Greetings from TPC at Sawgrass in Florida for this week’s Players Championship.
The talk in the early part of the week and last week on the range was more about who is not playing, rather than who is playing — with Phil Mickelson and Bryson DeChambeau absent.
Rumours about suspension, health, holidays and otherwise are in circulation, I would just like to see everything out there in the public, so everyone is aware of what has happened, so individuals and organisations can move on.
There has been some mudslinging as well as some accusations, which happens in modern sport, but not very often in golf.
Time is a great healer and let’s start talking about who is playing and the $20 million on offer this week — the largest purse in the world of golf.
First place gets $3.6 million, 10th place: $545,000 and 65th place; $43,000. Now that is real money and real news.
The course set-up last week at Bay Hill received a lot of criticism from some players, media and others. It was tough, with lush rough lining every fairway and firm greens with strong winds. Did it make for good TV and spectating? I am not sure, but if every week was the same on tour around the world it would be boring — even if it was somewhat harsh on those who had afternoon tee times.
This is my third week on tour and I fly back to Rotherham on Friday night. I will be back in the US for the Masters in April, but will miss the WGC-Match Play.
I am staying in a house just round the corner from Sawgrass this week with Billy Foster, caddie for Matt Fitzpatrick and Ricky Elliott, caddie for Brooks Koepka, so there will be no shortage of shared stories and banter at night around the fireside.
My players in the field this week are Thomas Pieters, Koepka, Ian Poulter, Henrik Stenson and, along with Mike Walker’s support, Fitzpatrick.
The field is one of the strongest all year anywhere in the world: 46 of the top 50 in the world rankings are competing.
It seems that there is, perhaps, a changing of the guard in world golf, with players on the PGA Tour moving up on both the world and FedEx Cup Rankings. Why is this? The bigger purses will always attract the best players. A statistic that is worth sharing is that 29 of the top 50 in this week’s world rankings are American. We have not seen that for a while.
The players are getting better each year, hitting it longer and stronger and there are more of them. The defence of the golf course was always length. That is no longer the case in modern golf.
What happens with the 150th Open at St Andrews? What is the issue if someone shoots 57? I have no problems with that, the best player has shown his skill and I would be the first to congratulate him. Difficult pin positions are now attempting to protect the tournament course and prevent low scores, but this really is an artificial short-term solution.
That is surely the beauty of golf, compared to other sports, one week level par wins and the next 25-under does not win. Is not that part of golf’s appeal?
Finally, an observation over the last couple of months. Victor Hovland seems the real deal. Winner of the 2022 Slync.io Dubai Desert Classic in January at Emirates Golf Club, and having done so well recently on the PGA Tour, I have seen a lot of him, and can see the 24-year-old Norwegian, being a future world No. 1. He has moved up to No. 3 already!
Peter Cowen, 71, is a top golfing coach from England, who has academies at Dubai Creek Golf & Yacht Club, Emirates Golf Club, Jumeirah Golf Estates and Rotherham, England.
