THE PLAYERS Championship: 5 bold predictions

THE PLAYERS Championship, this week’s PGA TOUR battle with Old Man Par, is a perennial fan favorite. The devilish Pete Dye TPC Sawgrass Stadium Course is simply packed with tricks and deceptions and illusions and risky opportunities. This venue always makes for some exciting golf.

Dye made certain that it takes a golfer with an exceptional repertoire of shots in his bag to hoist THE PLAYERS trophy on Sunday. The majority of THE PLAYERS champions (68%) also own a major championship title and fifteen of the thirty-five PLAYERS champions are also members of the World Golf Hall of Fame.

Predicting the winner of the 2017 PLAYERS Championship is certainly tempting. The field is packed with champions – past, present, and future. But there are other aspects of The PLAYERS that also capture the imagination. TPC Sawgrass, itself, is an alluring track with a number of very engaging tests of skill. The weather is always a factor in any golf tournament, particularly when golf this spring has been plagued with wind and rain and weather delays.

These are the considerations that have guided my five bold predictions for the 2017 PLAYERS Championship.