THE PLAYERS Championship: Move to March will demand more of Tour bombers
THE PLAYERS Championship has always presented a challenge to the best of the PGA TOUR, but this year, the move to March may make it even tougher. Even guys like Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka and Jason Day will need to dig a little deeper to make it work at TPC Sawgrass.
It’s not just Tiger Woods who will be hitting longer clubs off the tee and to the greens at TPC Sawgrass this week. Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka, Justin Thomas, Jason Day and Adam Scott will reach farther into their bags, at least according to what they said in their press conferences at The PLAYERS Championship.
“I remember being here last year at the same time as what the Players was going to be. It was 45 degrees and blowing 30 miles an hour,” former champion Jason Day recalled.
Well, it’s not doing that this week, but Day is right. It could be like that at TPC Sawgrass in March. Because of the different weather and overseed of rye grass, the course is playing very differently than in May. The weekend calls for challenging weather with possible showers and temperatures in the 60s.
Because of the March conditions, many stars and former champs are hitting much different clubs off the tees and to the greens than they did in May.
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“Every hole’s different, really,” Johnson said. “In the past on 18 I’ve hit 3-iron and a wedge on 18 or 3-iron, 9-iron. Today it was helping wind, but I hit driver, wedge.”
On the par five 11th, the wind was blowing left to right and he hit a good drive that didn’t reach the left fairway bunker.
“Generally, on that hole, if I hit it down the left side, it’s in the bunker,” he noted. “So, a lot of different lines off the tee and then clubs into the greens are definitely a lot longer.”
However, the course is softer due to the overseed of rye grass and some recent rain. According to Johnson, that means the greens will hold balls better than they did with the Bermuda.
“You can hit longer clubs in, and still, if you hit a good shot it’s going to end up close to the hole,” he noted. He found that was not the case in May with the drier, firmer greens.
Brooks Koepka had similar clubbing experiences.
“I am used to hitting — on 11, used to hitting iron in, and I had to hit 3-wood today,” he explained about the par five. “Twelve (a drivable par four), I mean driver in the right wind might not even get there.”
However, he admitted that most of the time, he a lays up on the 12th. In the past it has been 6-iron, wedge and now it’s a 3-iron and a firm wedge.
“I don’t know which way the wind’s supposed to blow from, but it will definitely make this golf course a lot more difficult,” he added. “Can’t even reach 9, couldn’t even reach 9 yesterday. That just shows you how different it’s playing.” The ninth hole is a par five.
Former champ Adam Scott also mentioned the differences. Scott won when the tournament was played in March.
“I hit a 5-iron into the first hole, and I haven’t hit anything but a 9-iron or a wedge in there for 12 years. A lot of other holes like that too,” he said.
Scott is a big fan of the course and explained one difference that no one else mentioned. In May, because of the amount of runout, every golfer tended to hit to the same place on a hole, no matter what club got him there.
“Now it’s going to be a little bit less of that. You’ll have to decide how much you want to challenge off the tee,” Scott said. “I think it’s going to require some really good driving and some really good irons. I think it’s a great test.”
Justin Thomas, certainly a long hitter, has also experienced the change in playing conditions.
“It’s a lot softer, so the ball is going to not roll out near as much as it does in May, especially tee shots,” he said. “I’ve hit 2-iron, gap wedge, 2-iron, pitching wedge into 18, and I hit driver, 5-iron today. The wind’s going to probably — actually I haven’t looked at what it’s going to be in the tournament, but predominantly in a complete different direction. So that’s going to have a big impact.”
Jason Day recalled the clubs he used when he won compared to what he hit in practice.
“I hit 9-iron into 17, and then I hit driver, 5-iron into 18,” he said about the practice round. “With the southeasterly (wind) I remember winning, and I hit a 2-iron, 54-degree wedge into it. So just amazing difference of a couple few months.”
Day saluted the work of Pete and Alice Dye in creating a course that could hold up to such a variety of conditions and challenge so many different players.
“A lot of players have won here, and it’s been a wide array of players with regards to what they’re type of play is, short, long, crooked, straight, good short game, not a good short game,” he said.
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While the golfers adjust to the wind and the temperatures in March, they still face the same severe design that Pete Dye is known for creating. THE PLAYERS Championship remains a tough, tough test of golf.
“If you get on a bad run here, I mean, this course really can dent your confidence because the severity of penalty is very extreme,” Scott added. “That was part of the design from Pete Dye. I mean, you’re on the green, or three inches to the left you’re in the water. It’s a big difference in a game of inches.”