The First Look: Sentry Tournament of Champions

Let’s try this again. One year ago the first round of the 2020 PLAYERS Championship was almost completed before the tournament and the PGA TOUR was completely shut down. COVID-19 arrived and was sweeping the country and the decision was made to be safe rather than sorry. RELATED: Power Rankings | Expert Picks | The First Look One year later, the TOUR returns to its flagship event on its most famous course to offer a prize pool of $15 million for the deepest field in golf. Of the top 50 players in the OWGR 48 are on the property this week with only Matthew Wolff (wrist) and Brooks Koepka (knee) unable to participate. From the field of 154, 112 are previous winners on TOUR. This year’s champion will take home $2.7 million and 600 FedExCup points plus a five year exemption on TOUR. THE PLAYERS Stadium Course designed by Pete Dye will serve as host as it has since 1982. The second full edition since the return to March will feature Rory McIlroy as the defending champion as last year’s tournament was cancelled after one round. The over-seeded conditions will apply on the 5,500 square foot greens, 2.5 inches of rough and 26 acres of Celebration Bermuda fairways. Water comes into play on 17 of the 18 holes and 88 bunkers will also gobble up loose shots. Pete Dye plays games with your eyes, head and feet. No lies are flat. Tee boxes are set at off angles. No two holes run in the consecutive direction. No bulkheads or mounds are nearly as close or far as they appear. Your brain, caddy and nervous system are always running at 10 trying to figure out where to attack. Dye’s tracks reward the boldest lines and punish those who don’t place it perfectly. Great shots are rewarded. Good shots can be salvaged. Safe shots will take some navigating to save par. We learned that March is different from May. There’s no chance of the course to be firm and fast this early in the season. The weather and the overseed don’t allow it so fairways get wider (no roll), greens are more receptive and the rough is easier to play from because of the extra grass. I think we should still look back to the last two editions from May because the routing of the course hasn’t changed and we can learn from those two events as well. Last year before the delay, this is what the scoreboard looked like for a point of reference: Hideki Matsuyama 63 – tied course record Si Woo Kim 65 – 2017 champion Christiaan Bezuidenhout 65 – debut round Harris English 65 – only his second round in the 60s from 21 Needless to say this should be a wide open event. The 31 first-time players from 2020 and 2021 combined won’t be at as much of a disadvantage because of the new March start. Eddie Pepperell (not entered) was T3 on his debut in 2019. TPC Sawgrass has catered to all styles over the years. Great ball-strikers, super short games and even recent bombers like McIlroy all have found their way around. Fred Funk hit 45 fairways to win at 48 years old. Si Woo Kim only needed eight rounds to figure it out to win at 21. Kim is the only player in the last 10 events to win with less than 5 previous visits. Experience pays on Pete Dye tracks and on TPC Sawgrass. Recent Event Winners Stats 2020: Event Cancelled After First Day (COVID-19) 2019: Rory McIlroy (-16, 272) Defeated Jim Furyk (not entered) by one shot to win in his 10th appearance. … Played in the penultimate group as he began Round 4 just one back. … Co-leader after 36 holes on 12-under. … Gained just over 13 shots Tee to Green. … Picked up his third victory on a Pete Dye track (Kiawah Island, Crooked Stick). … 15th TOUR victory. … 15th International winner. … Joins Tiger Woods and Henrik Stenson as major, WGC and FedExCup champions who have won THE PLAYERS. … Worst finish in five events leading into the week was T6. Notables: Jhonattan Vegas (T3) posted a bogey-free 66 for his best payday. … Tommy Fleetwood (T5) played in the final group for the first time on TOUR and posted 73. … Dustin Johnson (T5) became just the second player to post all four rounds in the 60s as he enjoyed his best finish in 11 tries. … Brandt Snedeker (T5) co-led the field with 23 birdies. … 2016 champion Jason Day (T8) hits the top 10 for the third time in four seasons. … Brian Harman (T8) only squared seven bogeys for the week. … Hideki Matsuyama (T8) closed 66-67 before opening with 63 in 2020. … Justin Rose (T8) played the final 54 holes in 14-under after opening with 74. … Abraham Ancer (T12) made 23 birdies on his debut to share the lead on the week. … Holding the 54 hole lead for the first time after firing 64, Jon Rahm (T12) closed with 76. … Adam Scott (T12) has 23 rounds in the 60s here. … 2008 winner Sergio Garcia has 24 rounds in the 60s, best all time. … Keegan Bradley (T16) shared the first round lead with Fleetwood with 65. … Webb Simpson (T16) keeps the streak alive of previous champions unable to defend. … Cut was 1-under 143. … Only 11 of the 24 who had played previously in March made the cut. 2018: Webb Simpson (-18, 270) Led by seven after 54 holes and won comfortably by four in the last May event. … Joins the major-PLAYERS-FedExCup Playoff event fraternity as the sixth to do so. … First top 10 in his ninth start at TPC Sawgrass. … Co wire-to-wire winner as he shared the 18 hole lead with five others. … Tied the course record of 63 in Round 2 to set the 36-hole mark on 15-under. … Led by five after 36, also a record. … Led by seven after 54, another record. … Tied Greg Norman on 19-under after 54 holes. … Became only second winner to shoot an over par score (73) and win. … Just third winner to lead in Driving Accuracy. … Loves Bermuda as his best finishes that season were T4 Sony, T5 The Honda Classic, T8 Valspar and T5 RBC Heritage; T21 week before at Wells Fargo. Notables: Charl Schwartzel (T2) picked up his only top 25 to date. … Debutant Xander Schauffele (T2) posted three rounds of 68 or better. … Jimmy Walker (P2) collected his best finish in his ninth start. … Jason Day (T5) bounced back from T60 in his title defense in 2017. … Jason Dufner (T5) grabbed his second top 10 in nine starts. … Keegan Bradley (T7) began his run of form here closing with 66. … Tommy Fleetwood (T7) closed 68-68 to suggest he was figuring it out. … Danny Lee (T7) opened 68-66 before playing the weekend 2-under. … Harold Varner III (T7) made 25 birdies and an eagle. … Brooks Koepka (T11) tied the course record on Sunday with 63 but will miss this year with a knee injury. … 2017 champ Si Woo Kim (T63) extended the streak of defending champions not to hit the top 10 (Adam Scott, 2007; T8). … Most eagles in event history and on TOUR for the season. … Warm temperatures and light wind. … Top 22 players 10-under or lower. … Cut 1-under 143. … Event followed the Wells Fargo Championship at Quail Hollow. 2017: Si Woo Kim (-10, 278) Won by three shots to become the youngest champion in history at 21 years 10 months. … Began the final round two shots back. … Bogey-free 69 was the only bogey-free round on Sunday. … Highest winning total since 2008 (Garcia). … Won in only his second start. … Did not lead after any of the first three rounds. … Had seven MC and four WD on the season entering the week. … Becomes only second Korean winner (KJ Choi, 2011). Notables: Louis Oosthuizen (T2) co-led after 36 holes and was one back after 54. … Ian Poulter (T2) posted all four rounds at par or better. … Co-leader after 36 and 54 holes, Kyle Stanley (T4) hung on for his best finish at TPC Sawgrass. … Lucas Glover (T6) shot 32 going out on Sunday but made four bogeys on the back. … Francesco Molinari (T6) was one of five players to post both weekend numbers in the red. … Adam Scott (T6) posted all four rounds par or better. … Brendan Steele (T6) fired 68 on Sunday, tying the low round of the day with Dustin Johnson (T12). … Alex Noren (10th) was the best debutant in the field. … Jason Day (T60) couldn’t defend, but nobody does. … Emiliano Grillo (11th) matched Sergio Garcia (T30) for the round of the day on Saturday with 67. … Pat Perez (T22) shared the low round of the week, 66, with Oosthuizen and Stanley. … Cut was 2-over 146. … Wind picked up on the weekend as the 36-hole lead was 9-under. … Only two bogey-free rounds on the weekend. … Only 12 rounds in the 60s. Key stat leaders Top golfers in each statistic on the 2019-2020 PGA TOUR are listed only if they are scheduled to compete this week. * – Top 10 finish here since 2015 or past champion Horses for Courses

Click here to read the full article…

Bryson DeChambeau concluded a tumultuous week at The Open with a 5-under-par 65 on Sunday and said he will “learn from” his final round when he prepares for next year’s major.

Click here to read the full article…

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Cameron Smith made the longest week at THE PLAYERS Championship worth the wait. In a dynamic conclusion to five days of bad weather and high drama, Smith one-putted eight of his last nine holes with his pure stroke and delivered one of the gutsiest shots of his career for the cushion he needed to win. RELATED: Final leaderboard | What’s in Smith’s bag? Leading by two on the par-3 17th hole, 135 yards to the hole on an island green, Smith split the difference in the 12 feet that separated the flag from the water. The ball ended up 4 feet away and the Australian made his record-tying 10th birdie of the round. Turns out he needed it. Smith punched out from the pine straw right of the 18th fairway all the way into the water. After a penalty drop, his 60-yard wedge spun next to the hole to 3 feet for a bogey and a 6-under 66, giving him a one-shot victory over Anirban Lahiri of India. Lahiri, who started the final round with a one-shot lead, birdied the 17th and needed one more to force a playoff. He came up short of the green, and his pitch was below the cup all the way. He closed with a 69. Paul Casey shot 69 and was the victim of a horrible break on the 16th hole when he was in position to edge closer to the lead. Smith, who finished at 13-under 275, won for the second time this year, and the fifth time in his PGA TOUR career, and picked up $3.6 million from the $20 million purse, the richest in golf. He earned a staggering 600 FedExCup points. This was about more than money, more than the three-year exemption he earned to the four majors and a five-year exemption on the PGA TOUR. This was as much about family. Smith, so unflappable in the tense pressure that featured 26 holes on Monday, choked up when he talked about his mother and sister, whom he had not seen more than two years because of travel restrictions Down Under during the pandemic. Smith makes his home down the road in Jacksonville Beach, and he happily went to the airport this week for a special reunion. They watched him capture the crown jewel of the PGA TOUR. “It’s really cool to have them here,” Smith said. “My main priority was to hang out with them. Golf was second. It’s nice to see them and nice to get a win for them.” Lahiri’s only big mistake was a tee shot into a palmetto bush on the par-3 eighth, forcing him to take a drop near the concession area that led to double bogey. It was the only shot he dropped all day, and his best finish on the PGA TOUR came with a $2.18 million consolation prize. Casey, meanwhile, was the victim of bad luck. He was two shots behind and in the same group as Smith when he looked to have a big advantage on the par-5 16th. Smith duck-hooked his tee shot into the pines. Casey drilled his drive down the middle. But the ball took one last roll in the rain-soaked fairway, right into another player’s pitch mark. Instead of a mid-iron into the par 5, he had to punch it out short. Then, he was inches away from getting relief from a sprinkler head near the green and had to scramble for par. Smith punched out to the fairway and matched the par. They headed to the 17th, where Smith’s 9-iron was bolder than he wanted. “I’d be lying if I didn’t push it a little bit,” he said. No matter. He got the birdie, got the win and moved to No. 6 in the world. So concluded a week like no other on the TPC Sawgrass, where so much rain early in the week meant the first round lasted 54 hours and 16 minutes, finishing on Saturday morning. The wind that followed wreaked havoc on half the field. The bone-chilling temperatures Sunday made it tough on everyone. It was the first Monday finish since 2005 at THE PLAYERS. Smith made it memorable for so many other reasons. Kevin Kisner birdied three of his last four holes for a 68 to finish alone in fourth. Kisner is famous for once saying 20th place pays pretty good. So does fourth place at the TOUR’s premier event. He earned $980,000. Keegan Bradley was among four players who had a chance over the last hour. He was one shot behind after a birdie on the 16th, only to three-putt the 17th from the front of the green to a back pin, and then took double bogey on the 18th when his punch shot from the trees came out hot and ended up in the water. He shot 68 and finished fifth.

Click here to read the full article…