Inside the Field: THE PLAYERS Championship

Click here to read the full article…

The global swing of the PGA TOUR continues at the inaugural CJ CUP @ NINE BRIDGES this week in Jeju Island South Korea. The new event promises to be the “bridge to realization� for one player who dreams large and brings their A game. The 72-hole stroke-play tournament features a 78-player field, with no cut, made up of players from three sanctioning bodies: the PGA TOUR, the Asian Tour and the KPGA. FedExCup champion and PGA TOUR Player of the Year Justin Thomas headlines a strong field that also includes TOUR Championship winner and Rookie of the Year Xander Schauffele, Arnold Palmer Invitational and BMW Championship winner Marc Leishman and CIMB Classic winner Pat Perez. Leishman cut his teeth playing the Korean Tour in 2006. “The course is very good. It’s different to a lot of other Korean courses I’ve played. It’s a lot more generous off the tee, a lot wider,� the Australian says. “Greens are very good, it’s important to get it on the right section of the green. It’s a beautiful golf course, I think it’s going to hold up really well for the tournament.� It will also be the first start of the season for the likes of Jason Day, Daniel Berger and Adam Scott. PLAYERS champion Si Woo Kim will look to lead a strong local contingent of 17 Koreans. Here are the featured groups. Korea is 11 hours ahead. All tee times are Eastern Time. Justin Thomas, Pat Perez, Sangmoon Bae: Thomas was unable to make it three in a row last week at the CIMB Classic but the FedExCup champion promises to be dangerous this week after a bit of competitive rust was blown off in Malaysia. He’s joined by the man who did win last week in Perez and by a local favorite in former International Team Presidents Cupper Sangmoon Bae. Bae is returning to TOUR life having fulfilled his two-year military obligations in Korea, hungry for quick success. Tee times: Wednesday 7:30 p.m. (ET) off 10 tee; Thursday 8:30 p.m. off 1st tee Si Woo Kim, Jason Day, Adam Scott: The PLAYERS champion draws a pair of Aussies making their first start of the new season. Kim leads the young breed of Korean players and will be heavily supported and heavily motivated to succeed. Day and Scott are in rebound mode after last season was the first time since 2012 that at least one of them hadn’t had a victory. They know this could kick start something big. Tee times: Wednesday 7:40 p.m. (ET) off 10 tee; Thursday 8:40 p.m. off 1st tee Marc Leishman, Xander Schauffele, Daniel Berger: Two former and one current Rookie of the Year get together here. Leishman won the award in 2009 but is coming off a breakthrough season where he won twice. He once played a year on the Korean Tour. Berger claimed the honor in 2015 and has won in each of the last two seasons. Schauffele’s name is still warm on the inscription of the 2017 trophy and he comes in off a T3 finish last week.  Tee times: Wednesday 8:30 p.m. off 1st tee; Thursday 7:20 p.m. off 10th tee K.J. Choi, Jhonattan Vegas, Patrick Reed: The godfather of Korean men’s golf will draw the masses. Choi might not have won since his PLAYERS triumph in 2011 and hasn’t had a top-10 since February of 2016 but the local faithful will be willing him forward. Recent Presidents Cup rookie Vegas will be looking to build on his T39 in Malaysia while Reed is looking to open his season account in style. Tee times: Wednesday 8:40 p.m. off 1st tee; Thursday 7:30 p.m. off 10th tee

Click here to read the full article…

DETROIT – Given the locale, Brandt Snedeker understands why he wasn’t showered with congratulations in the aftermath of his alma mater’s victory in the College World Series. “We are surrounded by University of Michigan fans here,� said Snedeker, who watched every pitch in the deciding game of Vanderbilt’s victory over the Wolverines. He even Tweeted out his support for the Commodores, with a clever reference “to being behind enemy lines.� It was all good fun, but Snedeker – who made the cut on the number at the Rocket Mortgage Classic, then shot a third-round 7-under 65 to roar up the leaderboard – did confirm that he was blown away by what has greeted him here at Detroit Golf Club: Fan appreciation. Related: Tee times | Lashley keeps lead after second-round 67 “I have been showered with ‘Thank you for coming to Detroit’ all week. Literally, hundreds of times every day, the appreciation is unheard of,� said Snedeker. “The way they have embraced this tournament is incredible.� The Rocket Mortgage Classic marks the first time a PGA TOUR tournament has ever been held in Detroit and it’s the first event in the area since 2009. Clearly, the desire to be part of it was enormous; corporate hospitality sold our quickly and so, too, did tickets. As a PGA TOUR member, Snedeker felt the love. But as a guy who is invested in a Korn Ferry Tour event in his hometown, the Nashville Golf Open Benefitting the Snedeker Foundation, he identifies with the task that was pulled off here. “A lot of power to them. It takes a lot of different people to do this,� said Snedeker. “You have to have support from people at the host club, people in the community, people with the title sponsor – and the support has to be 100 percent. If not, it would show.� Snedeker, who began Round 3 in a tie for 58th, put together a bogey-free effort that featured a chip-in eagle at the par-5 seventh. As he signed his card, he was only two off the clubhouse lead, but he knew that the front-runners were just going out and plenty of birdies awaited. “I just hope to be within four or five at the end of the day,� he said. Whether that happened or not, Snedeker would still be happy, in large part because of a warm homecoming here for the PGA TOUR. “I can’t think of a better start to a new event that I’ve ever seen,� he said.

Click here to read the full article…