The Players – a must watch
BY Bruce Young | US PGA Tour | 2011 The Players Championship | Preview | 10 May 2011
The Players Championship may be under fire from various quarters at present but it remains one of the must watch tournaments on the PGA Tour, the gripping finish to the TPC Sawgrass layout at Ponte Vedra Beach in north east Florida providing almost unparalleled golfing entertainment.
Since first introduced to the PGA Tour schedule in 1974 the event has grown in stature with all but ten of the 37 winners of the tournament in that period having also won major championships during their careers.
There have also been surprise winners, perhaps none more so than New Zealand Craig Perks who when winning in 2002 won his only PGA Tour event and all but disappeared from contending in tournaments immediately.
Almost bizarrely, in a further 136 starts on the PGA Tour Perks would record only 2 top ten finishes and eventually retired from the game once his exemption ran out in 2007. He fell victim to the dangers of making structural swing changes during a period where he enjoyed a five year exemption and felt time was on his side but it backfired on him drastically.
Jodie Mudd and Stephen Ames are others who were also perhaps surprise winners of an event of such importance although in their defence Mudd won three other PGA Tour titles before turning to his interests to the Thoroughbred Industry while Ames has won a total of four PGA Tour events and is still counting.
Tim Clark’s victory in last year’s event was his first on the PGA Tour and so in that regard his victory could have been considered a surprise but he had been threatening to break through on many occasions. He had also won several significant events internationally to bolster his claims for an event of this stature.
Clark has been bothered by an elbow injury since playing well in Hawaii in January and his chances of successfully defending his title appear remote. He did finish runner-up at the Sony Open but on his return to tournament golf at the Masters he missed the cut.
Some of the games current leading players do not see the event having as much relevance as others and for the world number one Lee Westwood and number six Rory McIlory, their absence from the event by choice is a worrying development.
As non-members of the PGA Tour (their choice) Westwood and McIlroy are both restricted in the number of events they are eligible to play each year on that tour. Both have indicated that the Players Championship does not work with their schedule and as a result will be at home in Europe preparing for next week’s World match Play Championship rather than battling it out for the riches on offer at Ponte Vedra.
McIlroy has a poor record at the Players having missed the cut in his two starts and admits that the course does not set up well for him while Westwood tied for 4th last year.
Luke Donald, who many consider the heir apparent to the world number one ranking, has a great chance this week to perhaps stake his claim. He has mixed results at this event having finished second behind Fred Funk in 2005 but his best in five starts since has been when 16th in 2007. He is in such incredibly consistent form of late however (eleven top tens in his last twelve starts) that a victory and the resultant leap to world number one would not surprise.
Martin Kaymer is a little hard to work out of late. He was simply awful at The Masters but perhaps we can put that down to what appears to be a phobia he is developing about Augusta National. He has not played this course a lot better so his chances appear under threat.
Phil Mickelson is a previous winner of the event but interestingly has only the three top ten results in seventeen starts which is hardly convincing. He played well enough last week at Quail Hollow after a three week break but I would prefer to wait for him at the US Open.
Since his conversion to the long putter Adam Scott seems to have found a new lease of life. He was 6th at Doral then a brilliant runner-up at the Masters. He played the Valero Texas Open where he was only average and has not played since but he has won here and been twice inside the top ten and could do so again.
Tiger Woods has slipped to number eight in the world and has not won a tournament in eighteen months but that will not stop him being a favourite in many people’s eyes. He won the event in 2001 and has recorded one or two other top tens. Last year he withdrew midway through the event but his form of late has been good enough for him to be a factor if not necessarily a winner.
Matt Kuchar is a genuine winning chance. He has played well enough in recent starts and has recorded top twenty finishes in each of his last two appearances in this event. It has been twelve months since Kuchar missed a cut on the PGA Tour and it would be a great surprise if anything changed in that regard this week.
Given that Lucas Glover was in the middle of a poor run last year when he finished third behind Clark it might be that with a greater level of confidence he can do even better following his victory last week at Quail Hollow. It is a tough task to back up but although his overall record at this event is poor he might just find a way to contend again.
Australians who get a start other than Scott are Jason Day, Michael Sim, Marc Leishman, Aaron Baddeley, Matt Jones, Geoff Ogilvy, Greg Chalmers, Nick O’Hern, Robert Allenby, John Senden and Stuart Appleby.
Allenby finished runner-up in the event last year before he fell victim to illness and injury. He is on the edge of playing well it would seem and could have another good week. H e has put several very good rounds together on this golf course.
Jason Day missed the cut in his only previous start in this event last year but I will be interested to see whether his overall improvement in the last ten months will see him perform better. He finished 9th at the Heritage two weeks after his stunning debut at Augusta National. He has already proven he can handle the big stage and they do not come a lot bigger than this.
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