterated what fellow Tour player director Webb Simpson previously told Golfweek – that LIV defectors will have to earn their status back. But then he offered some new insights publicly, suggesting defectors will never be eligible to be part of the equity ownership plan.

“I think there’s certain methods that we’ve been able to establish and put in place that will be really, really good for the PGA Tour and its membership, and our fans, too. This player equity plan, I don’t understand it, it’s a little bit above my head, but I certainly know enough to say that I really do support it. It’s going to make players owners of the Tour, and guys who violated our policies aren’t ever going to be eligible for that. That’s a big deal. Like, that’s a big, big deal,” Malnati said. “So I think, if we do find a pathway for guys to come back, there will certainly be safeguards in place to protect the members of the Tour who stayed here.”

Asked about a potential meeting with the leaders of PIF, which was first reported by Golfweek’s Eamon Lynch on Friday, Malnati said, “I think at this point I probably should have more details because, yeah, there may be a meeting, but I don’t even know, I don’t know where it is or how I’m getting there. I would like to know that information, and I would like to then tell the membership about it before I talk about it.”

Malnati pointed out that when the framework agreement between the Tour and PIF was announced on June 6, he resisted the idea.

“As I’ve learned more, I think I understand better and I’m very open minded to learning what involvement they want, what they want out of this and how they think they can help. I’m very open minded to that now,” he explained. “But, yeah, on the surface, I think there are players who have resistance to that relationship, for sure. So that’s why I do think it’s important that maybe our next step is to meet at some point.”

Malnati also suggested that when it comes to determining the deal, the players should only have so much of a say.

“At its core, like, players have no business running the PGA Tour, but this is a member, this is a members’ organization. Like, we should have input in the direction it goes. For something, some of these monumental changes that are bound to happen as we start up this for-profit company and take on investment, whether it’s from the private sector here or the whatever it is, like, players should have involvement and knowledge of that, and even input.

“Like, players do not need to be running this organization, but we certainly, yeah, we certainly should be a part of decisions like that. I think we’ve almost swung the pendulum too far in the other direction now after what happened on June 6th, where players and the whole organization were left in the dark, the pendulum has swung too far to where players are probably feeling like they have, you know, more input than we should. So I think, as it comes back to sort of neutral, I think we’re going to land in a really sweet spot where we have the leadership of the Tour doing what they should, which they are, and we have a lot of transparency where the players know what’s going on and are able to give their input.”

Before he finished his rant, Malnati found time to torch LIV’s team-golf concept.

“I need to understand better what Yasir is really trying to accomplish there,” he said, adding that he doesn’t see a place for team golf as part of the FedEx Cup schedule. “Are there any fans that care which team won the tournament? And, like, and I don’t know, I don’t know what fans of LIV want or care about, but are there any fans that care about who won it? I mean, that seems so contrived to me.

“I feel like we could also create some contrived team golf something, somewhere outside of the FedEx Cup season, but, like, what does he really want is a question that I want to understand better. Because I don’t think it’s some contrived, fake, add up random guys’ scores and call them a team. I don’t think that’s it. I think what he means is more stuff like the Ryder Cup, I would guess, but I have no clue because I haven’t talked to him.”

That day may come as soon as Monday.

Watch: Doug Ghim has ‘better than most’ moment on 17, celebrates with Tiger-like fist pump

Even the celebration mimic’d Tiger.

Tiger Woods sinking the long birdie putt on the par-3 17th hole at TPC Sawgrass gave us one of the best golf calls of all-time, courtesy of Gary Koch.

“Better than most,” is what Koch said as Woods drilled a triple-breaking, 60-foot putt for birdie on the famous island green.

Well, on Saturday during the 2024 Players Championship, Doug Ghim had his own “better than most” moment.

With the pin on the front left of the green and Ghim’s ball on the back edge, he hit a chip shot that landed on top of the slope before gaining speed and going toward the cup. And of course, it went in.

The celebration was a Tiger-esque fist pump, and it was shades of what Woods did in the third round of the 2001 Players.

Players: Leaderboard, tee times, hole-by-hole

The birdie moved Ghim to 6 under for the day and 9 under for the tournament.

Watch: Fan distracts Rickie Fowler mid-swing at 2024 Players – and he did not let it slide

Get ’em, Rickie.

This week hasn’t been too kind to 2015 Players Championship winner Rickie Fowler.

After making the cut on the number (1 under) Saturday morning when the second round finally finished, Fowler posted a third-round 4-over 76 and now sits at 3 over for the tournament, dead last of players to make the weekend.

On Saturday at TPC Sawgrass, Fowler made the turn with an even-par 36 but struggled on the back and eventually shot 4-over 40. His back-nine scorecard included a double-bogey seven on the par-5 16th, the easiest hole on the golf course.

And he didn’t get off to the strongest of starts as a fan interrupted Fowler during his tee shot.

And he did not let it slide.

Players: Tournament hub

He pointed directly at the fan and asked him what he was doing.

This is an all-time clip from Fowler.

What is the largest 36-hole lead in Players Championship history?

Wyndham Clark could be on the verge of history heading into the weekend.

Wyndham Clark is off to one of the best starts in Players Championship history.

He shot matching rounds of 7-under 65 and sits on top of the leaderboard at 14 under heading into the weekend as he seeks his second win in 2024.

After two days, Clark’s lead is four shots over Xander Schauffele and Nick Taylor, who each got to 10 under Friday afternoon.

But what is the biggest 36-hole lead in Players history?

That would be five shots, which happened in 2018 courtesy of Webb Simpson.

Simpson is tied with Jason Day for the low mark after 36 holes at 15 under,  but the former led by five shots entering the weekend during his victory in 2018, and he increased that margin to seven after the third round.

Players: Leaderboard, tee times, hole-by-hole

Day won the Players in 2016, his seventh title in a 10-month span.

Marnus Marais is a PGA Tour physio to the stars and the man with the most valuable hands in golf

Marais treated Scottie Scheffler at the 2024 Players.

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – Marnus Marais has the most valuable hands in golf.

“There’s no doubt about it,” said Gary Woodland, the 2019 U.S. Open champion and a client for the last two years. “He’s unbelievable.”

Marais, a physical therapist who has worked on the PGA Tour and DP World Tour, makes sure the bodies of some of the best players in the world are running like a Ferrari. He will be put to the test this week at the Players Championship as one his clients, a guy ranked No. 1 in the world, needed some special attention from his magical hands on Friday.

“I hit a shot on my second hole today and I felt a little something in my neck, and then I tried to hit my tee shot on 12, and that’s when I could barely get the club back,” explained Scottie Scheffler. “So I got some treatment, maybe it loosened up a tiny bit, but most of the day I was pretty much laboring to get the club somehow away from me.”

Marnus Marais videos client Gary Woodland on the range at Riviera Country Club. (Adam Schupak/Golfweek)

During the second round, Marais provided treatment behind a ShotLink partition off the 14th green and on a porte-potty floor deck heading to the 16th tee. Scheffler rushed to get more treatment after the round. He’s in good hands with Marais, a South African whose clients are some of the best in the game. Let’s call them the Magnificent Seven – Scheffler, Woodland, Patrick Cantlay, Xander Schauffele, Jordan Spieth, Adam Scott and Justin Thomas. (Three of the top seven in the world and the other four all majors winners is none too shabby.) Woodland and Scott squeezed into Marais’s stable when Dustin Johnson and Louis Oosthuizen left for LIV Golf.

Players: Tournament hub

“Knock on wood since I’ve been with him I’ve been healthy – outside of my brain,” said Woodland, who underwent brain surgery in September, with a chuckle.

Marais already was working with some of the top talent when Dr. Troy Van Biezen, who had spent more than 20 years as one of the leading chiropractors, shifted away from his road warrior existence. He accepted a position as director of sports performance and science with the NHL’s Dallas Stars. Van Biezen recommended Marais to take over as the body guy for his longtime clients, including Scheffler.

“Marnus came and talked to us about it,” Woodland said. “We were all in agreement with it that we could adjust the schedule and make it work. It’s the best guys in the world and the energy is amazing.”

This weekend, the most valuable hands in golf will more than earn his keep.

Marnus Marais is Tour physio to the Magnificent Seven. (Adam Schupak/Golfweek)