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PLAYERS Championship: Power ranking the top 10 at TPC Sawgrass

By Mike Randleman

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, FL - MAY 13: Crowds surround the first tee during the final round of THE PLAYERS Championship on the Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass on May 13, 2018 in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. (Photo by Sam Greenwood/Getty Images)
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, FL - MAY 13: Crowds surround the first tee during the final round of THE PLAYERS Championship on the Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass on May 13, 2018 in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. (Photo by Sam Greenwood/Getty Images) /
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PONTE VEDRA BEACH, FL – MAY 12: Justin Rose of England prepares to play a shot from the 11th tee during the first round of THE PLAYERS Championship at the Stadium course at TPC Sawgrass on May 12, 2016 in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. (Photo by Scott Halleran/Getty Images)
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, FL – MAY 12: Justin Rose of England prepares to play a shot from the 11th tee during the first round of THE PLAYERS Championship at the Stadium course at TPC Sawgrass on May 12, 2016 in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. (Photo by Scott Halleran/Getty Images) /

There’s hardly a course that doesn’t fit Justin Rose’s eye. TPC Sawgrass seems to be one of the few. The Englishman’s best finish in 15 Players Championship starts is a T4 in 2014, which is his only top 10.

By the same token, Rose is far and away a more polished product than what he was in the mid-2000s when most of his poor finishes here occurred. Since 2014, Rose’s finishes are T4-MC-T19-T65-T23. Nothing to write home about, but it’s good enough for me when considering how well he’s played for such a long period time.

Rose has six worldwide wins since 2017 and is already on the board this year after taming Torrey Pines for a two-shot win.

His schedule has been light this year as a T63 last week at the Arnold Palmer Invitational was just his fourth start. He’s 3-for-4 in cuts made. The one miss at the Saudi International was his first since August. Rose has been without regular caddie Mark Fulcher who is recovering from heart surgery as well as acclimating to his new Honma clubs.

He put to rest some of the doubts about his surprising shift to Honma with his win at the Farmers Insurance Open.

“Winning at World No. 1, I suppose. New equipment, really trying to bed that in,” Rose said. “Obviously you face a lot of doubts and questions. People obviously, rightfully so, they don’t understand why I would make that change, but I make that change with the hopes to get better as a golfer. So that made it special this week to sort of see that trajectory so soon.”

Nine measured rounds on Tour aren’t enough to truly judge how his game is or isn’t affected, but he’s 35th this season in strokes gained tee to green (fourth last season) and driving distance is up from 303.5 yards off the tee to 308.

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