The four-time major champion has learned to love the TPC Sawgrass – “learned to like”, he quickly clarified with a smile – and he has taken small steps toward contention.
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“This golf course negates a lot of different things”.
This year’s PLAYERS Championship starts Thursday, and it’s the last time the tournament will be played at this point on the calendar for the foreseeable future. He is not far away from his very best form and you get the sense that another big victory may not be terribly far away. So that would seem to suggest that we are looking for a first-time champion, and there are plenty to choose from. This is not a place to go out and try and force birdies and I think that’s where I’ve gone the last few years that’s gotten me in trouble.
Not everyone agrees, of course. “I grew up on this, Bermuda, not the overseed, having to judge firmer, faster greens, and then the biggest change will be within the rough”.
“But there was that part of it, too, because I think I lost a little bit of confidence in my game because I didn’t have the usual weapon that I usually have is get the ball up-and-down, even when I’m scrambling around, in amongst the personal stuff that I had”. It becomes a little bit easier.
McIlroy has been grouped with Thomas and Spieth for the opening two rounds this week, which at least provides a familiarity as he goes about his task.
His female compatriots, of course, have led the way for Korean golfers on the global stage. “Not many other people get to walk the fairways”. The Players was held in March from 1977 to 2006 before moving to May.
When the Players was moved to May it was done so to make it stand out.
Only two Asians, KJ Choi, the 2011 victor, and Si Woo Kim, the defending champion, have won the Players Championship. Yes, that’s the same Michael Campbell that won a U.S. Open.
Spieth represents one of many oddities about this tournament. “We will build you one of the best practice facilities on tour, we will renovate the golf course to make sure it is as good as can be, the clubhouse is being torn down after the tournament this year and building (a 32,000-square foot clubhouse)”. It was often two weeks before the Masters and the world media gathered here and stayed over for the Masters.
The pair, who have 19 majors between them, dueled at the top of the game for much of their careers, and are both enjoying a new flush – 42-year-old Woods after making a promising return from back fusion surgery, and Mickelson with a first victory in five years in Mexico earlier this season.
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Fans who sign up will also be entered to win the grand prize on Sunday of a.25-oz gold PLAYERS Championship coin ($330 value). Fowler triumphed at Sawgrass three years ago after edging out Sergio Garcia and Kevin Kisner in a play-off, while he finished runner-up to Matt Kuchar in 2012.
