PLAYERS Championship: Stars treating TPC Sawgrass like a major

The PLAYERS Championship has long been called the PGA TOUR’s “fifth major”. While that debate rages on, it won’t stop some of today’s top young stars from treating it that way.

The PLAYERS Championship is now upgraded in the mind of PGA Tour players, at least according to Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas.

“We look at this tournament up there in about equal value with the major championships,” Spieth said at his pre-tournament press conference.

“The only thing that holds it away from being a major is simply people jotting down how many majors people won. I mean, it is one of the toughest tests in golf with potentially the best field in golf. I think it is the best golf in all of golf. If you win here, you can win anywhere else. There is no added thing that any other tournament brings that this tournament doesn’t have.”

Justin Thomas agreed.

"“I think all of us on Tour feel that this event can stand on its own,” Thomas noted in his pre-tournament press conference. “It’s not like it’s another event, and it’s no disrespect to the other events, but this is our championship, this is The Players Championship. This has a very major-like field, has a very major-like feel, air to it. The roars are very similar.”"

Spieth and Thomas are playing in a marquee group that includes Rory McIlroy. They are sure to cause congestion on the highways leading to the event and congestion in the galleries on the course.

“Going to draw some pretty big crowds. That’s something I really enjoy about this tournament,” Thomas continued.

Though both are full-fledged stars, Thomas has fared better than Spieth at The PLAYERS Championship.

The first year Spieth played, he finished third, but since then it’s been downhill, with three missed cuts in a row.

“I don’t have a great history the last few years here, but I also have played the course really well before and had a chance to win,” he explained. His real opportunity came in his first year at the event in 2014.

"“I love this place. I love the golf course,” he added. “But if you’re not on — there’s a lot of small areas, small areas to hit your tee shots, small areas to hit your second shots, and you’ve really got to think through the place and let it come to you. This is not a place to go out and try and force birdies, and I think that’s kind of where I’ve gone the last few years that’s got me in trouble.”"

He believes he just needs to be more patient with the course. A good example, he noted, is the first hole when the pin is on the front left quadrant of the green.

“If you’re not in the fairway, you can’t get anywhere near the hole. I’ll miss it in the left rough and try and land it on that tier right next to the hole,” he said about past errors. He would then end up short siding himself and land in a bunker.

Spieth, Thomas look to build legacy at The PLAYERS Championship

Justin Thomas has had better success in terms of playing the weekend. He finished 24^th, 3^rd and 75^th in his three attempts and has already gone relatively low, posting two 65s. He had a funny story about his finish the year Rickie Fowler came from behind and won. Fowler was playing three groups in front of Thomas on that Sunday.

“Starting 13, I was six shots ahead of him, and I finished 24th and he won. I didn’t play those last six holes very well, and he did,” Thomas recalled. “Sixteen, where they put that pin, it’s obviously an impressive eagle, but they do that for that reason, to get a little bit of excitement. But 15 is a really impressive birdie. Seventeen is obviously very impressive, and then that drive he hit on 18 and that putt he made on 18 was pretty unbelievable.”

Fowler’s last six holes were birdie, par, birdie, eagle, birdie, birdie. He had been five shots back with six holes to play, yet he managed miraculous results with his play at the end. He got into a three-way playoff and sealed the deal at the 17^th.

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Spieth is looking to regain the form he had in his first time at The Players. He went bogey free for three rounds, which is really difficult to do. His form has not been sharp this season, except for the final round of the Masters when he posted a 64. One reason is that he contracted mononucleosis last winter and that slowed his usual preparation schedule.

“I’ve struggled a little this year with kind of rushing my thoughts into why aren’t I playing …. if I look and just give myself a little bit of time and some leeway, that’s been the best route in the past, so I’m trying to do that now,” he said. “I’ve got a four-week stretch here now that I really enjoy. This is the only time I play four in a row in a season, and I like doing that. It’s fun.”

He will play at home next week in Dallas, followed by the Fort Worth Invitational and The Memorial.

Next: The PLAYERS Championship Power Rankings

Justin Thomas can looks ahead to the challenge of the course and circumstances.

“It’s the hardest par-72 we’ll play, that’s for sure, in terms of you look at any course with four par-5s, on paper you would think that Tour players would rip it up, and we’d be licking our chops,” he said. “That being said, you kind of have to just take what it gives you and kind of take your medicine when you get out of position.”

He predicted the winning score would be 10 to 16-under if the conditions are docile,and single digit if the wind blows.

Their group tees off at 8:27 EDT Thursday and 1:52 EDT on Friday afternoon.

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