2012 Players Championship Discussion Thread

[mvmac]

Players Week!  Always a fun tournament to watch and of course the drama at the 17th hole.  Is anyone going?  If you haven't already, make sure to enter our Players Prediction Contest before Thursday, good luck!

Here are some notable groups for the first two days

Webb Simpson/Keegan Bradley/Matt Kuchar – Simpson made a spirited bid to win the Wells Fargo Championship, which is played less than a mile from his home, last weekend before finishing fourth. Bradley finished 22nd or better in his first nine starts this year, while Kuchar, who has four top-10s this year, will be looking to win for the first time since 2010.

Rickie Fowler/Hunter Mahan/Tiger Woods – Fowler finally picked up his first PGA TOUR victory on Sunday, beating Rory McIlroy and D.A. Points in a playoff in Charlotte. Mahan is the TOUR’s only two-time winner in 2012 while Woods, the 2001 PLAYERS champ, won at Bay Hill for the seventh time in March

Luke Donald/Bill Haas/Lee Westwood – Donald won his fifth PGA TOUR event earlier this year at the Transitions Championship while Westwood, who closed with a 66 on Sunday at Quail Hollow, tied for fourth here last year. Haas, who picked up his fourth TOUR win at Riviera earlier this year, is the defending FedExCup champ.

Rory McIlroy/Phil Mickelson/Steve Stricker – McIlroy, who won The Honda Classic earlier this year, has returned to Sawgrass after a year’s absence on the heels of a playoff loss Sunday.  The world No. 1 will be joined by Mickelson, a former PLAYERS champ, who was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame on Monday, as well as another veteran in Stricker, who won the Hyundai Tournament of Champions in January.

K.J. Choi/Tim Clark/Sergio Garcia – Choi, the defending champion, is playing with two other former winners. Clark, who had elbow surgery last year, made THE PLAYERS his first PGA TOUR victory in 2010 while Garcia’s 2008 victory was his last on the PGA TOUR.

Brandt Snedeker/Ben Crane/Nick Watney – Watney is coming off his best finish of the season at Quail Hollow where he held the second-round lead. Snedeker won the Farmers Insurance Open in February while Crane has three top-10s in his first four starts and has been sixth or better at THE PLAYERS in three of his last four starts.

Louis Oosthuizen/Jason Day/Ian Poulter – Oosthuizen is playing in the U.S. for the first time since he lost to Bubba Watson in a playoff at the Masters. Day, who tied for second at the 2011 Masters, posted his best finish of the year last week at the Wells Fargo Championship. Poulter, who finished second at THE PLAYERS in 2009, has top-10 finishes in his last two starts.

Woods discussed the state of his game, the par-3 17th and more Tuesday. Here are some of the highlights.

On how TPC Sawgrass suits his game:

”It’s either I’ve done really well or I haven’t,” Woods said. “I think that’s the nature of this golf course, though. When you’re off on this golf course you’re going to get penalized pretty severely, but when you’re on, this golf course seems pretty easy because all the balls tend to funnel towards flags. You can kind of feed off these slopes and get it in there tight.”

On whether his full swing changes have crept into his short game and affected his results, like the 33 putts he had in the second round at Quail Hollow:

”Absolutely,” he said. “I’m not quite 100 percent comfortable with it. I’ve had to make some tweaks and some little bit of changes. Augusta was nice to have happen, actually, in the big scheme of things. Just like it was at Dubai a couple of years ago when I couldn’t cut the golf ball. I felt like I could have won that golf tournament, but not being able to cut it cost me eight or nine shots that week. Augusta was one of those things where it was just pretty glaring, some of the things I needed to work on. So get back to work and try and get ready for this week.”

Why he hasn’t been able to fully integrate his current swing changes and if they’ve been more difficult to implement than past ones:

“It took years, literally years, to get out of them,” Woods said. “I went for probably almost two years without doing much with Butch [Harmon] before it kicked in; and about a year-and-a-half with Hank [Haney]. With Sean it’s been a couple years now, maybe a year-and-a-half, somewhere around there, almost two years. But I’ve been hurt for a majority of that, so I haven’t been able to put in the time. In essence, it takes time. The fruits have been pretty good on the back side of it, and I think so far I’ve shown some nice consistency, and I’m still working. No [it hasn’t been harder], it’s been easier. I just haven’t had the time because obviously the injuries I’ve had.”

On whether it’s a possibility he’s thinking too much and has become too mechanical in his swing:

”Certainly it is when you’re making changes,” he said. “I’ve done this before. I’ve been through this. I went through those periods where I wasn’t quite where I wanted to be. I had some pretty good runs after that, and this is no different.  It takes a little bit of time, and I keep building, and things eventually come around to where they feel natural and efficient. I think that’s probably the most important word is that you get out there and you feel efficient in what you’re doing.”

How he rates the par-3 17th and his most nervous moments standing on the tee there:

“I think 17 is a great hole, but not as the 17th,” Woods said. “I think it’s a perfect eighth hole or something like that.

“But as a great finishing hole, I’m not in that opinion, but I think the collection of holes, 16th, 17th and 18th is the most dramatic that I think we play out here on TOUR.

“As far as my most nervous, there was probably two times,” he added. “Number one, in the [U.S.] Am when that ball was in the air, that second round. And number two is we played one year when it was just absolutely freezing here, and standing on that tee to a back left pin, you think it’s no big deal, it’s a back left pin. But the wind is coming in off the left, and if it comes through that chute. You have the grandstand, you have the trees, and it comes through that little chute and you can see the flag just bending. I don’t feel comfortable from 155, 160 yards hitting a little chip 5-iron. That’s a hard shot, especially when there’s no bail-out. But I hit a little chip 5-iron on the green and was happy to make my par.”

[LuciusWooding]

I'd just like to say, I picked Watney immediately for the contest before he played well last week. He's in good form, plays well at Sawgrass, and is hungry for a win this year. Sure enough, a couple people joined the forum just to steal my idea...

You also didn't mention Dufner, who played well here last year and just won recently after a few months of decent form. I think he's a possible contender. Rory is always a wild card, but I don't think the course matches his game that well and it has a lot of nuances that makes experience very helpful.

[iacas]

If there's enough interest we'll do a live chat on Sunday for the final round.

[Deryck Griffith]

The amount of drama/stories right now in Golf is just fantastic and it will be very entertaining to see how it comes together and unfolds during this tournament.

Every once and a while, The Players Championship awards a winner that we never would have expected.  That may happen again this year OR we may have a couple big names duel it out.

I can't wait.....

[Beachcomber]

I didn't want to clog up the other contest thread with this... But honestly - thanks to TST (Erik, Mike, and any others) for sponsoring the Mizzy MP-59 giveaway.  That is a sweet giveaway/prize - and just further confirms why this site rocks! Great job guys!

[Valleygolfer]

I found it amusing that there were quite a few picks for Bubba to win, which would be a great feat.

[bplewis24]

Great feat how?

[Golfingdad]

Originally Posted by bplewis24

Great feat how?

It would be a tremendous feat for him to win a golf tournament in which he is not playing.

[Motley01]

Originally Posted by Golfingdad

It would be a tremendous feat for him to win a golf tournament in which he is not playing.

Or maybe just the Bubba has some nice feet? LOL

[bplewis24]

Originally Posted by Golfingdad

It would be a tremendous feat for him to win a golf tournament in which he is not playing.

lol, I completely forgot.

Speaking of golfers not playing, I accidentally filled out my prediction by looking at the field for last week's Well's Fargo Championship.  It was just my good fortune that all three are in this tournament as well.

Brandon

[Valleygolfer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Golfingdad

It would be a tremendous feat for him to win a golf tournament in which he is not playing.

lol, I completely forgot.

Speaking of golfers not playing, I accidentally filled out my prediction by looking at the field for last week's Well's Fargo Championship.  It was just my good fortune that all three are in this tournament as well.

Brandon

Did you pick Bubba? Lol

[bplewis24]

Nope.  Hunter Mahan and Keegan Bradley.

Although my winner may be just as bad as picking Bubba...I picked Woods to win :)

Brandon

[bplewis24]

FYI, the "Live @" coverage on the PGA Tour website appears to be following Tiger's group.  I just watched him birdie #12.

http://www.pgatour.com/livegolf/

Brandon

[bplewis24]

FYI, the "Live @" coverage on the PGA Tour website appears to be following Tiger's group giving live coverage of the Par 3s.  I just watched Tiger birdie #12.

http://www.pgatour.com/livegolf/

Brandon

[Zwick]

Not a single player could make a par on 18 so far. Average of 5.33 (but just 3 groups played it so far).

[MEfree]

Kevin Na -5 thru 7* with a birdie putt on 17.

Wonder what happened to DA Points back - DNS?? http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/10052012/58/injured-points-players.html

[SamCreamer]

Anyone seeing this? Na is 6 under through 8 holes! Not sure what he did on 18

[mvmac]

Surprising, Na isn't known as one of the better ball strikers, you'd think this course would eat him up