PONTE VEDRA BEACH, FLORIDA | This is where the Players Championship belongs on the golf calendar.
Mid-March, smack dab in the middle of a changing season when the weather is a part of the storyline, just the way Pete and Alice Dye imagined it when they dug the Stadium Course out of the muck here all those years ago.
The Players Championship was good in May when the muggy heat brought out the shorts, the sandals and the sundresses but, at least in my mind, it always looked and played better in March.
A proper thunderstorm doused the place Monday night and brought with it wind, mud balls and a fresh conversation, not to mention players taking advantage of the new shorts-allowed in practice rounds rule while wearing pullovers up top.
How is the Players in March different?
In his Tuesday morning practice round, Tiger Woods hit 3-wood, 3-iron into the 18th green, with the wind coming from the northwest rather than southwest which turned the hole into a hybrid-short iron finisher in May.
Jason Day isn’t going to win hitting 2-irons off seemingly every tee like he did when he won three years ago.
Power has never been the first quality demanded by the Stadium Course and it still isn’t. Positioning is critical. Miss a fairway and pay a price.
It’s a head game as much as a shot-making game here.
Some critics will argue the Stadium Course is too contrived, too severe, too everything. But try to figure out a pattern to who wins here. There isn’t one.
Unless you just turned the golf season on this week, it’s been abundantly clear that the new/old date for the Players Championship has rebranded the tournament as the kickoff to a five-month run of the biggest events, six months if you generously count the FedEx Cup playoffs.
Just to be clear, the Players Championship is not a major and it’s not going to become one. That’s not a slap at the Players but a nod to what the Masters, PGA Championship, U.S. Open and Open Championship are.
The Players owns a unique spot in championship golf, an event that stands alone. Played on what may be the most instantly recognizable course this side of Augusta National, it has a colorful history, a captivating stage and a weighty gravitas, not to mention the never-ending loop of Jerry Pate diving into the water after winning and taking commissioner Deane Beman with him.
Ask someone who doesn’t watch golf what they know about the PGA Tour, chances are they’ll tell you Tiger Woods and the 17th hole at the Stadium Course here. It’s theater that Lin Manuel-Miranda can admire.
Some critics will argue the Stadium Course is too contrived, too severe, too everything. But try to figure out a pattern to who wins here. There isn’t one.
While the world continues to change, it’s nice to see something going back to the way it used to be.
Better than most, you might say.
CHIP SHOTS
• Tiger Woods has begun working with putting coach Matt Killen, validation of his frustration with his work on the greens this season.
Woods had six three-putts in the Genesis Open followed by five three-putts and a four-putt in the WGC-Mexico Championship.
The 31-year old Killen has worked with Justin Thomas, J.B. Holmes and others, even caddying for Thomas in one event earlier this year.
“I had been feeling that my stroke has been off, but a lot of it is physically. I’m having a hard time getting into the different postures,” Woods said. “As my body’s felt better, my stroke has come back a little bit, but also I wanted to see where was I off, what did he see.”
Asked Tuesday whether he was more concerned about the sore neck that sidelined him last week or his putting stroke, Woods said, “Neither. I feel good on both.”
If nothing goes haywire, Woods indicated he will play the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play event in Austin in two weeks, what would be his final pre-Masters start.
• It’s hard not to get the feeling it was a “Phil being Phil” thing when he suggested he might bypass the Players Championship.
It’s true, he has a lousy record in this event, missing the cut nine times and somehow winning once, a victory he still says baffles him.
With Mickelson, there is no middle ground with his game. When he’s on, he’s still brilliant but when he’s off, everything seems to go sideways. Skipping the Players would have been a bad look for Mickelson.
THOUGHT OF THE DAY
Would you rather have Dustin Johnson, Justin Thomas, Bryson DeChambeau and Justin Rose or the field at the Masters next month?