2018 The PLAYERS Championship

[Zeph]

The PLAYERS championship, May 10-13.
Venue: TPC Sawgrass
Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida

 

 

Featured groups Thursday and Friday:

 

Phil Mickelson (4), Rickie Fowler (17), Tiger Woods (53) —Woods won THE PLAYERS not only in 2001 but also in 2013; Mickelson prevailed in 2007; and Fowler closed like a freight train in 2015. Woods’ latest comeback gains steam every time he tees it up; Fowler is chomping at the bit for another huge title after getting so close at Augusta. Mickelson, already a winner this season, is loving the chance to add another title to an incredible career.

 

Justin Thomas (1), Jordan Spieth (29), Rory McIlroy (32) — These young guns have already achieved so much in the game, but they haven’t conquered TPC Sawgrass. It is a reality that burns on them and has the trio primed to find their A game. Thomas continues to lead the FedExCup race in defense of the crown and will be looking to take positive vibes from his T3 in 2016. McIlroy has three top 10s here on his resume – he wants another that comes with a trophy. Spieth finished T4 in his debut in 2014 but has missed the last three cuts. Can he find his putting mojo to kick start his season?

[p1n9183]

Amazing groups to watch

[Trav904]

Always looking forward to this week down here in Jacksonville. Hopefully we see a tight leaderboard with an exciting Sunday finish.

[MrGolfguy67]

Great tournament, could be a major as it has the elite field and history and the great course. 

[Frank-0-Sport]

The 2018 Players - Basics

(1) The Field and (2) how they qualified    (3) Daily Tee Times   (4) The Leaderboard (active Thursday thru Sunday)

Purse: $ 11,000,000 -- 1st: $ 1,980,000 / 2nd: $ 1,188,000 / 3rd: - $ 748,000
 

PLAYOFF: 3-hole aggregate score 16-17-18. If two-or-more are tied after 3 holes, then sudden-death format (18-17-18-17-etc) until there is an outright winner.

[HJJ003]

3 hours ago, MrGolfguy67 said:

Great tournament, could be a major as it has the elite field and history and the great course. 

It’s better than the PGA IMO..

[MrGolfguy67]

3 minutes ago, HJJ003 said:

It’s better than the PGA IMO..

They're at least equal

[HJJ003]

1 minute ago, MrGolfguy67 said:

They're at least equal

You think? Players is a deeper field, Famous venue, and seems to never favor one type of player. The PGA has the club pros, venues are hit and miss (I admit that’s my opinion lol), and had kind of become US Open lite. 

I will say that if the PGA would do a US/International venue rotation that could really bolster its status. Again, just my .02 😁

 

[MrGolfguy67]

You can't deny the history of the PGA Championship

[Patch]

4 hours ago, MrGolfguy67 said:

Great tournament, could be a major as it has the elite field and history and the great course. 

I hope they never make it a major. Four is enough, and four stays respectful for those who won those four in the past. 

Edited May 8, 2018 by Patch

[iacas]

The PGA has the strongest field of any major.

[HJJ003]

44 minutes ago, iacas said:

The PGA has the strongest field of any major.

Hmmm I doubted this severely, but found some articles that I am sure you have read that make a pretty basic but solid case for this. Interesting!

[krupa]

9 hours ago, Patch said:

Four is enough, and four stays respectful for those who won those four in the past. 

Why is four enough and five too much? What is it about a major that inherently limits the number that we should have? 

The list of tournaments considered to be majors has changed over time and personally, I don't see any disrespect in continuing that trend.  In fact, I think it's more disrespectful to current and future players to deny "major status" to a tournament that deserves it. Many players consider The Players to be a major tournament and they probably know better than anyone.

[saevel25]

35 minutes ago, krupa said:

Why is four enough and five too much? What is it about a major that inherently limits the number that we should have? 

History.

For all the hoopla made over number of majors as determining the GOAT. It would be a nightmare if you gave future golfers one more major. Other sports tend to have four majors. It fits in the golf season nicely.

36 minutes ago, krupa said:

The list of tournaments considered to be majors has changed over time and personally, I don't see any disrespect in continuing that trend.  In fact, I think it's more disrespectful to current and future players to deny "major status" to a tournament that deserves it.

The Open: 1960 to Present
The US Open: 1895 to Present
The PGA Championship: 1916 to Present
The Masters: 1934 to Present

I do not get your assertion that the majors has changed over time. The PGA is 124 years old. The Majors have not changed in 84 years.

45 minutes ago, krupa said:

 Many players consider The Players to be a major tournament and they probably know better than anyone.

How many? What percentage?

Here is a quote by Rory,

Quote

“I can’t imagine having a fifth major in men’s golf,” said Rory McIlroy, the world No. 2, from Northern Ireland. “I like the traditions of the game.”

He added, “I don’t see why there would be a need to add more.”

Or, is this just a push by the higher ups at the PGA to get another major?

It looks like the 5th Major label is falling away from this tournament,

Quote

The phrase “the fifth major” is less common these days. Just last week, Ernie Els declared it dead: "[The BMW] is definitely taking the place of the PLAYERS. I also feel we have a stronger field here and a classic course,”

https://www.forbes.com/sites/monteburke/2012/05/09/the-players-championship-is-not-the-5th-major-but-its-still-a-great-tournament/#13b532154c86

There can be great tournaments with tougher fields than the other Majors. 

[krupa]

2 minutes ago, saevel25 said:

History.

For all the hoopla made over number of majors as determining the GOAT. It would be a nightmare if you gave future golfers one more major. Other sports tend to have four majors. It fits in the golf season nicely

Historically, they used hickory shafts and little mounds of dirt for tees. Why draw a line here and say, "change shall halt".

The GOAT discussion is already a mess, designating the Players as a major won't do much to change that.

LPGA has five majors.

3 minutes ago, saevel25 said:

I do not get your assertion that the majors has changed over time. The PGA is 124 years old. The Majors have not changed in 84 years.

Well, the easy answer is that Bobby Jones's Grand Slam was the US and British Amateur's, the US Open and The Open. But according to wikipedia there have been other tournaments, considered by players, to have been "major" tournaments. 

Quote

The majors originally consisted of two British tournaments, The Open Championship and The Amateur Championship, and two American tournaments, the U.S. Open and the U.S. Amateur. With the introduction of the Masters Tournament in 1934, and the rise of professional golf in the late 1940s and 1950s, the term "major championships" eventually came to describe the Masters, the U.S. Open, the Open Championship, and the PGA Championship. It is difficult to determine when the definition changed to include the current four tournaments, although many trace it to Arnold Palmer's 1960 season. After winning the Masters and the U.S. Open to start the season, he remarked that if he could win the Open Championship and PGA Championship to finish the season, he would complete "a grand slam of his own" to rival Bobby Jones's 1930 feat. Until that time, many U.S. players such as Byron Nelson also considered the Western Open and the North and South Open as two of golf's "majors,"[5] and the British PGA Matchplay Championship was as important to British and Commonwealth professionals as the PGA Championship was to Americans.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Men's_major_golf_championships

6 minutes ago, saevel25 said:

How many? What percentage?

I don't know.  I think I heard Jason Day say he considered it one.  I'll happily retract that bit. 

However, I still think it deserves to be a major and don't see any real problems with adding it to the list.

[saevel25]

11 minutes ago, krupa said:

The GOAT discussion is already a mess, designating the Players as a major won't do much to change that.

No it isn't. The GOAT discussion is actually a straight forward one. It's only seems messy because people just don't want to join your opinion. If you consider other sports, were there are multiple players vying for the GOAT, their discussion is much more of a mess.

Look at basketball,

Bill Russel, Michael Jordan, Lebron James, Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

There are valid arguments for all of these players. You can't claim anyone else but Tiger and Jack should be considered as GOAT.

16 minutes ago, krupa said:

LPGA has five majors.

So what?

16 minutes ago, krupa said:

Well, the easy answer is that Bobby Jones's Grand Slam was the US and British Amateur's, the US Open and The Open. But according to wikipedia there have been other tournaments, considered by players, to have been "major" tournaments. 

Yes, but not turned into Majors.

So, historically speaking, tournaments gain and lose favor all the time, but the four majors remain the same. The US and British Amateur fell off, and the four modern majors have not changed in 84 years.

Like tournaments before it, the term major is dying off for The Player's Championship.

28 minutes ago, krupa said:

However, I still think it deserves to be a major and don't see any real problems with adding it to the list.

For one, the course is not a Major course. It's a wonky course.

Second, four majors is enough. I don't see a benefit to adding a 5th. You say you do not see any real problem with it. Yet, what benefit is there? Just to have another one? Is this just the argument, "If we have four, the five will be better!!!!"

Yea, I see no real benefit to adding it as a 5th major.

[krupa]

4 minutes ago, saevel25 said:

No it isn't. The GOAT discussion is actually a straight forward one. It's only seems messy because people just don't want to join your opinion. If you consider other sports, were there are multiple players vying for the GOAT, their discussion is much more of a mess.

...

You can't claim anyone else but Tiger and Jack should be considered as GOAT

I just checked and the Jack vs. Tiger GOAT thread has 5982 replies with the latest only 8 hours ago. In golf, the conversation may be limited to two people, but from my perspective, it's still a messy conversation. For the record, I don't have an opinion on GOAT; I don't think I've ever posted in that thread.

6 minutes ago, saevel25 said:

So what [about the LPGA having five majors]?

You pointed out that other sports have four majors.  I countered with a professional golf tour having five. If we're going to compare golf to other sports, we should also compare it to other golf.

7 minutes ago, saevel25 said:

what benefit is there? Just to have another one? Is this just the argument, "If we have four, the five will be better!!!!"

I'm the last person to argue that quantity is better than quality. However, I will argue that if a tournament deserves to be a major (obviously this is still very uncertain in regards to the Players), then it should be and saying, "it can't be because historically we've only ever had four" isn't a strong argument.

[Friz]

This is an interesting discussion.  For all the sake of a label, its not a major, but it is absolutely treated like a Major in every single possible way.  Fed Ex Cup points - same as a Major.  Purse - same as a Major (more than The Open and PGA Championship).  PGA Priority ranking - same as every Major in getting 5 years of a tour card, and actually in priority is higher than the Masters and The Open, not that it matters at the top of the priority list.

So, all thats missing is a label and prestige of winning a major.  I don't have a strong feeling either way, but it is interesting that it can't be called a major if its treated like a major.

If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck....