Players Championship Preview

The Players Championship is essentially a fifth major, and should be treated as such in the eyes of golf fans across the world. Two years ago, Rickie Fowler won on a ridiculous string of birdies on the 17th hole, and last year Jason Day asserted his dominance as the world number 1, winning by four shots in 2016. This year, there are so many storylines, it’s really hard to pick a clear favorite. However, here are my picks for the Players in 2017.

Before the 2017 Masters, the clear favorite would’ve been Dustin Johnson. However, after hurting his back on the eve of the Masters, he lost a lot of momentum, as well as a three tournament win streak. But of course, in DJ fashion, he shot a Friday 75 and still finished a casual T2 at the Wells Fargo Championship. The Fargo was a relatively weak field, but a T2 is still a T2, so I feel like DJ still has a little bit of momentum left over from before his back injury. With that in mind, I think with the top players in the world playing in the Players, DJ will easily finish within the top 10, but the 75 on Friday clearly shows that there is still a little bit of rust in DJ’s game. I don’t think that DJ will be able win the Players, but he will certainly be able to finish strong and build some momentum for future events.

Another player that could be either hit or miss is Jordan Spieth. In 2014, Spieth finished T4 at the Players. However in both his record-breaking 2015 and 2016 performances, he missed the cut at Ponte Vedra. Therefore, I could easily see him going either way. Three short missed putts on Saturday at the Zurich cost him and teammate Ryan Palmer the championship, but the duo still finished a respectable 4th, giving Spieth plenty of momentum going into the Players. Also, Spieth already has a win this season at Pebble, thanks to stellar iron play throughout the week. TPC Sawgrass is very much a second shot course, so if Spieth is able to keep up his stellar iron play as well as his phenomenal putting, then look for him to take home the trophy on Sunday.

My last pick for the week is Sergio Garcia. Many of you must be thinking that he’s not much of a longshot, but in my opinion he is. Statistically speaking, he is not a very good putter. Pete Dye’s tricky greens require a Player’s Champion to putt well throughout the tournament, and I don’t think that Sergio has it in him to make it four days putting the way he did at Augusta. However, he did win here in 2008, and currently has plenty of momentum from taking home the year’s first major. Therefore, I think that he will easily finish inside the top 25, but he won’t have the same performance as he did in ‘08. That being said, if he proves me wrong and has another lights out performance with the flat stick, look for him to be at the top of the leaderboard come Sunday.

Paul’s Picks

Winner: Jordan Spieth

Top 10: Dustin Johnson

Top 25: Sergio Garcia

Written by Paul Choma