Aussie wins Players at Sawgrass
On super slick greens that would have given most golfers heart failure, Australian Jason Day stormed to victory in the Players Championship on the Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass. It was his second wire-to-wire win this season and one that was richly rewarded. After rounding-off the tournament with a one-under par 71 to claim his 10th victory on the PGA Tour, the 28-year old World Number One picked up 1.8 million US dollars for winning the ‘unofficial 5th Major’ in Florida.
Round three created havoc for much of the field. The greens were apparently rolled, cut and rolled again on Saturday creating a putting surface of nightmare speed. More than 25% of the players three-putted that day and so move the ‘wrong direction’ on the leaderboard. Ken Duke was the exception. The 47-year old American rolled in birdie putt after birdie putt to card five birdies on the trot (holes 3-7) to head out in 30. His silky touch with the putter got him into 5th place at one point. And that was an impressive improvement on his 130-something position at the end of day one. Duke kept his putter warm and went on to shoot a 7-under par 65 on Saturday and then, rather surprisingly, became one of Jason Day’s biggest challengers in the final round.
Yet it wasn’t all plain sailing for the Aussie, who had led from day one after a record-equalling round of 63. Day got off to a dodgy start on Sunday. He admitted afterwards that he was the most nervous he had ever been before a tournament. After the ninth though he settled down and by the 12th hole he had regained his 4-stroke lead. The player from Beaudesert in Queensland then breezed down the final stretch to win by four shots. His score of 273 (63-66-73-71) was three better than Rickie Fowler’s last year. With this victory in the Players Championship, the World Number One has now won seven of his last 17 PGA Tour events. Now that’s pretty impressive!
All I’m wondering now is which golf club Jason Day will choose from his winning set to donate to the clubhouse collection at TPC Sawgrass…? It’s a lovely tradition started by the great Jack Nicklaus when he won the first Players Championship in 1974.
Wendy Hoad
MORE PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP SCORES: 2nd. Kevin Chappell (277); T3rd. Justin Thomas, Matt Kuchar, Colt Knost, Ken Duke (278). By the way, Knost also equalled the course record of 63 in the second round.
THE CUT came at 142 (2-under par). Among the 16 players to miss the cut by one were defending champion Rickie Fowler, Phil Mickelson, Jordan Spieth and Danny Willett.
NICE TO KNOW: The Players features arguably the best 144 golfers on the planet. Great players all hungry for a slice of the 10.5 million dollar prizemoney – the biggest purse in golf on all the Tours. The tournament was originally hosted in Atlanta before settling at TPC Sawgrass, near Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida in 1982. Built on 415 acres of swampland, the course is the flagship of and owned by the PGA Tour. It’s on the Stadium Course with its lovely contours for easy viewing by the fans and with the famous (and entertaining) island green at the par-3, 17th hole that the event now takes place in May each year.
PICTURED: Jason Day putting for victory in the Players Championship.