The Players Championship

This week marks the start of the competition known colloquially as “The Fifth Major”, The Players Championship played at TPC Sawgrass. One of the most exciting and testing tracks on the circuit, this course is a favourite for some players, and inspires nightmares for others. Water is in play on so many holes, and once that starts to play on the mind, there is only one place for the ball to finish. With that in my thoughts, here are my selections for the week.

Rory Mcilroy. 3 points win. 17/2. No pomp, no fuss. Rory has finishes 8^th, 6^th and 8^th here in his last three years, and his current form reads T3-T27-4-T10-T4. A combination of course form and current form landed me the win with Hoffman, and I’m hoping the amalgamation can prove a potent mix here this week. This is Rory’s 6^th appearance in The Players, and will be hunting to add this to a list of conquered courses. The Northern Irishman has been building form lately and looks compelling in his play. I have been guilty before of insulting Rory, and calling him boring, but this week I’m hoping that boring works. Sawgrass is not a course that power bombers will excel at, and I’m in the frame of mind that this will complement the place Rory is in mentally, efficient, accurate and I am anticipating a return of some touch around the greens. Main chunk of the week goes on to Rory, and whilst the price isn’t much to shout about, it’s better than anyone’s likely to get on Rory in the near future.

Sergio Garcia. 1 point each way. 25/1. My numero dos in The Players is Sergio Garcia. Sergio’s form here is even better than Rory’s, reading 2-3-8, losing in a play-off last year. Sergio ranks 4^th in GIR on tour which makes him part of the elite. The only reason that Garcia is not my primary choice is his putting. He ranks T179 in putts per GIR, a woeful stat, and one that I imagine is not higher because his distance off the tee, and the quality of his approach play circumvents the need to putt well. Like Rory, I am wanting Serg to have picked up some more skill on and around the green, and thankfully I have 7 places on Garcia thanks to my favourite golf layers in the business, Stan James. Sergio let me down early in the year losing to Adam Scott, but this course suits the Spaniard better, and proven form here, including a win should prove fateful. Finally, current form figures read 2-T11-T18-T72-T34-3.

Phil Mickelson. 0.5 point each way. 55/1. My final piece of the Sawgrass action is on Phil. Phil doesn’t fit the criteria of course form / current form. Last three years here read MC-MC-MC for Phil. That’s missed cut for any of you that don’t follow golf. Phil’s current form is also somewhat sporadic reading T3-MC-T11-2-T37-5-T18-T13-MC-MC-T4. There are some low numbers in here, and a good finishing day at Quail Hollow should give Phil faith in his game, which I’m sure he has plenty of at the moment. Phil has one of the lowest scoring averages on Tour, and whilst I am playing a bit of favouritism and perhaps not being as shrewd as needs be, I do not care.

The below men are, for me, who I consider to be danger-men. If one of my chaps does not win this tournament, I strongly suspect that one of these will win. They have been axed from the plan brutally due to a necessity for streamlining.

Danny Willett. Little needs to be said here. Masters winner and all round good guy Danny will be out to win this week (obviously) and I’m sure he will put in a performance. However, he hasn’t competed since Augusta, and missed the cut on his debut here last year, so he was fairly easy to chop.

Rickie Fowler. Rickie is still the number one statistically ranked player on Tour, and almost had a resurgence in Quail last week. I prophesised two weeks ago that Rickie would need to find some form coming in to this week and he has done, with form reading 20-4 since the Masters, and returns to Sawgrass as the defending champ. Unfortunately I do not think that Rickie is back to that killer version of himself again yet, as he threw away the 54 hole lead cheaply at Quail, and may struggle here. Prices of 20/1 seem accurate and fair, so for anyone looking to add another string to their bow should opt for Fowler.

Bubba Watson. Bubba Watson ranks first in GIR which should suit Sawgrass. Bubba however does not have good form here. 37-48-42. Since a sorrowful performance at the Masters Bubba put up a spirited outing in China finishing 8^th, but that is not enough for me to elect Bubba as one of my picks.  

Branden Grace. Branden is a smooth operator who I imagine will feel comfortable here this week. Since his win he has a 9^th place finish, and his course form reads 48-42, which is not terribly inspiring. Enough said, axed.

Jason Day. Jason is part of the anti-Greg club and will try to scupper me and any stakes on him. Jason is in fairly good form with figures of 10-23-5 but he missed the cut here last year. Illness may well have been the cause for this, but I will not be risking anything on Day, even though he is well priced at 12s.

Jordan Spieth. Finally, a quick word on Jordan. At a glance, Jordan is in good form. T2-T13-T9-T18-T17. He missed the cut here last year but finished 4^th the year before. However, the innocuous looking T2 in Spieth’s form is hiding a very dark fact. Spieth’s well documented meltdown at Augusta. Cruising to another Masters victory Spieth blew up. He took a 7 on a Par 3, and even though he almost made a spirited come-back, it was not enough, and Jordan must be feeling deflated. He hasn’t competed since, and clearly stated his intentions to be ready for The Players. Spieth may well mount the charge of the century here, but when he has to stand up on the 17^th, and look at the little island green, everyone will know what thoughts will be on his mind, visions of Augusta will run, and Jordan might feel a little wobbly. It is of course possible that this will not be the case, and Jordan will have recovered with the help of top sports psychiatrists, but that combined with a best price of 10s is enough to axe Spieth from the plan.