Coming off a thrilling conclusion to the Arnold Palmer Invitational that saw Russell Henley run down Collin Morikawa, the PGA Tour makes its way to TPC Sawgrass this week for the 51st edition of its flagship event, The Players Championship.
Long viewed as the unofficial fifth major championship, The Players stands as an extremely tough test for all who step up to the tee at Pete Dye's famed Stadium Course.
The biggest storyline of this year's edition, of course, will be Scottie Scheffler looking to become the first player to three-peat at The Players, just one year after becoming the first player to successfully defend his title.
The key skills for Sawgrass are keeping the ball in the fairway off the tee and being strong in your approach play.
The Stadium Course is very much a second-shot track, and if you can keep yourself in the right spots going into the Bermuda greens, then you should be able to find success here. For reference, Scheffler was first in strokes gained off the tee and seventh in approach at last year's event).
We were so close to pulling off the double win this week, but, as mentioned, Morikawa couldn't quite hang on at Bay Hill.
Still, we did nail Puerto Rico, with Karl Vilips earning his first career victory on the PGA Tour, which marks the first-ever victory for a Sun Day Red athlete, by the way.
The picks for Bay Hill were a bit more of a mixed bag than prior weeks, especially with some big time wind rolling through the first couple of days of the event. However, now that we're back in the winner's circle, let's keep the momentum rolling as we get set for The Players Championship.
Honorable Mentions: Keegan Bradley, Wyndham Clark, Doug Ghim, Russell Henley
9. Xander Schauffele
This spot probably should've gone to Henley, given how solid he looked down the stretch at Bay Hill to track down Morikawa.
Even though I said last week to fade Xander at TPC Sawgrass, he's still deserving of a spot on the list because he's still Xander Schauffele.
Xander has twice tied for second at The Players during his career, and it's possible that this week could be the next breakthrough for Schauffele after getting the major monkey off his back a season ago.
I'm not the most convinced myself this week, but maybe Xander's bounce-back from his injury takes less time than Scheffler's.
8. Shane Lowry
Coming off of a strong seventh-place finish at Bay Hill, Lowry has been somewhat successful at The Players in the past, posting an eighth-place finish in 2021 and acing the famed 17th a year later.
His skill profile of being very accurate off the tee (63% of fairways hit, well above Tour average) and being a talented approach player (top 25 on Tour in strokes gained approach) matches up very well with Sawgrass.
7. Hideki Matsuyama
Hideki Matsuyama's form has cooled off a little bit since his season-opening victory at The Sentry in Hawaii, but he's returning to a course he clearly loves to play, posting eight top-25 finishes in 10 full starts.
That does not include the 2020 event, where he took the 18-hole lead with a blistering 9-under 63 before the tourney was canceled due to COVID-19.
Matsuyama has the right mentality for playing the big events, consistently finding himself in the top 25 of majors. Hideki has some unfinished business at Sawgrass and seems ready to take care of it this week.
6. Sepp Straka
Current FedEx Cup points leader Sepp Straka has had a fantastic start to the 2025 season.
With six top-20 finishes thus far, Straka has taken his game to the next level, where he's much more of a consistent commodity out on Tour.
His game travels across course styles and grass types and looks the best it has been since joining the pro ranks. As such, he should be able to keep riding his hot hand this week.
5. Tommy Fleetwood
Should the modern-day Colin Montgomerie actually be this high in the rankings? Probably not.
We can probably spell out the script of Tommy Fleetwood's week at Sawgrass right now. He'll have a good start, fade below the field average on Friday or Saturday, and bounce back for a non-competitive T18 or something on Sunday.
At the same time, Fleetwood is just such a good golfer, and he should be able to put one of these tournaments away once and for all. Forever a conundrum, the world's 10th-ranked player could win The Players or miss the cut, and neither result would surprise me that much. He just needs to be on the list.
4. Scottie Scheffler
All of our expectations for Scottie Scheffler have been thrown completely out of whack.
He can say he's fully back all he wants, but it's clear that the approach play and the putting is still not at the level it was in 2024. Scheffler is human, and we need to treat him as such moving forward.
At the same time, he is still one of the most talented golfers on the planet, even while he's still finding his game again. He's shown the ability to lock in at big events and rise to the occasion, and we may see a Scottie this week we haven't yet seen at all in 2025.
3. Ludvig Åberg
The thing that scares me a bit about Ludvig Åberg at The Players this week is that the weather seems to be showing the wind really kicking up in Ponte Vedra Beach. And those who watched the Arnold Palmer Invitational saw the wind around Bay Hill get the better of him.
He does have some dome-golfer tendencies, but until we get a full lousy stretch of golf from Åberg, then I'm not going to take him out of the rankings. He finished eighth in his Players debut last year, and I don't see any reason why he should regress this year.
2. Collin Morikawa
Collin Morikawa really needs to figure out his putting.
Coming down the back nine at Bay Hill this past weekend, it felt like he was giving up on every other putt he hit the moment the ball left the face. Maybe he needs to switch back to a mallet putter, but we're in this moment where it feels kind of crazy that Morikawa has two career majors.
His iron play is still great, and he knows how to hit the fairway off the tee, which will play anywhere. If he can get the putter going, then he can actually be dangerous again.
1. Rory McIlroy
This Rory McIlroy guy is pretty good at golf.
The 2019 champion, McIlroy has been something of a mixed bag at Sawgrass, with each strong finish being countered by a missed cut.
Rory's T19 last year was the first sign of life at The Players since his win, and his play so far this season has shown that McIlroy is feeling dangerous again.
Maybe he's thinking about the big events again, and perhaps he's not caring about them at all. But whatever it is, it's working for Rory this year. Maybe his performance this week will be indicative of things to come the rest of the year.