Digital Sports Desk

Online Destination for the Best in Boston Sports

Players Championship

PGA TOUR: It’s The PLAYERS

by

PONTE VEDRA BEACH – The unofficial “fifth major” of the 2025 PGA Tour season kicks off on Thursday with the first round of The Players Championship at the TPC Sawgrass in Florida.

Contested on the famed Stadium Course, one of the year’s deepest fields will vie for one of the tour’s most coveted trophies. Can Scottie Scheffler create history by winning for a third consecutive year?

“The Players Championship is absolutely our busiest tournament outside of the majors and it’s no surprise that Scottie Scheffler is the clear favorite this week as he goes for his third consecutive win in this tournament,” BetMGM senior sports trader Matt Wall said.

The iconic 17th hole with its island green will again be the focus of several prop markets at sportsbooks, including closest to the pin and the number of balls hit in the water.

Our golf experts preview the event and provide their favorite prop picks along with the best bets to win this week.

THE PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP
Location: Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., March 13-16
Course: TPC Sawgrass, The Players Stadium Course (Par 72, 7,352 Yards)
Purse: $25M (Winner: $4.5M)
Defending Champion: Scottie Scheffler
FedExCup leader: Sepp Straka

HOW TO FOLLOW
TV: Thursday-Friday: 1-7 p.m. ET (Golf Channel); Saturday: 2-7 p.m. (NBC/Peacock); Sunday: 1-7 p.m. (NBC/Peacock)
Streaming (ESPN+): Thursday-Friday: 7:30 a.m.-7 p.m. ET; Saturday: 8 a.m.-7 p.m.; Sunday: 7:30 a.m.-6 p.m.
X: @ThePlayers

PROP PICKS
–Michael Kim to Beat Jordan Spieth (-125 at DraftKings): Kim might be the hottest player few people are talking about with five consecutive finishes of T13 or better, including fourth at Bay Hill. His lone PGA Tour title to date came seven years ago at the John Deere, but we like him as a +6500 darkhorse to win this week. Spieth is making his fifth start in his return from wrist surgery and while he has posted a T4 and T9 against softer fields, he has a T69 and missed cut in two signature event starts. He failed to make the weekend here last year.

–Hideki Matsuyama Top 20 Finish (+125 at BetMGM): Matsuyama has four top-10s since 2015 at The Players, tied with Brian Harman for the most of any player in the field. While he has cooled off a bit since winning The Sentry to tee-off the year, he has posted a T13 and T22 in his past two starts, both at signature events, and tied for sixth year last year.

The PLAYERS: Crowded at Top of Leaderboard After Round 1

by

PONTE VEDRA BEACH – (Staff and Wire Service Report) -World No. 2 Rory McIlroy and No. 6 Xander Schauffele shared the lead at 7-under par as the morning wave of the first round of The Players Championship was wrapping up Thursday.

Embed from Getty Images

Both took advantage of soft greens and light winds to card opening 65s at TPC Sawgrass, although they did it in distinctly different fashions.

McIlroy recorded 10 birdies, the most he has recorded in 41 career rounds at TPC Sawgrass. The Northern Irishman reached 8 under through 15 holes before finding the water left with his drive on the par-4 seventh hole, going on to record a double bogey.

McIlroy made up one of the strokes with a birdie on his final hole of the day at the par-5 ninth. Along with the 10 birdies and the double, he had a lone bogey and just six pars on his scorecard while finding the water twice.

“Much, much improved on the approach play today, which was nice to see,” McIlroy told reporters, adding that he chose to “grind” on the range rather than taking Monday off following a final-round 76 at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. “I needed to clean up the technique a little bit, needed to clean up some things. Honestly, just needed to put the time in.”

Schauffele’s bogey-less card was mundane by contrast with seven birdies and 11 pars. He was happy to be playing in the morning, with the wind starting to pick up as the afternoon wave teed off.

“I wouldn’t want to re-hit a few of those shots today, I can tell you that much,” Schauffele said. “I definitely need to clean it up.”

Canada’s Nick Taylor recorded six birdies in a bogey-free round to finish one stroke in back of McIlroy and Schauffele.

Sweden’s Ludvig Aberg, who entered the Top 10 in the Official World Golf Ranking for the first time this week, eagled two of the four par-5s en route to a 5-under 67 in his first round at The Players. He added a pair of birdies against a lone bogey.

New Zealand’s Ryan Fox hit the first hole-in-one of the week, recording just the 14th ace in the history of the event at the famed par-3 17th hole.

McIlroy downplayed what appeared to be a disagreement with playing partner Jordan Spieth about where McIlroy’s drive crossed into the water.

“I think Jordan was just trying to make sure that I was doing the right thing,” McIlroy said when asked if Spieth’s actions were needless. “I was pretty sure that my ball had crossed where I was sort of dropping it. It’s so hard, right, because there was no TV evidence. I was adamant. But I think, again, he was just trying to make sure that I was going to do the right thing.

“If anything, I was being conservative with it. I think at the end of the day we’re all trying to protect ourselves, protect the field, as well. I wouldn’t say it was needless. I think he was just trying to make sure that what happened was the right thing.”

–Field Level Media

Scheffler to Defend at PLAYERS

by

PONTE VEDRA BEACH – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler will begin his defense at The Players Championship paired alongside fellow Americans Rickie Fowler and Justin Thomas for the first two rounds.

Embed from Getty Images

Coming off a dominating victory at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, where he beat the entire field by two strokes on Sunday, Scheffler is the first defending champion to arrive at TPC Sawgrass as the top-ranked player in the world since Rory McIlroy in 2020. The event was ultimately canceled that year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Scheffler will begin his quest for a repeat in the afternoon wave on Thursday, teeing off in at 1:40 p.m. ET in one of the marquee pairings released Monday. The trio will tee off at 8:35 a.m. on Friday. Fowler won the Players in 2015 while Thomas claimed the trophy three years ago.

Thursday’s afternoon wave will include other marquee groups comprised of defending U.S. Open champion Wyndham Clark playing with fellow former champions Collin Morkikawa and Brian Harman, while young American stars Tony Finau and Will Zalatoris will play with former Open champion Shane Lowry.

McIlroy is coming off a disappointing Sunday at Bay Hill, where he stumbled to a final-round 76. Rather than grab his opportunity to reclaim the No. 1 ranking, McIlroy saw the distance between him and Scheffler grow further with a tie for 21st.

The 2019 champion finished T33 at last year’s Players. He will tee off at 8:35 a.m. on Thursday in a featured group along with Jordan Spieth and Norway’s Viktor Hovland.

Also teeing off in the morning wave of the opening round will be the group of Patrick Cantlay, 2004 Players champion Adam Scott and rising Swedish star Ludvig Aberg.

They will all be looking to get off to a fast start to put pressure on Scheffler, the +500 pre-tournament favorite at DraftKings and +550 favorite at BetMGM.

“Everybody, I guess, now is kind of looking up at me at the top of the rankings and trying to take me down, so in order to stay up there, you got to put in a lot of work,” Scheffler said on Sunday.

–Field Level Media

PGA Tour Brunch Coverage of The Honda Classic

by

PALM BEACH GARDENS, FLORIDA – Matt Jones took advantage of his 7:36am EDT tee-time and proceeded to tie a PGA National (Champion Course) record, shooting a career-low (61). He leads Aaron Wise and Honda Classic champion Russell Henley by three stokes after the opening round. Jones matched the record (61) by Brian Harman in at PGA National in 2012. The three-stroke opening round lead is the biggest first round lead since 1967.

Windy conditions challenged the field most of the morning and afternoon.

This is the 15th time The Honda Classic is being played at PGA National. In that time period, no first-round leader on this course has won the tournament. Across all courses for the Honda, the last first-round leader to win the Classic was Justin Leonard in 2003 at Mirasol.

Russell Henley opened with (64) to match his lowest 18-hole score in the event. He opened with (64) en route to winning The Honda Classic in 2014.

In bid to join Jack Nicklaus as players to successfully defend a Honda Classic title, Sungjae Im opened with (70).

PGA National features “The Bear Trap” at (Nos. 15-17) a stretch of land that ranks as the fourth-toughest three-hole stretch on Tour since 2007 (among courses played in at least 10 seasons, non-majors).

Get 20% off for 1 year

Honda Classic Tee Times today at 7:25am (EDT/local) through 2:21pm (EDT/local). (link)

Weather for Today: Friday weather calls for a chance of Showers and T-Storms, 50% chance of rain but windy again (15-20 mph with gusts to 30 mph). Similar forecast for the weekend, with showers and windy conditions.

PGATourBrunch will be serving an early “BRUNCH” and posting at 8:00am EDT Saturday-Sunday.

Next Week: World Golf Championship – Dell Technologies Match Playand the Corales Puntacana Resort & Club in Dominican Republic.

Leaderboard After Round One at The Honda

Matt Jones 61 (-9)

Aaron Wise 64 (-6)

Russell Henley 64 (-6)

Five players 66 (-4)

The PLAYERS Championship: Review and Notes

by

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, FLORIDA – With scores of 64-68 in the final two rounds, Justin Thomas tied the tournament record for closing 36-hole score (132) to win the 2021 PLAYERS Championship by one stroke over Lee Westwood.

Westwood became the first player to finish solo-second in consecutive PGA Tour events since Webb Simpson in 2019. (2019 World Golf Championships/FedEx St. Jude Invitational and Wyndham Championship). Westwood entered the Florida Swing (beginning at the WGC-Workday Championship at The Concession) at No. 153 in the FedExCup standings and now ranks 22nd after The PLAYERS.

Thomas tied The PLAYERS Championship record for lowest closing 36-hole score (132), joining Fred Couples and Rocco Mediate, 1996).

Thomas became the fourth player since 1960 to win 14 times on the PGA Tour before turning 28, joining Tiger Woods, Jack Nicklaus and Johnny Miller.

The low final-round score was 6-under (66), shot by four players: Corey Conners (7th), Charles Howell III (T-9), Sungjae Im (T-17) and Collin Morikawa (T-41)

We’ll Be Back! – The next issue of PGA Tour Brunch will be sent to your inbox at Noon on St. Patrick’s Day ☘️ Wednesday, March 17th.

PLAYERS Final Leaderboard

Justin Thomas 71-71-64-68—274 (-14)

Lee Westwood 69-66-68-72—275 (-13)

Brian Harman 67-71-69-69—276 (-12)

Bryson DeChambeau 69-69-67-71—276 (-12)

Talor Gooch 71-68-71-67—277 (-11)

Paul Casey 73-67-67-70—277 (-11)

The Players Championship – Third Round Preview

by

By TERRY LYONS

Note: The second round was suspended due to darkness at 6:36pm ET with only eight players left on the course. Those eight will resume at 7am ET Saturday.

Third-round tee times will go off the No. 1 tee in twosomes, approximately 7:55am ET to 2pm ET.

Tournament Notes

Lee Westwood leads for the second time in the last four rounds on Tour following his 54 hole performance at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. England’s Westwood (1st) and Matthew Fitzpatrick (2nd) top the leaderboard after the second round; with 15 different international winners of The Players Championship, noting no player from England has ever won the event.

Chris Kirk (T-3) shot his career-low round at The Players with a 7-under (65), his seventh round in the 60s in his 33rd tournament round here.

Bryson DeChambeau (T-5) seeks to become the fourth player to win The Players after winning the week prior (most recent: Tiger Woods/2001 Arnold Palmer Invitational).

Five players who finished in the top 10 at the Arnold Palmer Invitational are in the top 10 after round two: Lee Westwood, Matthew Fitzpatrick, Chris Kirk, Bryson DeChambeau, Charley Hoffman.

Rory McIlroy becomes the first defending champion to miss the cut the following year since Rickie Fowler in 2016. Other notables to mTC included: Tyrrell Hatton, Ian Poulter, Scottie Scheffler, Bubba Watson, Tommy Fleetwood, Viktor Hovland, Webb Simpson, Max Homa, Tony Finau, Xander Schauffele, and Ricky Fowler.

The Players Championship 2021 – R-1 Review/R-2 Preview

by

The Players Championship 2021 – R-1 Review/Preview

Note: The first round was suspended due to darkness at 6:32 p.m. ET with 21 players left on the course and will resume at 7:30 a.m. Friday. The early Round Tee Times will go as planned (they started at 6:45am).

The 2008 Players Championship winner Sergio Garcia made two eagles and held a two-stroke lead, after partial completion of Round One. His (65) was a tournament record 25th round in the 60s.

Brian Harman stands in solo-second after a (67) that included four consecutive birdies on Nos. 9-12.

Matthew Fitzpatrick (T-3) at (-4) posted his second sub-70 score in 13 rounds at The Players (first: 69, R-1/2016).

FedExCup leader Bryson DeChambeau opened with a 3-under (69), his eighth under-par score in nine rounds at the event. DeChambeau is the only player to win multiple tournaments during the 2020-21 season (U.S. Open, Arnold Palmer Invitational).

Reigning FedExCup champion and World No. 1 Dustin Johnson recorded a 1-over (73) and stands T-60.

Defending champion Rory McIlroy recorded a (79), tying the second-highest opening round score of his PGA Tour career.

Coincidentally, the player in first place (Sergio Garcia) and in last place (Henrik Stenson) won The Players back-to-back in 2008 and 2009.

(Partial) First Round Leaderboard

Sergio Garcia 65 (-7)

Brian Harman 67 (-5)

Matthew Fitzpatrick 68 (-4)

Corey Conners 68 (-4)

Shane Lowry 68 (-4)

The first round was suspended due to darkness at 6:32 p.m. ET with 21 players left on the course and will resume at 7:30 a.m. Friday. The second round will begin as scheduled at 6:45 a.m.

Opening Round at The PLAYERS

by

The Players Championship 2021 – Opening Round

From 2007 to 2018, The Players Championship was staged in the month of May. The tournament has been played at Ponte Vedra Beach ever since 1977. From 2011-to-2014, the winning scorecard read (275) each year as KJ Choi (2011), Matt Kuchar (2012), Tiger Woods (2013) and Martin Kaymer(2014) all hit the winner’s circle with that magic score.

Golf Channel noted: The past five winners (and 11 of the last 13) have been in the early-late wave (Thur-Fri) to begin The Players. Some of the most intriguing guys in that group this year: Justin Thomas, Rory McIlroy, Webb Simpson, Xander Schauffele, Viktor Hovland, Patrick Cantlay, Tyrrell Hatton, Tony Finau, Lee Westwood, Matt Fitzpatrick and Scottie Scheffler.

The Top 10 Career Money Winners at The Players: (events) (money)

1. Sergio Garcia (20) – $5,466,153.43

2. Tiger Woods (19) – $4,724,366.90

3. Jim Furyk (23) – $4,081,763.72

4. Adam Scott (18) – $3,507,107.62

5. Rory McIlroy (10) – $3,333,787.50

6. Henrik Stenson (14) – $3,305,908.93

7. Matt Kuchar (15) – $3,097,894.27

8. Jason Day (9) $3,075,269.29

9. Phil Mickelson (26) $2,900,485.65

10. Stephen Ames (13) $2,781,333.34

The 2021 Players Championship marks the one-year anniversary since the COVID-19 pandemic shut down most of the USA 9and world), sports and professional golf for a solid three months. Hideki Matsuyama tied the course record with a (63) before the tournament was called-off last spring.

Rory McIlroy was nine strokes behind Matsuyama when the tournament was cancelled after the first round last year as the coronvarius pandemic gripped the world. “I think I feel a bit better about that than Hideki does,” joked McIlroy when asked on Tuesday (March 9) about not chasing nine shots to defend his title this year. McIlroy enters The Players Championship with consecutive top 10 finishes.

Last spring, Harris English, Christiaan Bezuidenhout and Si Woo Kimwere T-2 behind Matsuyama after R-1 (65s). Keegan Bradley and Tommy Fleetwood were the first round leaders in 2019.

#DriveOutHunger – Five-time PGA Tour winner, 2014 FedExCup champion and Ponte Vedra Beach resident Billy Horschel once again will host his #DriveOutHunger campaign to help feed the people of Northeast Florida. He will donate $1000 for every birdie and $5000 for every eagle that he makes during THE Players to the fund.

First Look at The PLAYERS

by

First Look at The Players

The 2021 Players Championship marks the one-year anniversary since the COVID-19 pandemic shut down most of the USA 9and world), sports and professional golf for a solid three months. Hideki Matsuyama tied the course record with a 63 before the tournament was called-off last spring.

Rory McIlroy is the defending champion from the 2019 Players Championship. World No. 1 Dustin Johnson is the favorite.

The 2021 Players Championship field will featured 48 of the top 50 in the world, with only Brooks Koepka and Matthew Wolff not scheduled to play. It is the PGA Tour’s “Fifth Major” and an “All-Star Game that Counts” all-in-one.

The 2021 Players will allow for 20% of capacity at TPC Sawgrass. Players volunteer chairman Troy Smith said the number of volunteers has been reduced from 2,200 to around 1,500. The Players will be only the fifth PGA Tour event to allow fans since golf resumed. Fans were permitted in Houston, Bermuda, Scottsdale, and last week at the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill in Orlando.

THIS WEEK on the PGA TOUR: The Players

COURSE: TPC Sawgrass, Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida

ARCHITECTS: Pete Dye.

YARDS/PAR: 7,189 yards/Par 72

PRIZE Money/First Place Winnings: $15,000,000/$2,700,000

DEFENDING Champion from 2019: Rory McIlroy  (2019 Leaderboard link)

PAST RESULTS: (link)

PAST CHAMPIONS of Event: (link)

FEDEx CUP Points Available/Winner Share: 3,375/600

SOCIAL MEDIA: #PGATour #FedEXCup @ThePlayersChamp

TV COVERAGE: Thursday, March 11 and Friday, March 12: 12:00pm to 6:00pm (ET) on Golf Channel. Saturday, March 13 and Sunday, March 14 – 1:00pm to 6:00pm (ET) on NBC.

STREAMING: PGA Tour Live will offer streaming coverage of Featured Groups on Thursday and Friday from 6:30am to 6:00pm (ET); and on Saturday (7:45am-6:00pm ET) and Sunday (7:45am-6:00pm ET), PGA Tour Live will stream Featured Holes on Saturday (3:00pm to 6:00pm ET) and Sunday from 2:30pm to 6:00pm (ET).

PGA Tour is also offering “Every Shot Live” on Thursday and Friday from 6:45am to 8:00pm ET and on Saturday and Sunday from 7:50am to 6:00pm (ET).

PGA TOUR RADIO COVERAGE: Thursday, March 11 – Friday, March 12 – 11:00am to 6:00pm (ET); then Saturday, March 13 and Sunday, March 14: (12:00pm to 6:00pm (ET)) on Sirius XM Satellite Radio. PGA Tour Radio is available on Sirius 208/XM 92) or online on PGATour.com.

Remember: Eastern Standard Time switches to Eastern Daylight Time on Saturday night. (clocks will “Spring Ahead” one hour.

TOURNAMENT SITE (link)