PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — The Players Championship might not be a major, but it never fails to deliver drama.
Remember last year? Rory McIlroy transformed a four-shot deficit into a three-shot lead only to lose when J.J. Spaun found water at the island green. That’s not the exception at TPC Sawgrass — it’s practically guaranteed on this demanding yet captivating Stadium Course.
“Exciting” is how Adam Scott describes The Players Championship, the PGA Tour’s flagship event with everything but the major label.
“I grew up watching this, seeing a lot of birdies and a lot of dramatic stuff happening,” Scott said. “I think that’s why people like watching this tournament. You go out there with the dream that you can shoot 10 under somehow and spin balls back off slopes. And it’s not that easy once you’re out there.”
Scott won here in 2004, and he still remembers sitting at a restaurant bar with his girlfriend after shooting an opening 65. Some fans nearby were discussing the tournament when one asked who was leading.
“The guy looked at him and said, ‘Some expletive no-name.’ And it was me,” Scott recalled. “My wife, or girlfriend at the time, was ready to jump in there and let him have it. So it was good to go on and win and maybe get out of the no-name category.”
The Players has crowned plenty of surprise champions. Craig Perks claimed his only PGA Tour title here with an unforgettable finish — chipping in for eagle, draining a 30-foot birdie, then chipping in for par over the final three holes.
What makes this tournament special is how it rewards all types of games, from Tiger Woods’ power to Fred Funk’s precision.
“You see a variety of winners, and you also don’t see one style of player winning this tournament a bunch of times,” said Scottie Scheffler, the defending champion.
Scheffler’s victory last year required a Sunday charge from five shots back, highlighted by holing a full wedge for eagle on the fourth hole. His final-round 64 stands as the lowest closing score by any winner. And he nearly withdrew before the tournament with a neck injury. There’s always drama here.
“The way modern golf is trending, I think this place you kind of take some steps back where the areas to hit into are small,” Scheffler explained. “There’s certain holes where you can definitely take advantage of your length if you’re a longer hitter. But there’s also some holes where you’ve got to get the ball in play, and you have to be able to curve the ball both directions.”
He then walked through a mental tour of the course — a fade off the first tee, a draw for the approach. Next hole, a draw off the tee and a fade into the par 5. Fade, fade, draw, draw. On it goes.
Scheffler does both well — everything well, really — which explains his dominance. He’s coming off two straight finishes outside the top 10, his first such “slump” in a year, though he seems unbothered by it.
“Your expectations of me are living week by week,” Scheffler said. “My expectations of myself is almost more shot by shot.”
McIlroy’s Status
The biggest question heading into this $25 million championship — golf’s richest event with $4.5 million to the winner — is whether Rory McIlroy will play.
McIlroy withdrew from Bay Hill last week with muscle spasms in his lower back. He arrived Wednesday, just 24 hours before his scheduled tee time, hit balls on the range and tested his wedge and putter on the back nine.
“It’s better than it was,” he said. “I couldn’t stand to address the ball on Saturday morning on the range at Bay Hill, and it’s obviously better than that. So, yeah, probably a game-time decision, but all indications are pointing in the right direction.”
The 123-player field features 46 of the world’s top 50, missing only four players from LIV Golf. Brooks Koepka is among them, playing TPC Sawgrass for the first time since 2022, before he joined LIV.
Koepka once made an albatross on the par-5 16th during a course-record 63 (since broken by Justin Thomas’ 62 last year), but he’s never finished in the top 10 in six appearances. His explanation is simple:
“The 17th hole,” he said of the infamous island green, which is technically a peninsula but remains the course’s signature challenge, terrifying to play and entertaining to watch. “One year I made an 8 and a 7. That wasn’t very good. That 17th hole has gotten me over the years. I’ve played good rounds here. That’s just kind of the one bugaboo that always gets me.”
The PGA Tour raised eyebrows with its promotional campaign that concluded with “March is going to be major.”
Major excitement, anyway.
