Johnny, No SubAir References At The Players, Please

This story from Garry Smits is probably only of interest to the maintenance world...but they have a new air sucker and hot blast blower system at the TPC Sawgrass. Actually, it's been in place a while but only now is fully converted to Precision Air.

TPC Sawgrass superintendent Tom Vlach said the maximum temperature of the warm air is 140 degrees, and he can blow cool air on the greens as low as 50 degrees. Precision Air has already been installed under 12 greens at the Stadium Course and will be put under the final six (Nos. 6, 7, 8, 11, 12 and 13) within the next few weeks.

The delay for those holes was because electrical wiring for power had to be strung out to their remote locations on the golf course. The Precision Air system is using the same infrastructure as the Sub Air and is about 1 feet beneath the putting surface.

None of the greens had to be dug up to install the components.

Bob Dickson Records Ace, Double Eagle On TPC Sawgrass Front Nine!

The former U.S. and British Amateur champion and winner on the PGA Tour also shot his age during the round, and did it all with an old Titleist Tour Distance ball he found in the rough a week before.

Garry Smits with all the terrific details.

Quick 2011 Players Roundup

Cameron Morfit suggests that K.J. Choi is a horse for tough courses.

"He plays good, focused golf on tough courses," said Andy Prodger, Choi's caddie for a dozen worldwide victories. "I put it in his head that he was going to win this week because he's been playing very well."

Coming into the Players Championship, where his best result was a tie for 16th place in 2006, Choi had tied for third in New Orleans, tied for eighth at the Masters and tied for sixth at Bay Hill. Said Steve Bann, his Australian swing coach for the last six years, "A win was coming."

Bob Harig focuses on David Toms' decision to go for No. 16 in two. Ironic since Toms famously laid up on a par-4 in his most famous win, the 2002 PGA.

Toms had 233 yards to the front of the par-5 16th green, the one that has a pond to the right of the putting surface. It is a birdie hole, and at worst Toms should have made par.

"When he got up to me, he said, 'Do you like 2-hybrid?'" Gneiser recalled. "I said, 'I like it.' With a 1-shot lead, I'm thinking just get it left of the green, chip it down. And if K.J. doesn't make birdie we've got a 2-shot lead."

But Toms did not catch it solid, the ball drifting to the right and into the water. Instead of a possible birdie, it led to a bogey. Instead of a 1- or 2-shot lead, Toms and Choi were tied.

"And now I'm second-guessing myself," Gneiser said.

Toms put it on himself.

I was standing behind 16 green and just assumed he would lay up because of the hanging lie, which never really shows up very well on television. And when he took a full swing, well...it was a shocker.

Jason Sobel on "Chois Boys," the gang that has been following KJ around for six years and who made their presence felt all week with their shirts and cheers.

When they returned this year, the group came outfitted in black t-shirts with its lyrical name printed on front. They wore ‘em every day, following their new favorite player all over the course, ignoring all social mores about cheering loudly for a non-superstar and keeping hygiene issues to a minimum.

“We’re probably a little rank,” Page admitted after four days in his shirt. “We’ve been wearing these since Thursday.”

Gene Wojciechowski wasn't too inspired by the "Champions Tour Lite" Players.

This is the supposed "fifth major," but the guy who won it hasn't cashed a tour victory check since the 2008 Sony Open. The guy he beat, David Toms, hasn't won on tour since the 2006 Sony. And the guy who finished third, Paul Goydos, hasn't won since the 2007 Sony.

PlayStations for everybody!

Choi turns 41 this Thursday. Toms is 44. Goydos is 46. It was like the Champions Tour Lite.

In fact, Toms actually mentioned that a win here Sunday would have given him a five-year exemption on the big boy tour -- almost long enough, he said half-kiddingly, to get him to age 50 and the Champions Tour.

David Whitley, on the other hand, kind of liked it

It’s understandable that golf wants to push fresh, young faces. But being a geezer myself, it was heartening to see guys born during the Johnson Administration show they still have it.
Toms hadn’t won a tournament since the 2006 Sony Open. Oddly enough, Choi’s last win was the 2008 Sony Open. Goydos’ last win was the 2007 Sony Open.

By far the biggest win among them was Toms’ 2001 PGA Championship. His interest in golf waned until his son started playing. Carter Toms thinks like a 13-year-old golfer.

“He’s watching Rickie Fowler and all those young guys,” his dad said. “And dressing like them.”
It’s okay to dress like them, but Carter should still watch how his dad operates. Especially on an exacting course like Sawgrass, where guile and experience count as much as talent as swagger.

Turtle Pike Dive, 2011 Players!

Rory McIlroy Tweeted the NBC turtle dive video from today's Players, hopefully we'll get higher quality version from the PGA Tour. Besides being great fun to watch, it's a nice reminder of what an amazing wildlife course this is. Even with the blue dye in the ponds, it's generally a sign of a healthy golf course and sensitive maintenance practices when you have so many birds, reptiles and other critters around.

Update on 2011-05-15 03:46 by Geoff

**Here's the PGATour.com version.

And another version with Jean Van de Velde commentating courtesy of reader Aleid!

2011 Players, Third Round Open Thread

I'll be on the course most of the day but would love to know what you are seeing.

Also, first Johnny reference to "grain" in the greens should be noted.

Your Players coverage times:

12-7 ET Live@ coverage at PGATour.com

PGA Tour Network Sirius/XM 12-7 ET

NBC 2-7 ET

"Besides, there is nothing wrong with being the most important event in the world that is not a major."

Greetings from Ponte Vedra, home to the fifth of four majors one of the four best events on the globe!

That's right, the tournament kicking off Thursday is a better event than the PGA Championship. My reasoning:

-Better course than anything PGA has played in years or will play.

-Better weather (barely...)

-Better television presentation (this one's not even close...and that's not a statement about CBS v. NBC, that's a statement about the PGA becoming a preview show for the CBS fall television schedule while The Players limits commercial time and gulp, delivers value to sponsors PWC and Jeld-Wen).

-Better course setup. The PGA's Kerry Haigh does an outstanding job most of the time, but has also made a few odd moves and is stretched thin handling other duties. The PGA Tour wins on consistency at a course that is not easy to set up. (Though the TPC Sawgrass would be way better with no rough...more on that in a moment).

Geoff Ogilvy wrote about his mixed feelings for The Players and touched on the magnitude of the event.

Besides, there is nothing wrong with being the most important event in the world that is not a major. I certainly can't think of one that is more important than the Players, whether Lee and Rory turn up or not. It's certainly a bigger deal than the World Golf Championships. In fact -- although the last thing golf needs is another major in the U.S. -- if we were starting over tomorrow, the Players, as the biggest event on the world's biggest tour, would surely be a major.

Though I never experienced the event in person in March, most feel the tour needs to shift away from the May date now that the NCAA has moved games to night and more fans were around in March. Personally, I like where The Players sits on the schedule now and hope they stick to their guns, but I'm definitely in the minority on this one. John Feinstein, courtesy of reader Lee:

Okay, here’s why May is a bad idea. First, the weather is almost always hot and humid in north Florida in May and that’s the weather report for this week. The crowds last year looked sparse compared with the old days in March when snowbirds were still around and others came down to combine spring training trips with a couple days of watching golf.

But the March date was better. Sure, it rained sometimes, but overall it was cooler and more comfortable for everyone. It fit right in at the end of the Florida Swing on Tour. Maybe it was a warm-up for the Masters but now, well, it’s an early warm-up for the U.S. Open. The always politically correct Phil Mickelson slipped for a second Sunday afternoon on TV when he said he was trying to make progress, “going forward towards the Open,” before catching himself and saying, “and of course The Players next week.”

More and more of the NCAA basketball tournament is played at night these days so there is less TV competition from basketball and in May there are still the NBA playoffs to deal with; baseball in full swing and good weather in most of the country that has people outdoors on the weekend.
The Players should move back to March. It still won’t be a major but it will be a better golf tournament. That should matter.

May only quibble with this event is one key element to the golf course: the rough. Adam Scott made these comments to Doug Ferguson:

"In my personal opinion, I don't think they've got the setup quite right yet for the May date," said Adam Scott, who won The Players in 2004 when it was in March. "With the different grass, I'd like to see them set it up a little differently. I'd like to see the rough cut down a lot more with the different grass here, get the ball running through. And we could do away with the thick rough."

Here's why the Bermuda grass rough stinks: (A) it keeps errant balls in play, as Scott notes and (B) the rough strips the course of much needed aesthetic punch that it once had (think Pinehurst #2 restoration).

Either way, The Players is here. I'll be out on the course quite a bit and will try to do my best to issue some reports, but with the PGA Tour clamping down on any kind of photo or video sharing, I'll be limited in what I can share!  Enjoy! 

Tee Times.

Leaderboard.

Media, PGA Tour VP's To Spend Friday Morning Hitting Browser Refresh Button

The anticipation builds as the future of The Players hinges on whether the ailing former world No. 1 will enter next week's event.

Rory Riffs On Tiger; Where Was Chubby's Red Pen?

Okay, we're not in Stephen Ames territory quite yet, but you do have to wonder what Rory McIlroy thinks there is to gain from these comments about Tiger in a self-bylined golf.com item that appears in this week's SI Golf Plus special issue.

I wasn't playing against Tiger Woods when he had that aura. I was watching on TV! I remember getting nervous when I first met him. I was 15. There was a presence about him. There still is to some extent, but when you're on the golf course you simply block it out. But Tiger is not playing as well as he was even a couple of years ago, never mind going back to the late 1990s and early 2000s, when he was at his best. I'm not sure we are going to see him dominate again the way he did. He never seemed like he would make a mistake.

Okay, that was edgy but at least that's the...oh there's more.

It's not that he's playing badly. He's simply playing badly by Tiger's standards. He's playing like an ordinary golfer. People expect more of him because of what he has achieved. As much as I would love to have the success that Tiger has had on the golf course, I wouldn't want to live his life. He has made the same mistakes as any footballer, or NBA or NFL player. Tiger is obviously different from the rest of us because he is a bit of a rock star. But he can't really take his kids to the cinema. It's a tough life because of what he has done and what he represents, being the first African-American golfer to break down the barriers.

Why didn't Rory's ten-percenter, Chubby Chandler, turn into Ben Bradlee on this one? Or do they just not ever anticipate having to face Tiger in contention anymore and enjoy beating the lad while he's down?

Or...maybe this was just a ploy to bury the real lede: Rory writing that The Players has lost its luster moving to May!