Does experience matter in The Players? Not so far in the suspended second round
The PGA Tour is making some big changes in its competitive structure, such as eight designated events with limited fields and no cuts for 2024.
Unfair, say some critics. The changes, accompanied by huge purses, are protecting the stars, at the expense of limiting playing opportunities for the rank-and-file and younger pros.
How can they compete?
The first two days of The Players Championship have shown how.
Make birdies.
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Consider the leaderboard at the point second-round play was suspended late Friday afternoon because of dangerous weather, to be resumed on Saturday at 7 a.m.: Christiaan Bezuidenhout of South Africa, in his second Players Championship, and Adam Svensson of Canada, in his first, are tied for the lead at 8-under par.
Ben Griffin (71) is the clubhouse leader at 6-under 138 and Min Woo Lee is 6-under through 15 holes.
Taylor Pendrith of Canada is 5-under through 13 holes and 18-hole leader Chad Ramey, who hit two balls in the water at No. 17 for a quadruple-bogey 7, is still in the hunt at 4-under through 10 holes.
Players will face a long day
All but Pendrith (31) and Ramey (30) are in their 20s. Bezuidenhout is the most experienced professional player, in his sixth season the DP World Tour, Svensson is in his third season, Pendrith, Gordon and Ramey in their second and Griffin is a rookie.
And their combined Players appearances before this week: two. Bezuidenhout and Pendrith are making their second starts and Svensson, Lee, Gordon, Griffin and Ramey are among 32 making their first starts at the Stadium Course.
Svensson won his first Tour event last November at the RSM Classic at Sea Island. Ramey captured his first in the Dominican Republic. Bezuidenhout has three DP World Tour victories and Lee has two.
But they’re playing like polished veterans on a course where only one first-time Players participant, Craig Perks in 2002, has won.
Their comments also don’t reflect many nerves.
“I'm just super relaxed and enjoying the golf course,” said Svensson, who made two birdies before the horn sounded suspending play to catch Bezuidenhout.
“You have to keep the ball in the short stuff, which I did,” Bezuidenhout said. “I was hitting a lot of greens and have putted well over the last couple days.”
“Amazing,” Lee said about his week so far. “I've been playing pretty solid, tee to green, really good.”
There’s a lot of golf to be played yet. When the second round resumes on Saturday, 71 players have work to do before the cut is made and the third round begins at around 10:40 a.m., in threesomes off the first and 10th tees.
And it will be a heavier workload for some than others. Svensson will have to play 25 holes on Saturday and Ramey is due to complete 26.
Throw in the chance of some brisker wind and the pressure that will mount as the weekend wears on, and the younger, least-experienced players will find out for certain if their games and their minds can hold up to the pressure.
But they will get the chance.
Veterans are in position
Standing in their way are a handful of veterans. Two-time major champion Collin Morikawa is 1-over for his round but 6-under for the tournament with seven holes left and tied with Griffin and Lee. Defending Masters champion Scottie Scheffler is 1-under through 10 holes and birdied his last two before play was halted.
And watch out for Jason Day. The 2016 Players champion and former No. 1-ranked player in the world held his round together despite a double-bogey at No. 7 and his second bogey in a row at the easiest hole on the course, the par-5 16th, and with a 70 is 4-under 140 and tied for eighth.
Viktor Hovland, a major champion in the making, was tied for the lead at 8-under and shot 3-over on his back nine, the Stadium Course front, for a 71. But he’s squarely in the mix, tied with Day and five other players at 4-under.
The wind picked up all day in advance of the front that brought thunderstorms to the area and played a bit more havoc on the field. For example, 21 balls sailed into the water at the par-3 17th hole, three more than in the first round, and with 38 more players yet to play the hole in the second round.
The 17th was the second-most difficult hole on the course, averaging 3.381 at the time play was suspended. No. 18 was the hardest, at 4.556. The field that played those holes combined for 15 scores of double-bogey or higher.
“It was tough, but that's part of this course,” Lee said. “It's not supposed to be easy. So go out there and make sure it doesn't get to you, get to the nerves, and just keep hitting good shots.”
Scheffler's momentum stopped
Scheffler was a bit disappointed that the delay halted the momentum he built when he birdied No. 8 on a 3-foot putt and No. 9 on a 23-footer. He was facing a 16-foot birdie putt at No. 10 when the horn sounded.
“It was playing pretty challenging when we started out with the high winds and the greens were getting really firm,” he said. “I did a good job of staying patient. I wasn't swinging my best, but I made two nice birdies toward the end of the round and then obviously the delay will hurt a little.”
And there were also some unmitigated disasters. Lucas Herbert followed a first-round 82 with an 85 that included an 8 at No. 17 and a 9 at No. 4. Tyson Alexander also had an 8 at No. 17, the main blemish on an otherwise decent round in which he played the other 17 holes at 1-under.
Then there was Max McGreevy. He tied the Players record for the highest score at the Stadium Course with an 89, previously held by Michael Campbell in 2003.
McGreevy, who had three double-bogeys and two triple-bogeys, made a tap-in birdie at No. 9 to avoid being the first player in tournament history to shoot 90 or higher since Bob Murphy (92) in the final round in 1979 at the Sawgrass Country Club.
The tournament also is likely to be without its two biggest drawing cards when the second round comes to a close. World No. 1-ranked Jon Rahm withdrew on Friday morning with a stomach ailment and No. 3 Rory McIlroy is on his way to missing the cut at 6-over with eight holes to play.
The projected 2-over cut would also claim, if it holds up, 2021 Players champion Justin Thomas, 2018 champion Webb Simpson and 2012 champion Matt Kuchar.
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Bezuidenhout, Svensson lead a batch of young, hungry pros in The Players
