THE PLAYERS Championship 2017: 5 groups to watch in Rounds 1 & 2
By Luke Norris
5. Jon Rahm, Justin Rose, Martin Kaymer
Round 1: 1st tee, 1:30 p.m. ET
Round 2: 10th tee, 8:05 a.m. ET
Former world No. 1 Martin Kaymer, currently ranked 48th in the world, hasn’t won since his U.S. Open victory at Pinehurst in 2014 but he still knows how to win THE PLAYERS, having done so earlier that same year and he certainly knows how to go low at TPC Sawgrass. Kaymer shot an opening-round 63, tying the course record, and finished 69-72-71 to earn a one-shot victory over Jim Furyk. Kaymer has been playing better as of late and does have a top-10 to his credit this year, finishing in a tie for fourth at the Honda Classic. He tied for 17th at the WGC-Match Play and tied for 16th at The Masters. His most recent finish was a T-32 at the RBC Heritage.
Joining Kaymer is fellow Ryder Cup teammate Justin Rose, who nearly won his second major championship last month before losing in a playoff at The Masters to Sergio Garcia. It’s also been a while since the eighth-ranked player in the world has tasted victory, unless you’re counting that gold medal at the Rio Olympics (which we totally are as it does get points in the OWGR), but that doesn’t mean he’s not been playing well. He tied for second at the Sony Open in February and tied for fourth at both the Farmers Insurance Open and Genesis Open. Rose doesn’t have the greatest track record at THE PLAYERS, having missed the cut in half of his appearances at the Stadium Course, but he did finish in a tie for fourth in 2014 at 10-under, three strokes behind the winner and one of his playing partners for next couple of days, Martin Kaymer.
Rounding out this threesome is newcomer Jon Rahm, who has become one of the favorites to win this golf tournament. Since turning pro last summer, the Spaniard, who is sure to join Rose and Kaymer in future Ryder Cups, has vaulted more than 500 spots in the world rankings and currently sits at No. 12. He finished third at his first professional tournament, the Quicken Loans National, and has had seven more top-10 finishes since then, including his win at the Farmers Insurance Open in January. Rahm most recently finished fourth at the Wells Fargo Championship and nobody quite knows how he’ll fare at Sawgrass, but he’ll certainly have a lot of eyes on him.