The post GOLF’s Subpar: Jordan Spieth and Rickie Fowler talk the biggest shots of their career appeared first on Golf.

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Subpar’s Colt Knost and Drew Stoltz are joined by multi-time PGA Tour winners Jordan Spieth and Rickie Fowler who talk the biggest shot of their respective careers.

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The post TPC Sawgrass weather: Major storms expected to wreak havoc at Players Championship appeared first on Golf.

The post TPC Sawgrass weather: Major storms expected to wreak havoc at Players Championship appeared first on Golf.

Pete Dye’s diabolical design won’t be the only thing players have to successfully navigate if they want to win this week’s Players Championship. Weather will also play a significant role in deciding the victor at TPC Sawgrass with an ominous forecast predicting thunderstorms throughout the tournament.

The forecast calls for thunderstorms to batter the area throughout the day Thursday, with a similarly bleak outlook on the horizon for Friday and Saturday.

Officials evacuated the course Wednesday afternoon with storms approaching the area, and play was suspended at 11 a.m. ET during Thursday’s opening round for inclement weather as well.

“Due to approaching area thunderstorms, which may contain dangerous weather, play has been temporarily suspended at The Players,” the Tour said in a statement. “As a result of this decision, and out of an abundance of caution, all spectators should exit the premises for their safety.”

Saturday looks to be the worst day in the forecast with not only storms, but heavy winds and cool weather expected to arrive in the Jacksonville, Fla. area.

“Rain and thunderstorms are likely both Thursday and Friday as a frontal boundary drops into northern Florida and stalls,” Tour meteorologist Wade Stettner said, according to PGATour.com. “This front is forecast to bring periods of rain with embedded thunderstorms over the two-day period.”

And although rain is not expected on Sunday, temperatures are forecasted to significantly drop prior to the final round. Sunday’s forecasted high is just 54 degrees, with winds out of the NNE at 13 mph.

If 72 holes are not able to be completed by Sunday evening, a Monday finish is on the table.

Check out a detailed report of the week’s weather here.

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The post ‘I don’t think it’s worth the risk’: Why this 17th hole pin position is unusable at Players this week appeared first on Golf.

The post ‘I don’t think it’s worth the risk’: Why this 17th hole pin position is unusable at Players this week appeared first on Golf.

The forecast for this week’s Players Championship: wet and windy with a strong chance of more Bay Hillian carnage.

Rain is slated to roll into the Ponte Vedra area Wednesday afternoon and not relent until Sunday. Cold air and wind is coming, too. By Saturday, temperatures will be in the low-50s with wind gusts of — hold on to your hats, boys! — up to 25 mph.

The conditions will make life difficult not only for the players but also for the officials who are responsible for setting up the course. One particular predicament: hole locations on the island green at the Stadium course’s signature par-3 17th. High on the Tour’s list of things to avoid is balls spinning and/or blowing off the green and into the water.

How the Tour’s setup sharpies are strategizing about 17 came to light in a Hard Knocks-style behind-the-scenes video the Tour shared on social media. (Note to the Tour: more of these videos, please!) The footage shows a handful of Tour-types sitting around a conference table earlier this week, including Gary Young, VP, rules and competition, and Robby Ware, senior tournament referee.  

“What’s your thinking on 17?” Young says to Ware.

“I’m thinking right now I’m only going to go down front-left on Saturday,” Ware says of his intended pin positions. “I’m going to have two up top. If we’re playing through the rain, I don’t think it makes any sense to use that lower-right on Thursday and Friday.”

“We all know where it’s going to go on Sunday,” he added, referring to the traditional back-right location in the fourth round. “So probably back-center and back-left rounds 1 and 2. I don’t think it’s worth the risk to use that front-right.”

This Golf Channel graphic from 2019 gives you a good sense for the green’s swales, and how precise players need to be to get their tee shots close to the customary hole locations. When it’s cold and breezy, the shots get that much more difficult — yes, even if they are only, in the case of the front pins, less than 130 yards.  

“That Saturday afternoon is the day we need to just watch and see what the forecast says,” Ware said.

The players will be watching, too. Well, some of them.

“I don’t get too wrapped up in the draw or what’s the weather going to be like Friday or what’s the wind going to be, because at the end of the day, weather people are wrong all the time,” defending champion Justin Thomas said Tuesday. “There’s no reason of getting too wrapped up in it.”

He might feel differently, of course, should he arrive on the 17th tee with a 25-mph wind blowing into him.

“I’ve heard horror stories from Tiger and Freddy and some guys about having to hit 5- or 6-iron into 17 on those cold north wind days,” Thomas said. “When you get wind and cold temperatures like that, it’s just a different animal, and it’s really just a survival-type thing.”

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The post How the 2022 Players became the largest purse in golf history appeared first on Golf.

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$3.6 million is on the line for the winner at TPC Sawgrass this week. The Players Championship has been known for its electric atmosphere and high payouts, but recent figures are astronomical compared to the rest of the tournament’s history.

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The post 5 picks I love at the Players Championship, according to a professional gambler appeared first on Golf.

The post 5 picks I love at the Players Championship, according to a professional gambler appeared first on Golf.

Here’s a safe bet: at some point in the coming days, someone will describe the Players Championship as the “fifth major.”

Maybe it is. Maybe it isn’t.

Either way, though, this week’s tournament is a big event for gamblers, featuring the strongest field in golf on an iconic course, with 22 hours of coverage on NBC and Golf Channel, and oodles more on the PGA Tour’s live streaming platforms.

Lifestyle

Justin Thomas is the defending champ. Along with Jon Rahm, he’s also a favorite on the betting board, followed by Collin Morikawa, Rory McIlroy, Viktor Hovland, Patrick Cantlay, and . . .

The roster of A-listers runs deep. Even in the absence of Bryson DeChambeau, who has withdrawn due to injury, 47 of the top 50 players in the world will be on hand, making it a tough contest to handicap. That the forecast calls for volatile weather only adds to the vagaries.

Good thing we’ve got help from Erick Lindgren, GOLF.com’s expert prognosticator. After a narrow miss last week at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, where his wager on Hovland to win fell one stroke short, Lindgren is back at it under the same conditions: we’re giving him a $1,000 gambling budget (just play money), and he’s giving us his top 5 plays for the tournament, which kicks off Thursday at TPC Sawgrass, in Ponte Vedra. 

(Looking to play any of these bets yourself? We teamed with BetMGM and the online sports book is offering a Risk-Free Bet of up to $1,000.)

Hideki Matsuyama to win, +2,800 (wager: $300)

Lindgren has long been high on Hideki, especially since Matsuyama’s win at the Masters. “He just doesn’t seem to have off weeks anymore and his putter looks so much better,” Lindgren says. “He has the history and the ability to deal with the conditions to bring this one home.”

Corey Conners to win, +5,000 (wager: $100)

Despite a slow start last week, Conners still worked his way into the mix at Bay Hill, only to be derailed by a few untimely swings. The Canadian is going to break through before long. “Let’s take a shot on him here,” Lindgren says.

Zach Johnson, top 20, +700 (wager $200)

Wet, windy, and cold conditions should favor grit and gumption, and few players have more of both than Johnson, who — let’s not forget — captured his green jacket in foul weather.  “This is a good time to back the 2023 Ryder Cup captain,” Lindgren says.

Si Woo Kim, top 10, +600 (wager: $200)

In golf, the past is often prologue. A former winner here, Kim, Lindgren says, has a strong history on Dye courses, and he arrives at Sawgrass in fine form.

Alex Noren, top 5, +1,600 (wager: $200)

Lindgren is all in on grinders this week, and Noren fits that bill. “His game is rising at the right time,” Lindgren says. “Let’s take advantage of the long price here.”

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The post Money, art and preferred parking: One Tour caddie will win it all with one swing on 17 appeared first on Golf.

The post Money, art and preferred parking: One Tour caddie will win it all with one swing on 17 appeared first on Golf.

Tour players competing at this week’s Players Championship are used to playing for the big bucks at the Tour’s flagship event — the purse is the biggest in the sport after all, with a whopping $20 million on the line. But before they begin their money marches on Thursday, their caddies will be competing for some dough during the Wednesday practice round. One swing, closest to the pin, for a bunch of money donated by players earlier in the week. 

It’s the annual Caddie Competition on the 17th hole, held every Wednesday during Players Championship week. When their practice rounds reach the famous 17th hole and its island green, each caddie gets once chance to take aim at the pin. Whoever hits it closest to the hole wins the entire pot, and then some. 

Ever since 2000, each Wednesday at the Players has been spent this way, with caddies showing off just how good they are as well, or just how rusty they might be after carrying staff bags around TPC Sawgrass. Last year’s competition saw Chris Rice, Harold Varner’s caddie, hit it to 1’2”, the closest result the competition has ever seen. His pro responded appropriately.

We can only glean so much information from Varner’s tweet, but it sounds like the prize fund amount is nothing to scoff at. The competition doesn’t make public how much money is won, but considering the millionaires who are donating to the cause, it is likely a healthy payout.

The event has been hosted every year in honor of Bruce Edwards, Tom Watson’s longtime caddie, who battled ALS. The funds donated by players for the caddie pot are matched by LOCALiQ, up to $10,000, and donated to the Bruce Edwards Foundation for ALS research. 

The winning caddie also earns a sketch by local comics artist Casey Jones, which is no slouch. He works for Disney and Marvel. They’ll also earn an engraved money clip to hold on to all they’ve won. And last but certainly not least they’ll earn a parking pass for Thursday-Sunday in the Players parking lot. Is it demonstrably closer to the clubhouse than the caddie lot? Probably not, but it’s closer nonetheless!

Three years ago, ESPN’s Michael Collins tweeted out a picture of the trophy (above), which holds much of the historical results. Hit it inside six feet and you’re in contention. Stick it like Rice did and someone else will have to hole out to beat you. 

The Players Championship (officially) gets started on Thursday, but the competition will heat up long before then. To the victor goes the spoils — and a sweet parking spot.

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The post The *second* scariest shot in golf? Brooks Koepka had a surprising answer appeared first on Golf.

The post The *second* scariest shot in golf? Brooks Koepka had a surprising answer appeared first on Golf.

Brooks Koepka doesn’t spook easily. He treats pressure-packed majors like they’re money matches with his bros. He spends more time in the gym than Conor McGregor. He’s gone toe-to-toe with Bryson DeChambeau and Brandel Chamblee, and a couple of years back took a dig at then-world No. 1 Dustin Johnson. Not even Tiger scares Brooks. “He’s not going to hurt me,” Koepka said in 2019, “so what’s there to be afraid of?”

But there is at least one thing that makes Koepka swallow hard: the island-green par-3 17th at TPC Sawgrass.

Travel

A short-iron to the largest green on the course would seem like an ask Koepka could pull off in his sleep, but in five career Players Championship starts, Koepka’s results on the 17th have been nothing short of nightmarish. In 19 tournament rounds, he has played the hole in a cumulative 15 over par, a run that has included one triple, two doubles, two quads and seven water balls. Koepka did find a sure-fire way to avoid disaster at last year’s Players: by staying home. (A knee injury kept him out of the field.)

This week, Koepka is playing another hazard-laden course, PGA National, site of the Honda Classic. Ahead of the tournament, he was asked to reflect not on the scariest shot in golf — because “it’s generally accepted that the tee shot on 17 at TPC Sawgrass can be the scariest,” the inquiring reporter said — but the second scariest. The tee shot at 12 at Augusta? The blast from the Road Hole bunker? The approach on Pebble Beach’s par-4 8th, hard against the Cliffs of Doom?    

Koepka didn’t hesitate.

“The drop zone from 17, because I’ve been there a lot,” he said, referring again to Sawgrass. “I’ll be honest with you, I’ve played that hole — if they throw that stat up, who’s played it the worst over the last five years, it’s probably me. Yeah, I haven’t played that hole very well. But the second — the drop zone up there, that’s probably the second.”

Instruction

Koepka’s not alone in his thinking. The shot from the drop zone is a nervy 80-yard pitch that requires players to pick the ball just-so to apply the right spin to get close to the hole, especially when the pin is on the back-left corner of the green, as it was in the first round last year. In fact, getting the ball close to that hole location is so challenging that Golf Channel’s commentators debated on the air last year whether it might make sense for players to re-tee instead of drop.  

“I like this decision,” Paul Azinger said from the booth. “With the pin where it is, the angle from the drop zone is terrible. And you just hit the shot so you know what you did wrong.” (You can read more about the pros and cons of that strategy here from my colleague Luke Kerr-Dineen.)

Ask Bob Tway. At the 2005 Players, he dunked his tee shot on 17 before infamously splashing three more balls from the drop zone. After his fourth pitch finally found terra firma, Tway three-putted for a 12, still the worst score on 17 in Players history. 

“It’s a tough one,” Phil Mickelson said of the drop-zone pitch in 2013. “It’s easy to just knock it on to the middle of the green and accept your 5, but that’s not easy to do when you’ve just knocked one into the water.”

Koepka is healthy again, and showing signs of life with his third-place finish in Phoenix two weeks ago. He missed the cut at Riviera last week, but opened with a two-under 70 at always-dangerous PGA National that left him within chasing distance of the leaders. The Players Championship is in two weeks. It would be no surprise if a certain hole isn’t already occupying real estate in Koepka’s brain.   

Want to overhaul your bag for 2022? Find a fitting location near you at GOLF’s affiliate company True Spec Golf. 

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The post The things that impressed us most about Justin Thomas at the Players Championship appeared first on Golf.

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Drop Zone: Justin Thomas claims the Players Championship with a record-breaking win and Dylan and Sean try to figure out why Rory McIlroy would be having so much trouble with his swing.

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The post How Maverick McNealy plans to take on the 17th hole this week appeared first on Golf.

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Maverick McNealy has a specific strategy when he takes on the island green for the first time this week at The Players Championship.

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Dylan Dethier reflects back on covering last year’s Players Championship on site.

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