McIlroy trails leaders by two at Wells Fargo

The deepest field in golf will tee it up with heavy hearts for the biggest prize pool in the game at Pete Dye’s Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. Of the 125 TOUR players eligible, 122 are teeing it up this week and the 47th PLAYERS will be contested, in part,  by 47 of the world’s top 50 players. On the line for the second consecutive March will be the biggest prize in golf: A purse of $15 million, including a winner’s share of $2.7 million, plus 600 FedExCup Points. RELATED: Power Rankings | Expert Picks Dye’s masterpiece returned to the March portion of the schedule last year. Sadly, that would be his last PLAYERS, as he passed away in January. His legend and legendary track will frustrate, taunt and mislead the world’s best again this year. The Stadium Course features no two consecutive holes routed in the same direction, so judging the wind is always top-of-mind. Speaking of mind, don’t let it play tricks, as angles into fairways and greens don’t always appear what they seem. The genius of Pete Dye was planting the seed of doubt and forcing the player to make a decision. Having a strong conviction this week won’t hurt either! The course isn’t long, but can play so this time of year as the over-seeded rough and greens are more receptive since they haven’t dried out over the spring. Without run-off or run-out, fairways become easier to hit, but distance is sacrificed, favoring the power players, as usual. It’s another week of TifEagle greens, wind, sand, water and Palm trees, but this time with the deepest field in golf. RECENT WINNERS 2019: Rory McIlroy (-16, 272) Began the final round one shot back of Jon Rahm (T12) before posting 70 to win THE PLAYERS for the first time (10th attempt). … Opened 67-65 to co-lead after 36 holes with Tommy Fleetwood (T5). … Led the field in Strokes-Gained: Tee-to-Green and Par-3 scoring. … Became the third winner in the last four to lead or co-lead the field in bogey avoidance. … Opened 2019 on TOUR T6 or better in his first five events. #Hawt. … Cut was 143 (-1). Notables in the field this week: Jim Furyk (2nd), all 48 years of him, tied 54-hole leader Rahm for the low round of the week (64) and finished just one back. … Furyk was looking to become the first local to win since Fred Funk (2005). … Jhonattan Vegas (T3) closed 67-66. … Dustin Johnson graced the top 10 (T5) for the first time in 11 tries and posted all four rounds in the 60s. … Brandt Snedeker (T5) ended a streak of three straight MC and co-led the field in birdies (23) with Abraham Ancer (T12). … Webb Simpson (T16) provided the best title defense since Adam Scott (T8) in 2005. 2018: Webb Simpson (-18, 270) Led or co-led every round en route to a four-shot victory in his ninth attempt. … Set 36-hole record (-15) and tied the 54-hole record (-19) in the final event during May. … Led by a record seven shots after Saturday. … 73 tied the highest score in the final round for a winner. … Missed Greg Norman’s tournament record by five. … 63 in Round 2 tied the course record. … Last in the field in driving distance yet first in fairways as May played firm and fast. Cut was 143 (-1). Notables in the field this week: Debutant Xander Schauffele and Jimmy Walker shared second four back. … Jason Day and Jason Dufner shared fifth. … Tommy Fleetwood (T7) started his hot streak. … Brooks Koepka tied the course record (63) Sunday for T11. … Defending champion Si Woo Kim T63. 2017: Si Woo Kim (-10, 278) Won by three shots in just his second attempt and became the youngest winner (21). … Only player double-digits under-par. … One of three players to put all four rounds at par-or-better. … Led the field in scrambling, bogey avoidance (T1) and Par-4 scoring. … Just seven rounds in the 60s on Sunday and his was the only one without a bogey! Notables in the field this week: Louis Oosthuizen and Ian Poulter shared second. … 54-hole leaders Kyle Stanley (T4) and J.B. Holmes (T41) didn’t break 75 on Sunday. … Francesco Molinari (T6) picked up his third top-10 finish in a row. … Adam Scott (T6) picked up his first top-10 payday since 2007. Key stat leaders Top golfers in each statistic on the 2019-20 PGA TOUR are listed only if they are scheduled to compete this week.  * -  previous top-10 finish here since 2015 or previous champion Strokes-Gained: Tee-to-Green  1  *Rory McIlroy  2  *Justin Thomas  3  *Hideki Matsuyama  4  *Adam Scott  5  Patrick Cantlay  6  Paul Casey  7  Byeong-Hun An  8  *Dustin Johnson  9  Corey Conners 10 Jon Rahm 11 *Xander Schauffele 12 Brooks Koepka 13 *Tommy Fleetwood 14 Jason Kokrak 15 Emiliano Grillo 16 Gary Woodland 18 Matthew Fitzpatrick 19 Kevin Streelman 20 *Webb Simpson 21 Tony Finau 22 *Henrik Stenson (2009 winner) 23 Joaquin Niemann 24 *Sergio Garcia 25 *Lucas Glover (T6, 2017; 3, 2010) Strokes-Gained: Putting  1  Denny McCarthy  2  Jordan Spieth  4  *Graeme McDowell  5  Andrew Putnam  6  Aaron Baddeley  7  Patton Kizzire  8  Wyndham Clark  9  Vaughn Taylor 11 *Webb Simpson 12 *Brandt Snedeker 13 *Rickie Fowler 14 Pat Perez 15 Harris English 16 Billy Horschel 17 *Justin Rose (T8, 2019) 19 Peter Malnati 20 *Kevin Kisner (P2 debut 2015) 22 Patrick Rodgers 23 Sam Ryder 24 *Ian Poulter 24 *Rory McIlroy Par-4 Scoring  1  *Rory McIlroy  1  Brooks Koepka  3  *Justin Thomas  3  *Webb Simpson  3  Jon Rahm  3  Patrick Cantlay  7  Cameron Tringale  8  Nate Lashley  8  Brice Garnett  8  Joaquin Niemann  8  *Rickie Fowler  8  Sam Ryder  8  *Lucas Glover  8  Scott Piercy  8  Charles Howell III  8  Patrick Reed  8  *Chez Reavie  8  Ryan Palmer  8  Abraham Ancer Horses      Rory McIlroy: Of the last seven, five are T12 or better, including the only player to win in March. Sergio Garcia: All-time money leader and 2008 champ has cashed in 16 straight; closed 67 last year for T22. Adam Scott: 2004 winner in March has taken home T12 or better the last four years; only Garcia has more rounds in the 60s. Webb Simpson: Hard to ignore T16-WIN-T16 in the last three editions. Jason Day: 2016 champ closed out the May portion with T5 (-13) and began March with T8 (-12). Jim Furyk: Local has cashed in 18 of 23 over his career for second-best on the money list, but he’s 49. Caution. Cut Makers Matt Kuchar: 2012 winner has been paid in 10 of his last 11 visits; T26 last year but soft conditions won’t help him or Furyk. Caution. Tommy Fleetwood: T7 in the final May event (-12) and T5 (-13) in the return to March last year. Hideki Matsuyama: Six trips have resulted in five weekends with the worst being T23; T8 last year. Justin Rose: Four straight and five of his last six with T8 last year, which included playing the final 54 holes 14 under. Ian Poulter: Stayed all weekend in 13 of 16 including six straight; nine-under (T3) after 36 last year before fading. Justin Thomas: Perfect from five tries and all four rounds par-or-better last year.

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Lucas Glover is back in the winner’s circle for the first time in over a decade. He birdied five of the final six holes at TPC Deere Run to win the John Deere Classic by two shots. Check out the clubs he used to get it done. RELATED: Final leaderboard Driver: Srixon Z785 (9.5 degrees) Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Blue 7 X 3-wood: Ping G425 Max (14.5 degrees) Irons: Titleist U500 (3), Mizuno JPX919 Tour (3-PW) Shafts: Fujikura Ventus Hybrid Blue 10 X (3), Nippon Pro Modus3 120 TX (3-PW) Wedges: Titleist Vokey Design SM7 (52-12F, 56-10S) Vokey SM5 (60-08M) Shafts: Nippon Pro Modus3 Tour 125 Putter: Scotty Cameron Select Squareback 2 Ball: Titleist Pro V1 Grips: Golf Pride Victory 2000 Full Cord

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He stopped short of calling himself a collector. But when Abraham Ancer actually thought about it, he admitted that he has about 60 putters at his home in San Antonio, Texas. “I have a ton of putters just because sometimes I go through phases of tinkering and trying other putters and making my gamer jealous, as I like to call that,” Ancer says. “So, I like to maybe see something different for maybe a week or so. “And then I go back to my gamer.” Ancer normally plays with an Odyssey No. 5 putter. But in that rather vast collection are a couple of counterbalanced putters that help him refine his rhythm and set-up when he needs to put that gamer in its place. Not all of the putters in his collection are the kind that Ancer, who won the World Golf Championships-FedEx St. Jude Invitational in August, might put into play on the PGA TOUR, though. Some are very special — “one of ones that you can’t find anywhere else,” he says. “And that’s the stuff that I kind of like.” There’s a replica of his gamer with an insert made of a Damascus metal that that you can only get in Japan, for example. And the ones that Joe Toulon, Callaway’s putter guru, made that are stamped with the logo of Ancer’s tequila company, Flecha Azul. “So, there’s a bunch of cool ones that maybe to the naked eye would be like just a normal putter, but it has something that a lot of people don’t know and it’s pretty cool to me,” Ancer says. Ancer keeps 10 or so of the putters leaning at the ready against the wall in his office while the others are housed in the closet. He says when people come to visit, the first thing they do is grab one of the putters and hit a few. “The ones that I actually practice with, or like to see, they’re in my office where the putting mat that I use is,” Ancer says. “So, whenever I’m not doing much, I just get on there and practice a little bit. … “But when I move to my next home, I want to do an actual display of all of my favorite ones, so people can see them and do not keep them just in a closet. I feel bad just having them in there.” Ancer also has golf bags and other meaningful clubs — besides all those putters — that he’s used during his career that he’d like to put on display. One set is the bag, irons and driver that he used when he turned pro in 2013 after earning a degree in multi-disciplinary studies from Oklahoma. Ancer also has the bag that he received when he played in the 2019 Presidents Cup – and the man who is currently ranked No. 4 in the International Team standings will likely add another one of those in 2022. Plus, Ancer is a two-time Olympian, so those bags are special, too. “So that stuff, that just means a lot to me,” Ancer says. “And clubs that I, along the way, have played and, and remembered I’ve hit good shots with or whatever it is. I like to keep the bag that I use and the clubs that I use at the time.” Ancer, who was born in McAllen, Texas, and has dual citizenship, says he probably has seven bags on display at his house in San Antonio. But there are others at his childhood home in Reynosa, Mexico – including his dad’s golf bag and the clubs he used when he first started playing golf. Ancer’s father, Abraham Sr., who died in 2014, was the one who introduced him to the game. He used to take his son to Club Campestre de Reynosa when Ancer was still in diapers, and the precocious youngster started hitting balls as soon as he could stand. “So (my dad’s clubs) definitely hold a lot of sentimental value and I definitely want to keep them forever,” Ancer says. Some of the clubs Ancer used when he was a kid are also safely stored away in Mexico, as well. “Those are some great memories,” he says. “I was tiny, but I grew up playing with way longer clubs than I needed to. I was never like fitted. So that’s why a lot of people that see me play now, I stand really far away from the ball because I just got used to that.”

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