much like holding your finish after your swing feeling good about what you have done, may not translate into the result you were hoping for. dam i felt good about KISNER last week for him to get back into a groove, not the case. HAHN on the other hand seemed to be in the moment and just took care shot after shot much like he did at RIVIERA to close last year. CASTRO getting closer and closer in his pursuit of his 1st win. as for RICKIE, may have had a little spring break hangover creep into sundays round, think it was a good thing for RICKIE as he is in pursuit of MAJOR #1, leaning to it being at the PGA this year, mentioned a bunch last week in telecast that QUAIL HOLLOW will host 2017 PGA, did i mention RIVIERA, it hosted a PGA once a time ago.
enough of the MAJORs, this week its the PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP, golfs 5th major? you have the FEDEX CUP at the end being the "playoffs" the PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP to me is like an ALL STAR BREAK. got the best PGA players on tour that if you have made it this far into the year with decent finishes you have a chance to play this event, this event is a little restrictive so cant quite say its a MAJOR that lends itself to a wide range of participants that truly have a chance to win.
as far as the course itself, it truly separates the best from the rest. amazing how even the course plays and that you hear it from the players time and time again that it really doesnt favor any one player. the one thing i can say is a constant on this course is distance control, you really have to be dialed in with your swing and how far you are hitting it as far as who is doing that the best coming in, its impossible to really say well on this week it will translate into this week, thats where the talk of the PLAYERS being a 5th major takes argument, that to these players, it does have that added pressure late on SUNDAY, that like RICKIEs 2nd shot into 16 just barely carried the water and settled to 5ft for an eagle putt, that that kind of goes to show how in tune RICKIE was coming down the stretch with distance, let alone that shot but the 3 shots as well into 17 being almost within a 10ft circle of the flag.
more coincidental as most players late are more dialed in later in the tournament due to their better play than the average player, but call it what you want, you need to be dialed in with your swing this week on this course. the driver, long irons, short irons, and wedges, you need to be aware of that big miss or that bad area, and put together swings that can plod you along without major disaster.
course sounds like it will play into lower scores to start, seeing around -16, probably better, but as far the weekend goes, its up to the course superintendent, they will be changing the greens as soon as the players are done this week, TRUMP similarly did the same to DORAL ~3years back after the CADILLAC event, which saw those greens completely bake out on the final rd, while the changes were necessary it didnt really go over well with the players and some struggled on the final rd, generally the better ball strikers that week moved up more on the leaderboard at the end. this is a DYE course so a given that you need to be in control of your ball from tee to green.
going with OOSTHUIZEN to start, not real consistent in this event, had a t16 finish in 2013, t69 last year and 3 MC rest of appearances. has had a nice 2016 so far, ran into the buzz saw that was DAY at the MATCH PLAY semi final, not too surprisingly MC at SHELL the week after, so so week at a difficult MASTERS t15. hes certainly off to a much better start than last year, so it gives me hope on a somewhat light weather week that his tee to green game can stay solid enough for the week on this course.
THE PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP(0u)
70/1 L. OOSTHUIZEN(.5u) -- to win L (t28)
5/1 L. OOSTHUIZEN(.5u) -- top10 L
day(-120) / matsuyama(1u) -- 4th rd mu W (71 - 73)