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The Players Championship: Examining Potential Champions in 2022

By Josh Chandler

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, FLORIDA - MARCH 07: A general view of the 17th hole during practice a round prior to THE PLAYERS Championship at the TPC Sawgrass Stadium course on March 07, 2022 in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. (Photo by Sam Greenwood/Getty Images)
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, FLORIDA - MARCH 07: A general view of the 17th hole during practice a round prior to THE PLAYERS Championship at the TPC Sawgrass Stadium course on March 07, 2022 in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. (Photo by Sam Greenwood/Getty Images) /
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The Players Championship, 2022 Players Championship, PGA, TPC Sawgrass
PACIFIC PALISADES, CALIFORNIA – FEBRUARY 20: Xander Schauffele of the United States stands on the eighth green during the final round of The Genesis Invitational at Riviera Country Club on February 20, 2022 in Pacific Palisades, California. (Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images) /

#7. Xander Schauffele

Case For: He always shows up in the big events and has one of the best overall games from tee to green on the planet. It is hard to go against a player that doesn’t seem to have a weakness, and that sums up Xander to a T…or..uh…X. He has recorded ten top 10 finishes in the biggest events since 2017 when including the majors and the PLAYERS, that is a pretty staggering number.

Case Against: One of those aforementioned top 10 finishes did come at the Players Championship back in 2018 when he finished runner-up to 2018 Players Champion Webb Simpson. Xander has made two appearances at TPC Sawgrass since then and has missed the cut in both starts. Schauffele has the Olympic gold medal, but he has yet to clear the hurdle at a major championship or Players Championship. That will prove to be a challenge until he is eventually able to accomplish that feat.

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Players Championship, Justin Thomas, 2022 Players Championship, PGA, TPC Sawgrass
PACIFIC PALISADES, CALIFORNIA – FEBRUARY 20: Justin Thomas of the United States reacts after making his putt on the 13th green during the final round of The Genesis Invitational at Riviera Country Club on February 20, 2022 in Pacific Palisades, California. (Photo by Michael Owens/Getty Images) /

#8. Justin Thomas

Case For: You must be doing something right when you haven’t lost strokes with your iron play since last July. That is the incredible statistic that last year’s Players Champion holds. Thomas will be aiming to become the first-ever repeat winner of the PLAYERS this week, and truth be told even before his win last year he had a very nice track record on a course that sets up well for the best ball strikers in the world. JT has recorded three top 5’s in three of his last six starts on tour with five of those six results including top 10 finishes, it would appear that his game is in pretty good shape heading into his title defense this week.

Case Against: When things are not going well for Thomas it is when he is driving the ball inaccurately and struggling with the putter. He ranked 104th out of196 on tour in putting in 2021 and it almost cost him at the Players Championship last year until he finally started rolling some putts in as he rounded the turn into the back nine on Sunday.

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