The Players Championship The Players Championship is held at the TPC Sawgrass Stadium Course in Pont Vedra FL. The par 72 layout will play to 7,215 yards. This course is very demanding and target golf at its best. The greens will be fast at 12.5 on the stimpmeter. The rough is 2 3/4 inches thick but not as thick as in the past due to limited growing temperatures. There are 24 water hazards on this track and that is 2x for a normal PGA Tour event. Four of the last six winners led the field in greens in regulation.
Henrik Stenson is your defending champion who shot 276, -12 under par. His form this year is not good, but unfortunately the consensus matchup against him is vs. Geoff Ogilvy and we don't want our money on him either this week.
Last week we banked against Phil Mickelson performing well after leaving the Pro-
AM due to illness. Obviously this strategy did not work. What we were hoping for (and this has worked well in the past) is that he wants to show the public, his sponsors and the Tour he is being thoughtful and courageous, tees it up Thursday but withdraws with more sickness. And then the matchup is easy money.
This week we are back to the drawing board fading golfers for various reasons.
[B]Phil Mickelson -140 [/B]vs Tiger Woods
As I mentioned in a post Thusday night last week (and I watch all of the coverage every day/week of every PGA tournament) that Tiger IMO, never looked worse. His swing is loose. His timing is off. He is jabbing his putts and looks emotionaly and mentally drained. Tiger last week, shot the worst round of his professional career sans a howling day at Carnoustie.
In the press room on Tuesday he was asked to assess the state of his game, Woods said: "It's getting better no doubt. It couldn't get any worse."
In Tuesday's press conference he also said he is trying to find something. He played 9 holes and media following him said he put 5 balls in the water. He is just not sharp. But, I also believe the other distractions are a huge part of the poor play and perhaps a big divorce or settlement is killing his golf game. Who knows?
Phil on the other hand has a chance to claim the No.#1 player in the World Rankings from Tiger and I think he relishes this quite a bit. On top of that, he won the Masters and last week nearly won again at Quail Hollow.
Yes, we don't like going against Tiger, but at this point and time, it is a no brainer.
[B]Ernie Els -120 [/B]vs Rory McIlroy
Els has the tee to green game to win this tournament. He should be rested and ready with a week off.
Yes, Rors won last week. He shot the best round Sat and then backed it up with the best round Sunday. A very rare feat. I'm a huge fan of this Irish kid and IMO has one of the Top 5 swings in the game.
However, I'll give you three reasons why you can bet against him this week.
1. Rors just broke through and won his very first PGA Tour event LW. It is a major deal for anyone and players just do not follow that up at a young age. A cool million in the bank and a two year exemption will relax anyone.
2. Rors turned 21 on Tuesday. The young Irish lad said he will be putting back a few pints and then concentrating on his golf. Sure, OK, recall what you did when you turned 21.
3. He missed the cut here at TPC Sawgrass his first go-round last year, shot 74 and 77.
[B]Matt Kuchar -120 [/B]vs Adam Scott
Yes, Scott was a winner here in 2004. That was light years ago. Other than a T14 at the Shell Houston Open where he benefitted from a break in the tee times he has shown little. He missed the cut LW in Charlotte.
Kuch has four Top 10's this year. Scott has none. Kuch's Scoring Avg is 70.20 ranking 18th. Scott's Scoring Avg is 71.33 a full stroke more and ranks 96th.
