THE PLAYERS: DJ, Henrik, Sergio ready for TPC Sawgrass challenge
Sergio Garcia, Dustin Johnson, and Henrik Stenson all have their plans in place for THE PLAYERS Championship.
THE PLAYERS Championship field have finished their practice rounds, reviewed and assessed the TPC Sawgrass renovations, and updated their course notes. Like newly minted Masters Champ Sergio Garcia, reigning U.S. Open champ and current world No. 1, Dustin Johnson, and 2016 British Open champ Henrik Stenson, most of the field feel ready to tackle the challenge of the PGA TOUR‘s “fifth major” and TPC Sawgrass.
Garcia, Johnson, and Stenson explained how they’re planning to approach the challenge in their pre-tournament press conferences.
Henrik Stenson
Stenson admitted he was busier off the golf course since his British Open victory, and claimed that if he wins the British Open this year, he will take the trophy skydiving. Last year, he took it jet-skiing.
He and his family have also been consumed with moving to a new house, and he has been recovering from what he called a long season.
“Eventually I think you run out of steam a little bit,” he explained about his more recent play.
Sergio Garcia
Garcia hasn’t played golf since winning the Masters. He’s been on the applause circuit.
"There’s so many great things that have happened since Sunday at Augusta. You know the support from fans and supporters and everyone around the world has been amazing."
After being away, he joked that his decision was either retire or keep going. And he’s decided to keep going, starting this week.
"I like the golf course. I feel like I’m still swinging the club well. I feel confident out there."
His biggest post-Masters thrill was the kick off at El Classico before an important soccer game .
“To have 90,000 people chanting your name, that was extremely special, and I was nervous,” he admitted about the kick that only needed to go 15 yards.
When asked who he thought was now the best player in the world to not win a major he said, “Not me!”
Dustin Johnson
Dustin Johnson may have had the smoothest transition to a new season of a new major winner. He’s won three times since February. This year, he’s taking a new approach to THE PLAYERS.
"I think my game as a whole has gotten a whole lot better. I’m interested to see how I can play here this week."
Johnson’s best finish at The Players is T28 which was last year.
He will use a few drivers this time around, and that could change depending on the wind direction. He anticipates driver on the 1st, 5th, 7th and 9th on the front and on the 11th, 14th and 15th on the back. There’s a possibility of driver at the 16th depending on the wind. He will not hit driver at 18.
“Probably an iron,” he said about the tee shot at the final hole. “There’s nowhere for me to hit it there.” In other words, the landing area is too short for driver unless he challenges a slim piece of land much farther up the fairway.
Johnson will also rely more on his short game which has improved over the last two seasons.
"Even last week (at Wells Fargo), quite a few times I could have gone for the green, and it was going to leave me in a spot that was going to be difficult to chip from, so I just laid it up and tried to wedge it close, which I did most of the time."
The key, he said, about TPC Sawgrass is finding the fairway.
“It doesn’t matter what you hit off the tee,” he insisted. “You’ve got to hit it in the fairway.”
Next: 5 groups to watch at THE PLAYERS
Tomorrow we will find out who has it this year at THE PLAYERS and who doesn’t. Who will you be watching on Thursday and Friday? We want to hear from you in our comments section.