The “Fifth Major” will commence Thursday at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra, FL. with the best in world sans Brooks Koepka, Tiger Woods, Matthew Wolff and Danny Willett. Koepka, Eldrick and Wolff are out with injury. Willett came down with COVID this week.

Quite a field on display in this all time great tournament on tour. Outside the 4 majors, this is the tournament all the players want to win, and maybe more than majors these days because with a $15M purse and $2.7M winner’s share, these guys would really “feed their families” with a first place paycheck. So quite a lot to play for this weekend. And not to be undervalued, the legacy you establish with a victory at the Players.

Rory is the defending champion from 2019. The tournament was played on Thursday of 2020 before the pandemic canceled everything in sports the night before and Thursday. It’s been a long year, but there is ensuing light at the end of the tunnel. Golf has been cooking along for a while now and this event is spectacular sports viewing. With the SEC and major basketball conference tournaments this weekend, along with mid major tourneys and the Players, it’ll be hard to leave the couch. Will exercise before landing on the couch though.

Last week’s winner at the Arnie was DeChambeau. He drilled some bombs and putted exceedingly well. I hope the power lifting regimen that he’s employed does not permeate through golf going forward, but he’s turned some heads. But, as usual with DeChambeau, there was some controversy in his victory that hasn’t been talked about much.

At -11 and with a 1 shot lead over 47 year old Englishman Lee Westwood and Corey Conners, who faded on the last 2 holes, DeChambeau drove his ball on the par 5 16th into the lip of the bunker. He just had to blast his second shot out of the trap about 30 yards. His third shot landed over the green and was against the fringe, which would have given him a very difficult birdie putt. He wouldn’t have been able to get a solid stroke on the 40 footer as the fringe would have impeded his backswing and there was a good chance he’d bogey and be tied with Westwood. But in typical DeChambeau fashion, he called over a PGA Tour rules official and pleaded his case to be able to take relief and get a drop from his position as he said there was a sprinkler head in his putting line. The official looked at it and granted DeChambeau relief. Roger Maltbie, the veteran course reporter for NBC, was at the hole and was shocked and kind of incensed that DeChambeau got relief. Fans watching tweeted out the next day that there was no reason he should have gotten relief and that he was the one of the most hated players on tour because of things like this.

Two things are wrong here, DeChambeau’s integrity, which is always a question mark, and the PGA’s lack of an ability to stand up to these players bending the rules and not allow it. DeChambeau and Patrick Reed are the key guys in this challenging the rules to their benefit. I don’t want these guys leading the tour. The PGA needs to get some toughness about them and not let these guys get away with it because Reed won the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines in January bending a rule, and DeChambeau got to move his ball and make par and won by a shot over Westwood at the Arnie last week. Somebody has got to show integrity on this tour and not allow this kind of behavior. It’s unacceptable. Golf is a game of sportsmanship and honor. That’s the way Jack Nicklaus, Arnie, Ben Hogan, Byron Nelson and actually a lot of the guys today play it. I’ve seen 23 year old Viktor Hovland follow the rules to the letter of the law and not getting relief when he shouldn’t get it and having to pay the price on the scorecard. But that’s the way it’s done and has always been done. A lot of the players are doing it the right way. DeChambeau and Reed don’t need to be exceptions. The PGA needs to show some mental toughness here and penalize players who aren’t following the rules and not enable them to skirt around the rules so they can win. That’s not how golf is meant to be played. The winner wins by playing the best golf and playing BY the rules. There should be no gray area there and the PGA is allowing there to be some. That should never happen. Hope the PGA can get their act together and toughen up so these kind of maneuvers that Reed and DeChambeau pull off won’t be allowed.

TPC Sawgrass is 7,189 yards and a par 72.

The 12th hole is a 298 yard par 4 with a high risk-reward challenge. Players who try to drive the green will face a water hazard surrounding the entire left side of the green. There is a large fairway bunker on the left side as well. So should lead to some drama all 4 days, particularly on Sunday.

The 16th hole is a par 5, 520 yard hole which gives the players a good chance to reach the green in 2. There is trouble on the right with a lake guarding that side and mounds and trees on the left . An eagle or a birdie would be a tremendous asset on Sunday for a leader or contender heading into the next hole, which is a make or break hole on Sunday.

The 17th, the Island Hole, is one of the most famous holes in golf, if not the most famous and treacherous. It’s a 136 yard, par 3, that has water on all sides and in front and back like a true island would. There is a bunker on the front right side. Club selection is critical as wind will always be a factor. The weather is sunny this week and no rain with winds anywhere from 8 to 11. So always a factor on this knee shaking, nerve wrecking hole. The dramatics will be at a peak on Sunday on 17.

The 18th has always been one of the most underrated holes in golf and one of my personal favorites to watch. It’s a 445 yard, par 4. There is water running down the entire left side and rough and trees on the right. Accuracy, with the pressure on, on Sunday, is job number one. After a birdie on 17, a par on 18 may do it for the winner.

The primary rough is 2 1/2 inches and the TifEagle Bermuda Greens are stimping at 13. Quick.

Odds

Dustin Johnson, +1200. With my minor betting knowledge that means you bet $100 and you get back $120. Dustin is the favorite as he usually is.

Jon Rahm, Rory and DeChambeau are all at +1600

Justin Thomas, Xander Schauffele and Viktor Hovland are at +1800

Collin Morikawa, Webb Simpson and Patrick Cantlay are at +2000

Tony Finau and Jordan Spieth, who has been trending well lately, are at +2500

Reed, HIdeki Matsuyama and Tyrrell Hatton are at +3300

Daniel Berger is at +4000, Tommy Fleetwood is at +4500, and Jason Day, who won here in 2016, along with Joaquin Niemann and Scottie Scheffler are at +5000.

No player has Ever won the tournament in back to back years. Since 2000, more than half of the winners have been international, including 4 of the last 6. Martin Kaymer won in 2014, Jason Day in 2016, Si Woo Kim, at 21 years old, won in 2017, and Rory won in 2019. American Rickie Fowler won in 2015 and fellow countryman Webb Simpson won in 2018.

Television

Thursday-Friday, 11 AM-5 PM CT, Golf Channel. Saturday-Sunday, 12-5 PM CT, NBC.

Winner

With how well the Internationals have done at TPC Sawgrass, I’m going to take the 43 year old from Gloucestershire, England. He’s finished tied 5th at the AT&T Pebble Beach, T-8th at the American Express and T-10th last week at the Arnie this year. He also won on the European Tour at the Omega Dubai Desert Classic in January defeating a pretty solid field. Sometimes, like Si Woo Kim, K.J. Choi, in 2011 and Tim Clark, in 2010, guys who aren’t the marquee names come out of nowhere and win this tournament. I see that happening this year. While all the big guns, for the most part, will be competing, give me the +5500 Brit by way of Arizona State.

Paul Casey