Golf Glance: Red-hot Scottie Scheffler defends at The Players
(Photo credit: Reinhold Matay-USA TODAY Sports) Field Level Media’s Golf Glance provides weekly news and storylines from each of the major North American golf tours. PGA TOUR LAST TOURNAMENT: Arnold Palmer Invitational (Scottie Scheffler); Puerto Rico Open (Brice Garnett) THIS WEEK: The Players Championship, Orlando, March 14-17 Course: TPCSawgrass (Par 72, 7,275 yards) Purse: $25M (Winner: $4.5M) Defending Champion: Scheffler FedEx Cup Leader: Scheffler HOW TO FOLLOW TV: Thursday-Friday, 1-7 p.m. ET (Golf Channel); Saturday, 2-7 p.m. (NBC); Sunday, 1-6 p.m. (NBC) Streaming (ESPN): Thursday-Friday, 7:30 a.m.-7 p.m. ET; Saturday, 8 a.m.-7 p.m.; Sunday, 7:30 a.m.-6 p.m. X: @ThePlayers NOTES: This is the 50th playing of the event, which began in 1974, and the 42nd edition at TPC Sawgrass, which became the venue in 1982. ... Scheffler is the first defending champion to arrive at The Players ranked No. 1 in the world since Rory McIlroy in 2020. McIlroy won in 2019 and the event was ultimately cancelled the following year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. ... There are 22 players in the field making their event debuts this week, including Sweden’s 10th-ranked Ludvig Aberg and Nick Dunlap, who turned pro after winning the American Express in January. ... Tiger Woods, the 2001 and 2013 champion, is not in the field. ... Each of the past four winners of The Players entered the week ranked in the top-10 of the Official World Golf Ranking. ... The three hole-in-ones at the signature 17th hole last year marked the first time there were multiple aces on that hole. ... LIV Golf CEO Greg Norman holds the tournament scoring record of 24-under 264 set in 1994. BEST BETS: Scottie Scheffler (650 at BetMGM) is coming off a five-shot victory at Bay Hill, and also won The Players by five shots last year. His seven PGA Tour wins since 2021-22 are the most of anyone during that span. ... Rory McIlroy (1500) missed the cut last year and has an average finish of 34th over his past four appearances. However, he did win in 2019 and was in contention last week until a 76 on Sunday. ... Justin Thomas (2300) finished T12 at Bay Hill after going 72-73 over the weekend. The 2021 Players champion has only one finish worse than T12 in his past nine worldwide starts. ... Wyndham Clark (3400) is a career-best fifth in the world rankings following his runner-up last week. The defending U.S. Open champion also won at Pebble Beach last month. ... Shane Lowry (3400) has finished T4 and third the past two weeks. ... Tom Hoge (7100) set the course record with a third-round 62 en route to finishing T3 last year. NEXT TOURNAMENT: Valspar Championship, Palm Harbor, Fla., March 21-24 LPGA Tour LAST TOURNAMENT: Blue Bay LPGA (Bailey Tardy) THIS WEEK: OFF Race to the CME Globe leader: Lydia Ko NEXT TOURNAMENT: Fir Hills Seri Pak Championship, Palos Verses Estates, Calif., March 21-24 PGA Tour Champions LAST TOURNAMENT: Cologuard Classic (Joe Durant) THIS WEEK: OFF Charles Schwab Cup leader: Steven Alker NEXT TOURNAMENT: Hoag Classic, Newport Beach, Calif., March 22-24 LIV Golf League LAST TOURNAMENT: Hong Kong (Individual: Abraham Ancer; Team: Crushers GC) THIS WEEK: OFF 2024 Leaders: Players, Juaquin Niemann; Team, Crushers GC NEXT TOURNAMENT: Miami, April 5-7 --Field Level Media