2021 Players Championship: Top 10 power rankings at TPC Sawgrass
It’s time for the PGA Tour’s flagship event, the Players Championship.
This tournament has been a staple on the schedule since 1974 and has been at the Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass since 1982.
The Stadium Course is a Pete Dye design most famous for its par-3 17th island green hole. It’s also known for its visually intimidating and blind shots demanded of golfers throughout all 18 holes.
The venue is far from a bomber’s paradise playing to a par 72 at 7,245 yards. There are spots where the length can be an asset, but it’s very much a tactician’s golf course and one where patience is needed.
Three of the par-3s are under 185 yards and one stretches to 237, basically the opposite of last week’s Arnold Palmer Invitational with three 220-plus yarders. Four par-4s are under 400 yards and four are above 460. Three par-5s are under 560 yards.
There’s a good variety of types of holes with doglegs aplenty.
Having course history is important to play well at TPC Sawgrass, but at the same time, there aren’t a ton of horses for courses at this event. If a player is in form and knows his way around the course, he’ll be rewarded. If he’s hitting wayward shots or not managing his game well, things can go awry.
The fairways are composed of Celebration Bermuda grass overseeded with ryegrass. The overseed makes the course more lush and makes the fairways a little slower. The greens are TifEagle Bermuda overseeded with poa trivialis and velvet bentgrass. Players this week should be used to Bermuda having seen it the last two weeks in Florida.
The Players Championship was held in March until 2007 when it was moved to May. It moved back to March in 2019.
Everyone in the top 10 in the Official World Golf Rankings is in the field this week as well as 48 of the top 50.
Notable absences due to injury include No. 12 Brooks Koepka, No. 20 Matthew Wolff, and No. 57 Tiger Woods.
The week’s weather forecast projects dome-like conditions with temperatures in the 60s to low 70s and little to no rain. Winds are forecasted in the low single digits miles per hour.
I’m expecting low scores, even if green speeds are dialed up. Players were going low last year in round one before the tournament was canceled. Hideki Matsuyama’s unofficial 63 tied the course record.
There is a field of 156 for this event with the standard top 65 and ties making the 36-hole cut. The $15 million purse is the largest in golf.
Let’s dive into the top 10 players to take a big share of all that cash.