This week’s Players Championship at Sawgrass could be a real treat.
The PGA Tour’s flagship event is always packed with drama.
I have been fortunate to play in the event before and it is such a great golf course.
Anything can happen over one of the most difficult closing stretches in golf.
It probably shouldn’t be that tough but there is a mental pressure over those closing holes because they are so intimidating on the eye.
Add in the pressure of trying to win one of the biggest tournaments on the PGA Tour and makes for a really challenging finish.
What a lot of people won’t realise with the famous par-3 17th hole is how difficult it is to gauge the wind.
4️⃣0️⃣ years of @THEPLAYERSChamp …
The best shots in its history to celebrate 🎉 pic.twitter.com/dx1a0alGBA
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) March 9, 2022
If you are only one club wrong it is so easy to hit it in the water.
If the conditions are calm then it should be a simple sand wedge onto the green.
It is a tight course with the pins tucked away so it requires a player with great mental strength to get across the winning line at Sawgrass.
It can be so tough to work the ball around the course if the conditions are windy.
I expect it will be the ball-strikers who come to the fore with Tyrrell Hatton, Justin Thomas and Dustin Johnson among the players to watch.
And anyone who shows a bit of form this week will be feeling confident about next month’s Masters at Augusta.
The Arnold Palmer Invitational was a riveting watch at the weekend with Scottie Scheffler enhancing his blossoming reputation with another win.
4️⃣0️⃣ swings for 4️⃣0️⃣ years @TPCSawgrass. pic.twitter.com/RLu6mj9w3Z
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) March 9, 2022
Anything could have happened in the closing stages but Scottie’s putting proved to be the difference.
Tyrrell had a fantastic last round and was unlucky to finish one shot short.
Scheffler has now won two of his past three events after following up last month’s success at the WM Phoenix Open.
He is now up to fifth in the world rankings and it looks like there could be plenty more wins to come his way.
It was great viewing but I have no doubt The Players Championship will be even better.
Ewen must use experience of near-miss in Kenya
It wasn’t the conclusion to the Magical Kenya Open that Ewen Ferguson had hoped for but he will be stronger for the experience.
The 25-year-old started the final round four shots clear of the field but a closing 76 allowed Ashun Wu to claim the title.
Ewen finished tied eighth but he will have learned so much from that round on Sunday.
He handled it really well and his attitude is to learn from it.
Thanks for all the messages this weekend. Some nice, some not so nice haha. All yesterday did was make me more determined to get in that position again & DO BETTER. 💙👊🏽 pic.twitter.com/cXahkJ2nbi
— Ewen Ferguson (@EwboF) March 7, 2022
He knew where he went wrong and he will be better prepared the next time he is in that situation.
It was one of those courses where there is trouble everywhere if your game was a fraction off.
It was a very tight course and the wind got up over the weekend.
It is a great learning curve for Ewen and he showed why he is a highly rated young player.
I like his confidence and he has a nice free-flowing swing.
He is a positive guy who is always smiling.
Winning your first event on the DP World Tour is really tough.
Going into the final round with a lead is a very tough scenario and not one that too many golfers face.
Until you are in that position you don’t really know how you are going to react.
He will know what to do next time.
He is clearly playing very well and I’m sure he is looking forward to teeing up this week and putting what happened on Sunday to the back of his mind.
It is a setback but he has to take the positives from the experience because there are valuable lessons to be learned. I am sure he will be stronger for it.
On a personal level I am pleased to get back playing at this week’s MyGolfLife Open in South Africa following my back injury.
The scoring could be low if there isn’t much wind as the course is quite soft.
I’m looking forward to getting a couple of tournaments under my belt.
Hopefully I can have a good week.
