A stellar field has assembled for The Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass, with the marquee pairing being that of Dustin Johnson, Rory McIlroy and Justin Thomas.
READ: The Players Championship – a Major without the title
There are five South Africans in the unofficial fifth men’s Major, with Branden Grace, Charl Schwartzel, Louis Oosthuizen, Ernie Els and Tyrone van Aswegen all flying the flag.
Van Aswegen is among the early starters (1.10pm SA time on Thursday), while later in the day American Smylie Kaufman finds himself in a Saffa sandwich of Schwartzel and Els.
The first hole sets the tone for the day, on a golf course demands accuracy from the tee. On this 423 yard slight dogleg to the right, a drive to the right side of the narrow landing area will give the player a good angle to approach the long and narrow green. A long fairway bunker, a lateral water hazard and grass bunkers await errant drives to the right, and dense trees guard the fairway to the left. As this is a medium-length par four, the emphasis is again on accuracy for the second shot.
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Last year the event was won by then-world No.1 Jason Day, the 28-year-old Australian finishing on 15 under par, with American Kevin Chappell his closest rival on 11-under.
Day, whose halfway total of 129 was a record for the Florida event, shot a one-under closing round of 71.
Northern Ireland’s Graeme McDowell and Rory McIlroy finished at eight and seven-under respectively, while England’s Justin Rose was five-under.
Selected first round tee-off times (South Africans in bold, all SA times. Players USA unless stated):
1.10pm: Zac Blair, Tyrone van Aswegen, Blayne Barber
1.21pm: Kevin Streelman, Lucas Glover, Louis Oosthuizen
2.05pm: Jimmy Walker, Zach Johnson, Paul Casey (Eng)
2.16pm: Rickie Fowler, Henrik Stenson (Swe), Jason Day (Aus)
2.27pm: Jordan Spieth, Hideki Matsuyama (Japan), Phil Mickelson
2.49pm: Si Woo Kim (Korea), Daniel Berger, Branden Grace
7.19pm: Patrick Reed, Bubba Watson, Brooks Koepka
7.30pm: Jon Rahm (Spain), Justin Rose (Eng), Martin Kaymer (Ger)
7.41pm: Sergio Garcia (Spain), Adam Scott (Aus), Matt Kuchar
7.52pm: Dustin Johnson, Justin Thomas, Rory McIlroy (N Irl)
8.14pm: Charl Schwartzel, Smylie Kaufman, Ernie Els
8.25pm: Wesley Bryan, Charley Hoffman, David Toms
Photo: Getty Images
