Plenty of good and bad times at the Players

Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass presents challenge to world’s best golfers.

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — Rory McIlroy didn’t break par until his fourth appearance at the Players Championship.

Dustin Johnson waited until his sixth appearance at the TPC Sawgrass before he could post a round in the 60s. Brooks Koepka has yet to finish in the top 10 after five tries around this Stadium Players course that has been described as everything from exciting to scary to annoying.

“It’s because this place rewards good golf and penalizes bad golf,” said Justin Thomas, who has experienced a little of both in his five years at the Players.

The strongest field of the year — minus Tiger Woods, who said his back was not ready — takes on one of the most exciting courses of the year Thursday with the richest purse in golf history ($15 million) on the line.

McIlroy is the favorite, mainly because he is No. 1 in the world and hasn’t finished out of the top five in any tournament around the world since late September. He also was No. 1 in the world in 2012, shot 72-76, and missed the cut.

“I think this golf course can play so differently day-to-day, depending on wind direction, conditions,” McIlroy said. “It really doesn’t suit any one style or any one type of player.”

Phil Mickelson is another case study. In 26 years at the Players, he missed the cut 10 times and finished in the top 10 only three times. Then again, one of those was a victory in 2007, and Mickelson still isn’t sure how he did it.

For the first 20 years at TPC Sawgrass, 18 of the winners are now major champions. Since then, for every Mickelson or Sergio Garcia, there was a Craig Perks or Si Woo Kim.

The unpredictable nature of this event might have been best demonstrated last year. McIlroy, with his fluid, powerful swing, won by one shot over Jim Furyk, a 48-year-old who was among the shorter hitters even when he younger.

“One thing about this golf course, I’m not sure it favors a style of game as far as power is concerned,” Furyk said. “But it will test a lot of different areas of your game.”