Mickelson apologizes for losing his cool at Open

THE PLAYERS Championship returns to TPC Sawgrass after 2020's unprecedented cancellation after the first round due to the emerging coronavirus pandemic. Dustin Johnson - the reigning FedExCup champion and current world No. 1 - leads a field that includes 29 of the top 30 in the current FedExCup standings and 49 of the world's top 50. With no champion crowned last year, Rory McIlroy - who would go on to win the FedExCup for the second time after winning THE PLAYERS in 2019 - will look to defend his title from two years ago. FIELD NOTES: There will be 113 PGA TOUR winners teeing it up at TPC Sawgrass, tied for most of any tournament since the 2000 RBC Heritage... The only golfer not in the top 50 in the world who will not play is Matthew Wolff... Other golfers who were eligible but will not play include Zac Blair, Bud Cauley, and two-time PLAYERS Champion Tiger Woods... Ten past PLAYERS winners are in the field... The field accounts for 24 of the last 25 major titles, excluding only Woods' 2019 Masters victory... Jerry Kelly tees it up after winning the Bridgestone SENIOR PLAYERS in 2020... Will Zalatoris will make his PLAYERS debut after his marked climb up the Official World Golf Ranking. Zalatoris, who still leads the Korn Ferry Tour Regular Season Points List, is 47th in the OWGR. FEDEXCUP: Winner receives 600 FedExCup points. COURSE: TPC Sawgrass (Stadium), 7,189 yards, par 72. There will be a minimized fan footprint compared to years past due to COVID-19 precautions, but the iconic TOUR venue, which went through some renovations in 2016, will again provide a tough test to the best golfers in the world. This is set to be the first PLAYERS Championship completed since the passing of the course’s famed architect, Pete Dye. STORYLINES: The winner of the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard will earn the final spot in the field if he is not already eligible... Hideki Matsuyama shot a 9-under 63 in the first round of 2020 - tying the tournament record - before cancellation. ... No golfer has won THE PLAYERS in back-to-back years, a streak that will continue in 2021, with no tournament completed in 2020... Since 2000, more than half the winners at TPC Sawgrass have been international, including four of the last six... The TOUR Policy Board amended the eligibility for THE PLAYERS to include the Top 125 Finishers from the 2019-20 FedExCup Points List, which bumped the field from its usual 144 to 154. 72-HOLE RECORD: 264, Greg Norman (1994). 18-HOLE RECORD: 63, Fred Couples (3rd round, 1992), Greg Norman (1st round, 1994), Roberto Castro (1st round, 2013), Martin Kaymer (1st round, 2014); Jason Day (1st round, 2016); Colt Knost (2nd round, 2016); Webb Simpson (2nd round, 2018); Brooks Koepka (4th round, 2018). LAST TIME: Darkness halted the first round in 2020 with a few players still out on the course prior to the event being cancelled that night. Hideki Matsuyama fired a 9-under 63 to tie the tournament record, while Harris English, Christiaan Bezuidenhout, and former PLAYERS Champion Si Woo Kim shot 65. Rory McIlory won the 2019 PLAYERS by one over Jim Furyk. HOW TO FOLLOW (All times ET) Television: Thursday-Friday, 12 p.m.-6 p.m. ET (Golf Channel). Saturday-Sunday, 1 p.m.-6 p.m. (NBC) PGA TOUR LIVE: Thursday-Friday, 6:30 a.m.-6 p.m. (Featured Groups), 8 a.m.-6 p.m. (Featured Holes), 6:40 a.m.-8 p.m. (Every Shot Live). Saturday, 7:45 a.m.-6 p.m. (Featured Groups), 12 p.m.-6 p.m. (Featured Holes), 7:50 a.m.-8 p.m. (Every Shot Live). Sunday, 7:45 a.m.-6 p.m. (Featured Groups), 12 p.m.-6 p.m. (Featured Holes), 7:50 a.m.-6 p.m. (Every Shot Live) Radio: Thursday-Friday, 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday-Sunday, 12 p.m.-6 p.m. (PGA TOUR Radio on SiriusXM and PGATOUR.com/liveaudio). TOURCast: Get shot-by-shot info in real time with shot tracks and video with TOURCast. TOUR Pulse: Get the PGA TOUR app to utilize TOUR Pulse, which provides users the ability to experience a mix of content, such as video highlights, written hole summaries and stat graphics on every player after every hole they complete.

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JACKSON, Miss. – What does it take to win? That question will hover over the final round of the Sanderson Farms Championship, where seven of the top nine contenders would be first-time winners on the PGA TOUR. Max Homa said at the season-opening Fortinet Championship two weeks ago that he plays knowing he’s not the final arbiter of who wins, given the bounces and breaks that must go one’s way to do so. RELATED: Leaderboard | Sahith Theegala’s special feel for the game helps him earn first PGA TOUR card Then he won for the third time. “A hundred percent, I agree with Max that certain things have to go your way for the week for you to be able to win,” said Sahith Theegala, whose third-round 67 left him with a one shot lead over four players. “I don’t think there’s a whole lot of exceptions to that.” The caveat, he added, is that winning is a habit that can be developed over time. Theegala has certainly developed it. A product of Southern California public courses, he went to Diamond Bar High School, the same school that produced Kevin Na nearly two decades earlier. Theegala played for Pepperdine, where he won four times and swept the awards for the nation’s top collegiate in 2020, and also won the Australian Masters of the Amateurs tournament, in Victoria. “I think it’s really important that a lot of guys have learned to win at every level,” he said. Of the four players just one back – Sam Burns (65), Denny McCarthy (65), Cameron Tringale (62), Cameron Young (67) – Burns is the only one with a TOUR win (2021 Valspar Championship). He lost a playoff to Abraham Ancer at the World Golf Championships-FedEx St. Jude Invitational in August and is making his first start of the new season. “I haven’t putted it like I want to yet,” said Burns, who ranks a lowly 59th in the field in Strokes Gained: Putting (-1.414). “Hopefully that’s coming tomorrow.” Tringale might be the hottest of the four closest pursuers, having eagled the par-5 fifth and 14th holes and made 130 feet of putts. He’s second in SG: Putting and seeking victory No. 1 in his 311th TOUR start. “Just the competition,” Tringale, 34, said when asked what keeps him motivated. “I love playing, obviously I’ve been out here a long time, I haven’t won, but I love competing and I just want to see if I can keep beating guys and you know you compete every day – Sunday they give the trophies away, but you’re really out there grinding and you’re playing against yourself. “But it’s just fun to see how I can match up when I’m playing well,” he continued, “and even when I’m not, just how to manage that and get the most out of each week. That’s kind of the fun part for me. I’m kind of a journeyman to this point and I’m enjoying the journey.” Six of the last seven winners of the Sanderson Farms have been first-timer winners, with Sergio Garcia last year being the lone exception. (Fresh off the Ryder Cup, he missed the cut this week.) Burns is the highest ranked player in the Sanderson field (25), Aaron Wise (67, T8) is the next player on the leaderboard who has hoisted a trophy on the PGA TOUR (2018 AT&T Byron Nelson). He also has won on the Korn Ferry Tour, Forme Tour, and at University of Oregon. Other proven winners include Corey Conners (66), Andrew Landry (66), C.T. Pan (67) and Nick Watney (71), who are among a sixsome tied for 10th place, just three back. That hardly seems like much distance to make up, considering we’ve already seen a course-record 61 this week. Five-time TOUR winner Watney, 40, will try to break a drought that goes back to 2012. Such dry spells serve to remind how hard it is to win at the game’s highest level, and are one more reason why hopefuls like Theegala, or anyone, really, would do well to heed to words of Homa at the Fortinet. Play hard, do all you can, and go home knowing the end result was never entirely up to you.

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