Tiger favourite at revamped Sawgrass
IN: News | US PGA | The Players Championship (2007) | Preview | by Bruce Young | 08 May 2007
A later date and a revamped golf course might make some sort of difference at this week’s Players Championship at the TPC of Sawgrass but for many, the focus of attention, as it has been over the history of the event at this venue, will be the tournament’s demanding and treacherous finishing stretch which now holds almost folklore status on the PGA Tour.
In the fourteen months since defending champion Stephen Ames’ runaway win over Jim Furyk, the Pete Dye designed layout has undergone significant change, not so much in its design but in its subsurface materials which will ultimately impact on the playability of the course in any case. The fairways were sand capped during that time allowing for much improved drainage and for the course to therefore play much firmer than it has in previous years.
The rough has also been changed from Bentgrass to Bermuda and the length of the rough reduced to encourage players to challenge greens and flags and pay the consequences when they do not execute sufficiently well. The grass on the greens has been changed to a new Miniverde species and the greens rebuilt to again allow better drainage and firmer surfaces.
The later time slot will also mean that the winter overseeding will be almost grown out and the course will play as it was originally designed to do. What will this mean in terms of the previous history of players and their records at Sawgrass remains to be seen but in terms of the golf course it certainly does provide a significantly different challenge.
One factor that is constant however is the quality of the field. Typically the event has brought together one of the best fields of the year and this year is no exception.
Tiger Woods arrives from his impressive win at the Wachovia Championship and although he has won and been runner up in this event, his overall record at Sawgrass is not as good as perhaps it might appear on first sight. Only two top tens in ten starts in a tournament most consider to be at major championship level is hardly 'Tiger’ like but he will again be the warm favourite to add a second Players Championship trophy to go with the one he won in 2001 when he defeated Vijay Singh by a shot.
If he is to win again it might just be Singh that he has to get past this week again. Singh has not won the event but in addition to his runner up placing to Woods in 2001 there have been several good strong finishes including his 8th place last year. That 8th place included a last round of 77 when he was just one shot out of the lead entering the final day. Singh is playing well at present, finishing inside the top 20 in each of his last seven USPGA Tour starts.
Phil Mickelson has worked hard on improving his wayward driving, which will come in handy here with the firmer golf course exposing any inaccuracy from the tee. This is not a golf course that has been good to him but he has a good chance of improving his Sawgrass record this week. He is in good form at present having finished third in each of his last two PGA Tour outings.
Luke Donald has had a strange run here missing the cut on three occasions but finishing runner up in 2005 behind Fred Funk. He missed the cut last week at the Wachovia Championship but he was in good form prior to that finishing runner up at the Byron Nelson event and 10th at Augusta.
Henrik Stenson was impressive on debut last year when third and is at another level again in 2007. He is now a genuine top ten player and any improvement on last year’s effort will see him right in this. He recent win at the Accenture was followed by three very solid weeks before missing the cut at the Wachovia. It would not surprise to see him bounce back quickly.
Stephen Ames seems to be playing his way into the sort of form that has seen him finish runner up in this tournament to Craig Perks in 2002 and the winner last year. What it is about this golf course that seems to spark Ames’ game is unclear but he is probably playing as well leading into this year’s event as he was in 2006.
Adam Scott won the event in 2004 after a scare at the last hole when he hit his approach into the water. He did well the following year when 8th and his recent form, while mixed, has not been bad. He won in Houston and followed up with solid if unspectacular weeks at Augusta and the Wachovia Championship.
Geoff Ogilvy appears on the virge of some very good form and has often displayed an ability to play well in the big events and against the strongest fields. He was moving into contention at Augusta before a disastrous 15th hole in round three and although he has hardly featured in this event the new look TPC might just suit his game a little better in 2007.
The South Africans Ernie Els, Retief Goosen and Trevor Immelman all have their chances, Padraig Harrington has twice been runner up at the Players and Zach Johnson would not surprise if he was to repeat his Masters win.
Scott and Ogilvy head the Australian chances but several others could easily out perform them. John Senden and Rod Pampling are both playing well right now while Stuart Appleby, Nick O’Hern, Robert Allenby, Aaron Baddeley, Nathan Green, Peter Lonard, Stephen Leaney, Mathew Goggin, Steve Elkington and New Zealander Craig Perks get starts and by just being here means they are close to the elite of the game.
