While the Players Championship can no longer boast having the strongest field in golf, it remains the biggest event on the regular PGA Tour circuit by far, and in TPC Sawgrass, a genuine world-class golf course that tests every facet of the game.
So make no mistake, strongest field in golf or not, whoever tops the field on Sunday will have played some of the best golf of his life. And it’s gonna be Scottie Scheffler, right? Drives it better than almost anybody, hits his irons better than anybody, chips better than anybody, and last Sunday at least, putts better than anybody.
If that’s not a recipe for success, I’m not sure what is. And if that wasn’t bad enough for those trying to stop him, he’s the defending champion, winning by five last year.
The only question mark that hangs over Scheffler is whether what we saw on the greens last Sunday was a flash in the pan. If he putts like that again, then I’ll save you all some time. He’s the 2024 Players Champion, he’ll win the Masters in a few weeks, and he’ll probably win the grand slam.
Thankfully, things are never quite that simple. One round doesn’t banish demons that strong. Four more might, but there was very little pressure on his putting stroke on the back nine last week. That was partly due to Shane Lowry, Wyndham Clark, Will Zalatoris or any of the other three or four players who were in position to make a Sunday charge failing to make a solid run, and partly due to the fact that Scheffler was ruthlessly precise on the opening nine holes.
And TPC Sawgrass has a history of delivering winners with a variety of skillsets. In fact, it’s so varied that nobody has ever won the Players Championship twice in a row. Not even Tiger – he’s only won it twice in 19 attempts.
So the good news is that yes, Scheffler can be stopped. But by who? From an Irish perspective, Rory McIlroy is a past winner, having won here in 2019, but its been a love-hate relationship with Sawgrass, missing the cut almost as many times as he’s made it, and his self-confessed struggles with iron play seem a recipe for disaster at a course where precision is paramount.
But you’d be a fool to ever count him out. If he’s got his ‘B’ game for three rounds and brings out the ‘A’ game for 18 holes, he’ll be there or thereabouts. Heavy rain for much of the past week in the Jacksonville area means that the course will play soft and longer than usual, all of which typically plays into McIlroy’s hands, and though he’s not had long to iron out the kinks in his game that were plainly evident last week, his work ethic and ability to quickly turn his form around are vastly underrated.
Shane Lowry is the most in-form of the Irish trio, coming off a third place at Bay Hill and a tie for fourth at PGA National the week before. And this is another course that suits his all-round game. Lowry’s putter went cold right around the same time Scheffler’s was heating up last week, and the roles could easily have been reversed.
Lowry has solid course form at Sawgrass, making the cut in each of his last three outings with a best finish of eighth in 2021. He’s riding the crest of a wave and is a man for the big occasion, so it would surprise few if he’s on the first page of the leaderboard come Sunday.
A Seamus Power victory would be a surprise, though he’s shown signs that he’s rediscovering the form that saw him become a two-time PGA Tour champion and climb as high as 28th in the world. He’ll likely need a victory between now and the Masters if he’s to make his way to Augusta for the third year in succession, but with his hip troubles behind him, a strong performance at the PGA Tour’s flagship event would be a major step in that direction.
Besides these, Justin Thomas, Rickie Fowler, Jason Day and Adam Scott are among the marquee names in the field who’ve tasted success at PGA Tour HQ, while Viktor Hovland, yet to really catch fire in 2024, names Sawgrass as one of his favourite courses on the PGA Tour rota.
Patrick Cantlay, Xander Schauffele, Jordan Spieth, Will Zalatoris, all of the big-game hunters on the PGA Tour are teeing it up.
And one thing’s for sure, when they’re signing their scorecards at the end of the day, there’ll be one name they’ll be scanning the leaderboards in search of.
That name is Scottie Scheffler’s. The big question is who can stop him?
Leave a comment