KakiGolf
THE CLUBHOUSE => Tour Talk & Golf News => Topic started by: KAKIGOLF on March 09, 2023, 02:02:20 PM
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( Photo Credit: David Yeazell-USA TODAY Sports | Reuters )
A star-studded field will contest a record $25 million prize purse at The Players Championship on Thursday.
The field includes a trio of stars who have already held the world No. 1 spot in 2023 – Rory McIlroy, Scottie Scheffler and Jon Rahm, who currently tops the rankings – but there will be one glaring absence at TPC Sawgrass for the PGA Tour’s flagship event.
Not in the field will be the LIV contingent, which includes last year's winner and Open champion Cameron Smith who will be absent from the 144-man field teeing it up at the "fifth major".
Five of last year’s top 10 at the event – Smith, Anirban Lahiri, Paul Casey, Harold Varner III and Dustin Johnson – have joined LIV Golf.
“Yes, it’s awkward, he was a deserved champion” PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan told reporters Tuesday when quizzed on the Australian world No.5’s absence.
“Would it be better if the defending champion was here this week? Absolutely,” McIlroy, champion in 2019, told reporters.
In the championship’s 49-year history, no player has ever successfully defended the title and with reigning champion Cameron Smith barred from competing due to his involvement in the LIV Golf Series, that run is guaranteed to tick over to half a century.
Claimed to be golf’s fifth major, ensuring a field packed with the best golfers has been a cornerstone of The Players Championship, yet six of the world’s top 50-ranked players – including Chilean duo Joaquin Niemann and Mito Pereira – will be absent for same reasons as Smith and co.
And as major champions in the previous five years, LIV Golf players Brooks Koepka, Bryson Dechambeau, Patrick Reed, and Phil Mickelson would all have been eligible to feature.
According to Pro Golf Weekly, the following 10 Players Championship records are owned by banned LIV Golf stars.
1. Low 9-Hole Score (Front)
29 (-7) – Dustin Johnson, 2022 (4th)
29 (-7) – Martin Kaymer, 2014 (1st)
2. Low Final-Round Score
63 (-9) – Dustin Johnson, 2022
63 (-9) – Brooks Koepka, 2018
3. Low 72-Hole Score
264 (-24) – Greg Norman, 1994
4. Most Career Eagles
17 – Sergio Garcia
5. Fewest Bogeys in Single Tournament
1 – Greg Norman, 1994
6. Most Rounds in the 60s
25 – Sergio Garcia
7. Longest Consecutive Cuts Made
18 – Sergio Garcia (2004-2022)
8. Top Career Money Earner
$5.9m – Sergio Garcia (22 starts)
9. Lowest Career Stroke Average
69.67 – Bryson DeChambeau (12 rounds)
10. Won PLAYERS and Major in Same Season
1978 – Jack Nicklaus (British Open)
1983 – Hal Sutton (PGA)
2001 – Tiger Woods (Masters)
2014 – Martin Kaymer (U.S. Open)
2022 – Cam Smith (British Open)
As a result, a string of questions posed to players ahead of the tournament focused on who was not playing, as opposed to who was.
Arguably also the most dominant theme of the pre-tournament press conferences, concerned last week’s announcement of the PGA Tour’s revamped 2024 calendar.
Under the new schedule, eight “designated events” by the PGA Tour will offer increased prize purses, smaller fields, and no cuts – all features of the LIV Golf Series.