Best Players Championships, Nos. 20-11: May Era begins and yes, Hal, it was the right club
The Times-Union continues its rankings of the best Players Championships in history.
Today: Nicklaus makes a hat trick, the Sawgrass Era ends and Sutton stares down Tiger.
No. 20, 2022: Another Aussie rules
A long week of almost every weather condition that could be thrown at the field came down to the first Monday finish in 17 years.
Cameron Smith had a day much like the week: up and down.
Smith became the fifth Australian to win The Players with a final-round 66 and a one-shot victory over Anirban Lahiri at 13-under.
But it was far from routine.
Smith birdied his first four holes, then five of his first six. He bogeyed three in a row. Then he birdied four in a row. Another birdie at No. 17 seemed to seal the outcome but Smith pushed his drive into the trees on the right of the 18th fairway, then punched out — into the water.
But he dropped, pitched onto the green and made the bogey putt to insure the victory.
No. 19, 2007: Phil kick-starts May Era
It was a big year for The Players. The TPC Sawgrass Stadium Course was renovated from tee-to-green. A $25 million clubhouse was built. And the tournament moved from March, where it had been played for nearly 30 years, to May.
Phil Mickelson gave the tournament a quality winner to go with its new look and new date. He led after each of the first two rounds, fell a shot behind Sean O’Hair in the third round despite a 69, then added another 69 to finish at 11-under, two shots over Sergio Garcia.
O’Hair was one shot behind Mickelson at the Island Green, but pumped his tee shot into the water and finished with a 76 and in 11th place.
No. 18, 1999: Like father, like son
It was dry. It was windy. And the Stadium Course offered as difficult a test as the first two years of the Sawgrass Era, when 1-over was the winning score.
David Duval, at the peak of his game, and the world’s No. 1-ranked player, won at 3-under, the highest score for a winner at the Stadium Course.
Duval opened with rounds of 69-69, moved into first place despite a 74 in the third round, and stayed on top with a final-round 73. He held his game together with the knowledge that this father, Bob Duval, was trying to win the PGA Tour Champions event in Pensacola. They both won, the only time in PGA Tour and Champions Tour history that a father and son won on the same day.
No. 17, 2013: Tiger’s guile wins again
Tiger Woods had been struggling with his mind and body over the previous three years and was nearly five years removed from his most recent major championship.
Ranking The Players
Nos. 48-40: Blowout victories, drama-free golf
Nos. 39-31:Jack Nicklaus wins twice in three years, at two sites
Nos. 30-21:Young pros begin to assert themselves on big stage
But he put together a solid week and broke away from a three-way tie with Sergio Garcia and David Lingmerth entering the final round to win at 13-under, two shots over Lingmerth and Kevin Steelman.
Woods won his second Players Championship, finishing four holes from the third round on Sunday and firing a workmanlike 70 in the close round while the contenders melted away.
One of them, Garcia, went into the water at Nos. 17 and 18 to finish with a 76, and created a stir when he complained the previous day that Woods was purposely exciting the crowd at the par-5 second while Garcia was trying to hit, pulling an iron to lay up, then changing his mind and taking a 3-wood to take a run at the green in two shots.
Just one more mini-drama involving Garcia. It never seemed to faze Woods.
No. 16, 2004: Great Scott
Adam Scott of Australia was considered the best up-and-coming young player in the world and had already won seven worldwide events starting at the age of 20.
He opened the 2004 Players with a 65 and went on to win at 12-under, edging Padraig Harrington by one shot. Scott created some drama in the final round when he pulled a 6-iron second shot into the water at No. 18, with a two-shot lead.
He dropped, hit onto the green and then drained a 10-foot bogey putt to insure the victory.
No. 15, 2008: Garcia survives at 17
Sergio Garcia was a quick study on the Stadium Course.
The first time he teed it up in The Players was in 2000 as a 19-year-old. He shot 82.
Two years later, he tied for fourth. In 2007, he finished solo second to Mickelson.
His time was coming and it happened the following year.
On a hot, windy week, Garcia hovered around the lead all week, then tied Paul Goydos with an improbable 45-foot birdie putt at No. 14. After Garcia made a 7-footer for par at No. 18, Goydos missed for birdie and the two went to the 17th hole for the first sudden death playoff at The Players since 1987 tied at 5-over — the highest 72-hole score by a winner or co-leader since Duval in 1999.
Goydos hit his tee shot in the water. Garcia nailed a wedge to within 4 feet and two-putted for the win, when he could have four-putted for the same result.
No. 14, 1978: Jack scores a hat trick
Jack Nicklaus did something at The Players that has yet to be matched in 45 years — win three times.
After winning his first two Players when the tournament rotated venues, Nicklaus captured the second tournament at the Sawgrass Country Club with the same score Mark Hayes won with the year before, 1-over 289.
Nicklaus was among a three-way tie with Ben Crenshaw and David Graham through 36 holes, then carved out a 73 in the third round that actually gave him a one-shot lead over Graham, who fell back with a 78.
Despite a calmer Sunday, Nicklaus struggled to a 75 that amazingly won, when his three closest competitors, Graham, Crenshaw and Larry Nelson all shot 74.
Since then, five players have won twice. Nicklaus remains the all-time leader in Players titles.
No. 13, 1981: Floyd closes Sawgrass Era
With the exception of Hayes winning the first Players at Sawgrass, the four champions after that had one thing in common: World Golf Hall of Fame credentials.
It took veterans who were proven major champions to battle the weather and intricacies of Sawgrass and Raymond Floyd, the final winner before the tournament moved across the street to the TPC Sawgrass, fit that mold.
Floyd fired a 68 in the final round on a Monday finish (Sunday was a complete rain-out) to catch 54-hole leader Barry Jaeckel, then won a sudden death playoff against Jaeckel and Curtis Strange with a par on the first hole.
No. 12, 2000: Yes, Hal … it was the right club
Gary Koch has the most famous quote in a Players Championship for a broadcaster (Better than most!”).
Hal Sutton is still remembered for having the best spontaneous quote from a player during competition.
Sutton was in the 18th fairway on a Monday finish and needed a par to win. One shot behind was Tiger Woods, at the peak of his considerable powers. Woods had won the previous week at Bay Hill, his 10th victory in 16 starts, and he would go on to win three majors that year.
Woods had already missed the 18th green but who knew what magic he’d conjure? Sutton called out for caddie Freddie Burns to give him a 6-iron to cover the 179 yards to the hole, and when the ball was in the air, Sutton yelled, “Be the right club!”
When the ball landed, 10 feet from the hole, Sutton added “Today!” and slapped palms with Burns. Woods didn’t get up and down and Sutton two-putted for his second Players title, 17 years after his first.
No. 11, 1994: Norman Conquest
A week before the 1994 Players, Greg Norman was feeling so good about his game that when he bumped into Stadium Course architect Pete Dye in Jupiter, he told him, “Hey Pete … I’m going to shoot 25-under at your course next week.”
Norman was only one shot off.
It was a mastery of the Stadium Course that has yet to be approached. Norman matched the course record of 63 in the first round for a two-shot lead. He then kept throwing 67s at the field until he was done, 24-under, the 72-hole record and four shots clear of runner-up Fuzzy Zoeller.
Norman made one bogey, on Sunday at No. 13. He was so en fuego that after the final putt dropped, Zoeller (who had four scores of 68 or better and shot 20-under) took Norman’s hat off and mopped his forehead. Norman put the hat on Zoeller’s head and the two left the green all smiles.
Norman also left with a score that has never been approached since.
Tomorrow: The Times-Union ranks Players Championship Nos. 10-1.
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Best Players Championships, No. 20-11: Hal Sutton wins two, May era begins
