The Players Championship 10-13 May 2018
Jason Day - the 2016 Players Champion: "With his final putt at the 2016 Players Championship, winner Jason Day set off a chain of events that has literally reshaped the landscape of the famed Players Stadium course at TPC Sawgrass. For, less than 24 hours later the iconic course began undergoing a massive renovation... a transformation that promises to live up to and honour its unique beginnings." [Ref Video below.]
The Players Championship has been held since 1974. The field consists of 144 players and usually includes the top 50 in World Rankings. While not a major as such, some at least regard it as of equal value. Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas have both recently described it as such, and more:
"I think it is the best golf in all of golf. If you win here, you can win anywhere else." - Spieth.
"..it’s no disrespect to the other events, but this is our championship, this is The Players Championship." - Thomas.
The Players is held at the TPC Sawgrass Players Stadium Course at Ponte Vedra Beach in Florida. Sawgrass has hosted the tournament annually since 1982. A compilation of top shots at the legendary par-3 17th is seen in the first video below.
This year's defending champion is also the youngest golfer to ever win the event. In May 2017, 21 year old Kim Si-woo from South Korea fended off Ian Poulter and Louis Oosthuizen to win by three strokes with 10-under par 278. If he were to win again in 2018 he would make history, for in 44 seasons of the Players no defending champion has ever won back-to-back. Jack Nicklaus won three of the first five events but in alternate years.
As well as Day, five other Aussies are at the 2018 Players: Adam Scott, who won here in 2004, Marc Leishman, Geoff Ogilvy, Rod Pampling and Cameron Smith.
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