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PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – THE PLAYERS Championship’s return to March has just one negative impact on Webb Simpson. It shortens his reign as THE PLAYERS champion by a couple months.  Simpson had endured 4 ½ years without a win before last May’s triumph at TPC Sawgrass. He’ll return to THE PLAYERS Stadium Course in March to defend his title. He’ll be playing for a new trophy, as well. The crystal that he hoisted last year has been replaced by a sterling silver trophy dipped in 24-karat gold vermeil. No one has gone back-to-back at TPC Sawgrass. And Tiger Woods is the only man to win THE PLAYERS in both May and March. Simpson has never played the tournament in March – he was still in college when the tournament first changed dates – but he thinks he’ll be up to the challenge. He got a sneak peek of the conditions when he visited TPC Sawgrass on Monday for THE PLAYERS Championship’s media day. He also donated a sand wedge to the display of past champions’ clubs. He used that club to hole out from a bunker for eagle on the par-5 11th hole in the third round. A barbecue sandwich, inspired by his North Carolina roots, was also unveiled. The brisket sandwich—named Simpson’s Sandy—will be served at the TPC Sawgrass clubhouse now through tournament week and will also be available at select venues during tournament week. “The course is in phenomenal shape,â€� Simpson said Monday. “I’ve been living at Quail Hollow since 2010, so I’m familiar with the overseeding process and how tricky it can be, and how you need a lot of things helping you, weather and rain and all that kind of stuff. It looks like they’ve done a phenomenal job here.â€� March has provided a much larger range of winning scores at THE PLAYERS. Greg Norman set the tournament scoring record with a 24-under 264 total in 1994. Five years later, David Duval shot 3-under 285 to win the hardest PLAYERS at TPC Sawgrass. By contrast, Simpson’s 18-under 270 was the 10th consecutive winning score that was double-digits under par. From 2009-16, there was only a four-stroke range in the winning scores, from 12 under to 16 under. Thirteen under par was the winning score for four consecutive years. “I think the new date is actually going to make the event even bigger and more special, and I think more attention will be on it because … this is the first really big tournament of the year,â€� Simpson said. “I think that’s special knowing that when the guys come here, they know that the best players in the world are going to be here for the first time maybe all season competing for the trophy.â€� Cooler weather and softer fairways will make the Stadium Course play longer and force players to hit driver more often. The final two holes, which usually played downwind in May, are more likely to play into the wind during the earlier date, making one of golf’s most famous finishing stretches even tougher. Simpson hit hybrid off the 18th tee in last year’s final round. He estimated he’d need to hit driver or 3-wood off the tee next month. Simpson said a par on 18 was one of the underrated moments from last year’s victory. He was on course-record pace in the second round, going 11 under par on his first 16 holes. He was caught between clubs on 17, though, and pushed his tee shot into the water surrounding the Island Green. Making par on water-lined 18th, where the threat of another double-bogey lurked, not only allowed Simpson to tie the course record of 63. It also allowed him to erase the memories from the 17th. “I just kind of said to myself, walking to 18, I said, it happens,â€� he said. “Plenty of guys are going to hit it in the water this week. Got to refocus. Par here is going to be big. And I end up two-putting and making par. “I quickly forgot about 17 after parring 18. I think that gave me a lot of confidence going into Saturday. I think if I had slipped up again on 18 and made bogey, that would have been tough, so that hole for me was the biggest hole of the week.â€� Simpson shot 68 in the third round to take a seven-shot lead and ended up winning by four shots. The rest, as they say, is history. And next month Webb Simpson has the chance to make some more.

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AVONDALE, La. — Tony Finau and Cameron Champ shot a 4-under 68 in alternate-shot play Friday for a share of the Zurich Classic of New Orleans lead with the Norwegian duo of Viktor Hovland and Kris Ventura. RELATED: Leaderboard | Justin Rose, Henrik Stenson combine to make move in ‘tricky format’ “I know we’re having a good time with this format up to this point,” Finau said about the lone team event on the PGA TOUR. “We’ve both played some really solid golf, and we find ourselves at the top of the leaderboard. “We’ll do what we’ve been doing the last couple days, which is enjoy each other’s company and not add any bonus pressure when it comes to teammate golf.” Hovland and Ventura had a 69 to match Finau and Champ at 13-under 131. The teams will play best ball Saturday, and close with an alternate-shot round Sunday. “Just having fun, and obviously we don’t get to do this very often,” Ventura said. “We’re playing some good golf, and the course we both like, so it’s just one of those things where we’re comfortable playing out here.” It was an eventful day in windy conditions at the TPC Louisiana, highlighted by two aces. Nick Watney, the Zurich winner in 2007 when it was a traditional individual event, made a hole-in-one on the 14th hole from 224 yards. Later, Northern Ireland’s Graeme McDowell aced the 217-yard 17th, eliciting a roar from what is normally one of the rowdiest spectator areas on the course. McDowell and Matt Wallace bogeyed four holes and shot 70, good enough to make the cut at 8 under. Watney and Charley Hoffman shot 74 to make the cut at 6 under. Hovland and Ventura, also tied for the lead after the first round, birdied five holes. But they were left to rue a double bogey on 16, when Hovland hit their approach shot from a fairway bunker into the water short and left of the green. “It was my fault,” Ventura said with a laugh. “We tried to hit the fairway with an iron (off of the tee) and I hit it in that bunker. I wasn’t the best teammate.” Finau and Champ briefly surged to a two-shot lead after birdies on the par-4 10th and the par-5 11th. But they bogeyed the par-4 12th when Finau’s approach fell short of the right side of the green. But Finau made up for it with a birdie putt of nearly 6 feet on 18. “We knew today with the wind and just the format in general it was going to be a grind, and that’s what we did, especially coming down the last nine holes,” Finau said. “We just kind of grinded it out.” Henrik Stenson and Justin Rose birdied seven holes, including the par-3 17th with a 12-foot putt by Rose. But they also bogeyed three holes to shoot a four-under 68 that put them at 11 under and tied for third with Bubba Watson and Scottie Scheffler. None of Rose’s and Stenson’s bogeys derailed them. They responded twice with birdies on the next hole. “A problem shared is a problem halved in this format for sure,” Rose said. “But Henrik was a rock today. I was kind of looking at it in terms of I don’t think he made one mistake that led to us dropping a shot really. It was pretty fun just to have someone that was so solid today. He pulled his weight.” Watson and Scheffler were at 12 under after three straight birdies on Nos. 10, 11 and 12, but dropped strokes with bogeys on 15 and 17 before finishing with a birdie on Scheffler’s 8 1/2-foot putt. Billy Horschel and Sam Burns were a shot off the lead through 14 holes, but bogeyed 15 and then double-bogeyed the par-5 18th after Burns’ tee shot went in the water right of the fairway and Horschel’s next shot landed in a fairway bunker. They head to the third round tied for ninth at 8 under. Australians Marc Leishman and Cameron Smith shot a 72 to remain at 9 under. Their first bogey came after Leishman hit his drive on 13 into one of the most photogenic trees on the course, a massive, towering cypress with roots as high as 4 feet protruding from the grass around it. Smith couldn’t get a swing on the ball in there and had to take a drop. They also double-bogeyed the 17th after Leishman’s tee shot landed in the water left of the green.

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Ashleigh Buhai recovered from throwing away a 5-shot lead at the Women’s Open by beating In Gee Chun in a playoff Sunday to win her first major title.

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