2022 Players Championship: Top 10 power rankings at TPC Sawgrass

Last year’s Players Champion is back to defend his title.

Justin Thomas fired 71-71-64-68 to win by one over Lee Westwood. His 12-under 132 on the weekend was a Players Championship record, even while losing more than two strokes to the field putting on Sunday.

JT led in strokes gained tee to green for the week (12.873). He was also fifth in SG approach (6.404) and gained more than two strokes on Sunday to offset an average putting week, which ranked 42nd (1.632).

“…this place rewards good golf and penalizes bad golf,” Thomas was transcribed by ASAP Sports in 2020. “…it depends on the weather and you can get some cold, windy and some firm weeks in March, but some of my high numbers have been in May mostly. When it gets firm like that, it puts even more of a premium on hitting the fairway, and those days where I had some high numbers, I was not playing well, and I didn’t really have any control of my ball versus when I was playing well. If you get the ball in the fairway you have a lot of wedges and 9-irons into these greens, and I feel like that’s a strength of my game.”

Thomas has made the cut in all six Players starts. He finished T-3rd (70-68-75-65) in 2016 and has four top-25s highlighted by the 2021 win.

He comes off of a couple weeks of rest following a solo sixth-place finish at the Genesis Invitational. That was his fifth top-10 in the last six starts, 12th straight top-30, and 10th straight made cut.

Even if he and his backers are frustrated with zero wins since his triumph in Ponte Vedra Beach, the consistency that once vaulted him to world No. 1 isn’t far off that pace.

The 28-year-old ranks seventh on the PGA Tour this season in total SG (1.644). Normally a reliable putter, his flat stick has him outside the top 100 currently. Fortunately, he’s top 30 in the other SG categories, so if he starts rolling more in, watch out.