By TERRY LYONS
PONTE VEDRA BEACH – THE PLAYERS Championship is the first of five events during the 2023 season offering 600 FedExCup points to the winner. It joins the four major championships. The field this weekend includes 44 of the Top 50 players in the Official World Golf Ranking and 29 of the Top 30 players in the FedExCup standings.
This is the 49th playing of THE PLAYERS Championship and 41st since the tournament moved to TPC Sawgrass in 1982. The purse is $25 million and the winner’s share of $4.5 million are the largest in PGA TOUR history.
With three wins this season (Sentry Tournament of Champions, The American Express, The Genesis Invitational), Jon Rahm currently holds the No. 1 position in both the FedExCup standings and the Official World Golf Ranking. He is the third player (fourth instance) to enter THE PLAYERS as the FedExCup leader and World No. 1 (second consecutive year competing at THE PLAYERS as World No. 1). Rahm has one Top-10 (T-9/2021) and has not missed the cut in five previous starts at THE PLAYERS.
Reigning PGA Tour Player of the Year Scottie Scheffler is making his third start at THE PLAYERS Championship (MC/2021, T-55/2022). Scheffler successfully defended his title at the WM Phoenix Open in February and finished T-4 in his second attempt to do so at last week’s Arnold Palmer Invitational. Scheffler will also be the defending champion at two tournaments in the four weeks following THE PLAYERS (WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play, Masters Tournament). Scheffler leads the PGA TOUR in Greens in Regulation Percentage (73.61%).
The 2019 winner and reigning FedExCup Champion Rory McIlroy finished runner-up at last week’s Arnold Palmer Invitational, his second Top-Two result in four starts this season (Won/THE CJ CUP in South Carolina). McIlroy made his tournament debut in 2009 (MC), which was his eighth career start on the Tour, and has four Top-10s in 12 starts at the event.