Paul Azinger named NBC Sports’ lead golf analyst in 2019

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PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. – Earlier this month at Pebble Beach, it was a final-round hailstorm. A week later at Riviera, it was torrential rain and unseasonably cool SoCal temperatures. On Wednesday, after finishing his pro-am round at PGA National, Adam Scott was basking in a warm climate and a gentle, compassionate breeze. The four-week Florida Swing starts this week with The Honda Classic. For Scott and his fellow pros, that primarily means two things: 1) No poa annua greens. 2) Hot weather. “I think we have a good stint on the West Coast, but by the end, guys are ready to move East,� Scott said, who played well at Riviera but did not make the cut at Pebble Beach – and thus managed to avoid the Sunday hail. “The weather can be a bit temperamental over there and so can the greens at times. … “I think the guys are ready to get here and sweat a bit.� Thanks to the return of THE PLAYERS Championship to March, the PGA TOUR schedule once again has four consecutive weeks in Florida. The last time that happened was in 2016, when the first World Golf Championships event of the calendar year was held at Trump National Doral prior to its move to the Mexico Championship the last two years. Of course, the last time THE PLAYERS was part of the true Florida swing was in 2006, prior to the tournament moving to May. Returning the TOUR’s signature event to March was the right decision, according to Florida native Billy Horschel. “It’s nice to have THE PLAYERS back in March,� Horschel said. “I think it’s where it should be. I understand why they moved it to May and it did its job. … Now that we had that, let’s move it back to March where the course was intended to play. I think it’s going to be a great benefit to the tournament and to everyone involved.� Although weather can still be an issue at times – “It’s Florida. There’s a 70 percent chance of rain every day,� said local resident and defending Honda champ Justin Thomas – the generally warm, humid conditions are a nice change of pace. There’s a reason why the TOUR recently announced its revised policy to allow players to wear shorts during practice and pro-am rounds. “To me, the poa annua, the grass, is not the issue,� said Venezuelan Jhonattan Vegas. “To me, the weather is more of the issue with some of those really cool mornings we had in L.A. and Torrey and Phoenix too. I grew up in warmer weather, so to me, just feeling this weather and this breeze makes it great.� For many other players, though, poa annua is either a) an acquired taste or b) a necessary evil if you didn’t grow up putting on the surface. Thanks to constant growth throughout the day, poa annua greens can become bumpy and inconsistent in the afternoon. Yes, everybody is putting on the same surface, but that doesn’t mean everybody likes it. Florida’s Bermudagrass greens generally offers more consistency. “The grass is a big deal,� said Kansas native Gary Woodland, whose first TOUR victory in 2011 came in Florida at the now-Valspar Championship. “… I grew up on bentgrass, so poa annua is the farthest thing away from what I grew up on. So I like getting to Florida. Nice Bermuda.� “It’s nice being off poa annua, that’s for sure,� said Thomas, who has one win and three other top-10s in 13 career TOUR starts in Florida. “You never know what the ball is going to do on those kinds of greens.� Brooks Koepka, the reigning PGA TOUR Player of the Year, was born in Florida and played collegiately at Florida State. Of his 108 career TOUR starts, just seven have come during the West Coast swing. In fact, after playing the Sentry Tournament of Champions in Hawaii, he skipped the West Coast entirely this season before resuming play last week in Mexico City. Although his TOUR track record on Florida courses isn’t overly impressive – 14 starts, zero top 10s, four missed cuts, his best finish a T11 at last year’s PLAYERS – he’s glad to be home. “I enjoy it here. I enjoy it in Florida,� Koepka said. “It’s a lot more comfortable on the greens. … The greens are a bit interesting in Hawaii. I struggle on poa – especially fast, slopey poa like last week. I don’t play my best but it’ll be nice to get on some Bermuda and really roll the rock.� Horschel, like Koepka, is a Florida native who stayed in-state to play at the University of Florida. Also like Koepka, he hasn’t won a TOUR event in Florida, although three of his five career wins have been on Bermudagrass. “Obviously that’s something I like a lot,� he said. “Poa annua is poa annua – you’re going to hit a lot of good putts and have some weird bounces and not go in. It’s nice to come back on greens that just stay smooth for the consistency of a round of golf.� Since 1983, Tiger Woods – who will start his Florida swing at next week’s Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard – has the most TOUR wins in Florida with 16 (out of 61 starts, which converts to a winning percentage of 26.23 percent). He also leads with 25 top-5 finishes, and his 32 top-10s ties Davis Love III for most in Florida during that stretch. Of course, that’s Tiger – his game translates to any course. Other than Tiger, just 16 other players since 1983 have won three or more times in Florida. Among that group is Scott, whose last two TOUR wins have been in the state, including The Honda Classic in 2016. “Look, I like playing here, there’s no doubt,� said Scott, who in 2004 posted his second career TOUR win at THE PLAYERS. “Riviera is my favorite track on TOUR, but I like playing this event too. I like playing all the events in Florida. I like the spring generally.� Scott, Steve Elkington (three Florida wins) and Greg Norman (four Florida wins) have a combined 11 wins in the state. Asked if the Aussies had perhaps figured out the secret to winning in the Sunshine State, Scott mulled over the question for a few seconds before responding. “What can you say? Greg was the best player in the world; he’s going to win anywhere,� Scott said. “Elkington’s a ball-striker; maybe some of the tracks here are ball-striker golf courses. You look at THE PLAYERS, he’s won it twice. That’s ball-striking. And that kind of fits my game too, of being a ball-striker. “Maybe it’s coincidence, but if you get enough great players together, they’re going to win all over the place.� For now, the place to be in the next four weeks is Florida. Time to work up a sweat.

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It’s been more than two years since he has won. He has tinkered with his game, altered his grip, as the search for the player who sat atop the world continues.

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