The PLAYERS

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.

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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.

PONTE VEDRA BEACH – Cameron Smith won The 2022 PLAYERS Championship, earning his fifth PGA Tour title and second win of the season as the PLAYERS became the first PGA TOUR event with an unscheduled Monday finish since the 2021 FedEx St. Jude Championship.

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Smith became the third consecutive winner of the event to enter the week in the Top 10 of the Official World Golf Ranking and 13th since the inception of the official rankings in 1986.

Smith also became the fifth Australian to win The PLAYERS, joining Steve Elkington (1991, 1997), Greg Norman (1994), Adam Scott (2004) and Jason Day (2016).

Smith moved from No. 10 to No. 2 in the FedEx Cup standings, the highest position of his career. He’s led the field in SG: Putting in all three of his individual titles on the Tour (2020 Sony Open in Hawaii, 2022 Sentry Tournament of Champions, and this, the 2022 PLAYERS Championship).

 

PLAYERS | Final Leaderboard

Cameron Smith 69-71-69-66—275 (-13)

Anirban Lahiri 67-73-67-69—276 (-12)

Paul Casey 70-69-69-69—277 (-11)

Kevin Kisner 68-74-68-68—278 (-10)

Keegan Bradley 72-71-68-68—279 (-9)

PONTE VEDRA BEACH – The 2022 PLAYERS Championship went from rain and thunderstorms to high winds and darkness. Today, more windy conditions are in store for the best PGA Tour players in the world.

Due to dangerous weather on Saturday morning, the second round did not start until 12 Noon (ET) and then due to darkness, the second round was suspended at 6:29pm (ET) with 48 of 71 players in the first wave having completed the second round. But, 45 of 72 players in the second wave began the second round Saturday and none of them completed.

Second-round play resumed at 8:15 am (ET) this morning. Keep in mind, the USA adjusted to Daylight Savings Time overnight which will allow for extended play this evening.

Current second-round scoring average is 75.625 (71.902 in R1). There were 29 total balls hit in the water at No. 17 on Saturday (10 during completion of round one, 19 during round two).

Bubba Watson (68) and Justin Thomas (69) recorded the only bogey-free rounds among those who completed round two and of the 48 players who completed 36 holes, Watson and Thomas (T-15) sit highest on the leaderboard.

Henrik Stenson withdrew following Saturday’s suspension of play

PGA Tour officials are planning to complete play on Monday.

The last Monday finish at THE PLAYERS came in 2005, with Fred Funk as champion.

PONTE VEDRA BEACH – First-round tee times at The PLAYERS were delayed by one hour due to overnight rain and area thunderstorms. Unfortunately, stormy weather will be the storyline as ‘the fifth major’ is underway, and the golfers who can navigate the weather (rain/wind/humidity) will rise on the dripping wet leaderboard.

This week’s PLAYERS Championship will be more of a challenge than the Tournament Players Club of Sawgrass usually can dish out. The weather report is not cooperating as thundershowers, high humidity and a 30-degree dip in temperature from Friday to the weekend could wreak havoc for the contenders when the sun shines on Sunday.

The PLAYERS Championship is the first of five tournaments on the PGA Tour schedule offering 600 FedEx Cup points to the winner, along with the four major championships.

The field includes 47 of the Top 50 players in the Official World Golf Ranking and 109 PGA TOUR winners combining for 418 titles. Justin Thomas is looking to become the first player to successfully defend a title at The PLAYERS Championship. The best result by a defending champion of The PLAYERS is T5 (Jack Nicklaus/1977, Tom Kite/1990, Hal Sutton/2001). In the last six attempts, only one defending champion has finished in the Top 50 (Webb Simpson, 2019). Thomas, a 14-time Tour winner (most recently at The PLAYERS in 2021), has successfully defended a title once on the PGA Tour (2016 CIMB Classic) and has earned multiple titles at three different PGA Tour events.

With his win at last week’s Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard, Scottie Scheffler moved to No. 1 in the FedEx Cup standings for the first time in his career. Three players have won the week before The PLAYERS and then won The PLAYERS: Raymond Floyd (1981), Tom Kite(1989) and Tiger Woods (2001).

The people of the Ukraine were recognized by the PGA Tour and its Commissioner. As the tournament began at TPC Sawgrass with round 1 of The PLAYERS Championship, representatives of the Tour expressed its unified support for the people of the Ukraine.

PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan announced support via Golfers For Ukraine, an industry-wide effort that is collecting donations for UNICEF, the United Nations agency that provides humanitarian and developmental aid to children impacted by the crisis.

“Our hearts go out to the people of Ukraine and those caught in the crosshairs of the conflict,” Monahan said. “We hope for an end to this senseless violence and a peaceful resolution. The game of golf has a way of rallying around important causes and this is one.”