PGA Tour
The Players Championship
TPC Sawgrass Stadium Course
Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida
Ah what a great tournament it was last week at the TPC Sawgrass Stadium Course and The Players Championship. You win some and you lose some. Most of our players to watch last week either finished far off the lead or missed the cut. That’s why they play the game.
The Players is considered by many as the “5th Major,” and the action was worthy of such a claim. Coming into this week the three biggest storylines of the event were the pairing of Jordan Spieth with Rory McIlory, and the fact that Tiger Woods was in the field. None of those storylines would be relevant. Spieth missed the cut. McIlory finished T8 and Woods finished tied for 69th with only one round under par (the 2nd round at -1). In fact, Woods had to birdie the tough 18th hole to finish under the cut line.
Recently a Sports Illustrated poll ranked Rickie Fowler and Ian Poulter as the most overrated players on the PGA Tour. That billboard material apparently didn’t set well with Fowler. On Sunday it appeared that Fowler was too far back to be a factor, but nobody told him. Fowler went six-under-par for the last six holes, including an eagle on the par-5 16th. The last two tough holes, the island 17th and long par-4 18th were birdie-birdie.
The hot finish put Fowler into a 3-way tie for first, putting him in a playoff with Sergio Garcia and Kevin Kisner. The playoff was fantastic. Starting on the par-5 16th it continued for four holes. Fowler finally ended the tournament when he made birdie on the par-3 17th island green, the fourth playoff hole.
Speaking of Garcia, the spaniard was treated poorly by the crowd, who heckled him even during putting. Shame shame.
Collecting a cool $1.8 million for the victory, it would seem that Rickie Fowler has silenced the critics. Overrated no more.
Next in line for Rickie is a major championship. Don’t count him out. He finished in the top-5 in all four majors in 2014.
