THE PLAYERS first-timers deeper, better than ever

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. - Two first-time contestants have prevailed in the nearly three decades of THE PLAYERS Championship at TPC Sawgrass. Hal Sutton did it in 1983, the tournament's second year at the Stadium Course, and Craig Perks won in 2002. The Stadium is intimidating, but also subtle. Mark McCumber, 1988 PLAYERS champion and father of 2021 first-timer Tyler McCumber, spoke for many when he said in a recent Florida Times-Union story, "It took me a while to get comfortable in this tournament." And yet these might be the best odds for a first-timer to raise the trophy since Jack Nicklaus won the first PLAYERS in '74. With the 15 rookies in 2020 who made it back this week - second-time first-timers, if you will, after playing just one competitive round - and this year's 16 players who haven't played at all, there are 31 PLAYERS first-timers. And some are among the game's elite. "I feel like it'll be my second time," said world No. 4 Collin Morikawa, who won in his last start at the World Golf Championships-Workday Championship at The Concession. "I realize I only got one round in, but it doesn't mean I didn't do any prep." Although the Masters Tournament gets the most attention as being the one that's hardest for the uninitiated to win, THE PLAYERS isn't far behind. If it's behind at all. Rory McIlroy, who will be this week's defending champion of sorts since he won the last time the tournament got in all four rounds, in 2019, has said he didn't really like TPC Sawgrass for the first few years he played it. He didn't even really like any Pete Dye courses. Now, though, after winning the PGA Championship at Kiawah, the BMW Championship at Crooked Stick, and THE PLAYERS at TPC Sawgrass, he has learned to like them very much. "They’re like beer when you’re younger," McIlroy said last year. "You sort of don’t like it, but then you think it’s cool to drink it and then you sort of acquire a taste for it." Justin Thomas said this week that it took him a long time to learn the course and how it played in May, which was the tournament date when he registered his best finish, T3, in 2016. Since 2019, he added with a laugh, he's had to learn how it plays in March. "If you drive it well," he said, "being in March, it’s always going to be softer, the fairways and the greens, and you can make so many birdies out here. You have four par-5s, a lot of short scoring clubs into holes. But if you get it out of play, you’re missing the fairways, you get it out of play on the par-5s, it’s tough to shoot under par out here." Webb Simpson missed the cut in four of his first six PLAYERS starts but won in 2018. "I just learned that you have to respect the golf course," he said. "There’s trouble on every hole." This year's true rookies include but are not limited to Cameron Percy, 46, the oldest first-timer not to get in via a win at the Bridgestone SENIOR PLAYERS. Scott Harrington isn't too far behind at 40. Maverick McNealy co-owns the career wins record at Stanford (11). Lefty Robert MacIntyre comes from Oban, Scotland. Tyler McCumber has Sawgrass in his blood. Will Zalatoris, 24, is the most highly regarded true newbie. He's climbing up the world ranking (47th) and coming off a T10 at the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard. The second-time first-timers, though, are truly dangerous. Last August, Morikawa won the PGA Championship, becoming the ninth player to win the PGA in his debut. He shot a 4-under 68 in the first round of THE PLAYERS last year and is riding high after capturing the WGC-Workday Championship with his new "saw" putting grip. As for the notion that he'll have to pay his dues at the Stadium, don't be so sure. "I did my normal prep Monday through Wednesday," he said of 2020, "and was able to play Junior PLAYERS, even though I was never in contention. It's not like I'm showing up having played just one tournament round. I've seen it quite a bit now. For me, every week I see the same guys, and that's what helps me no matter what the tournament is called." Norway's Viktor Hovland looks ready to win, too. Top-five finishes in four of his last six starts, including a win at the Mayakoba Golf Classic presented by UNIFIN, have him up to No. 3 in the FedExCup. What's more, he also shot 68 in his one and only competitive round here. "I haven't thought much about that," he said, when asked whether he feels more like a first- or second-timer. "I guess it will be my first because I only got one round in. It was a good round. "I have good memories of that day," he continued, "I'll try to build on it. I haven't played there much. I played Junior PLAYERS. It's a fun track; I'm looking forward to playing it again." Scottie Scheffler also got his first look at Sawgrass at the Junior PLAYERS. He, too, shot an opening 68 last year. "I feel like I know the course pretty well," he said. So does South Africa's Christian Bezuidenhout, who scorched Sawgrass with a 65 last year. That round notwithstanding, he said, he still feels like a newcomer this week. "THE PLAYERS is the one everyone wants," he said. "It's the biggest PGA TOUR event apart from the majors. I'd like to play that course four rounds and finish off on Sunday." As would they all - and this year they will. We're about to see what happens when one of history's most extravagantly talented rookie classes takes the biggest stage on TOUR.

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