No. 1 Johnson unfazed by poor record at Sawgrass
PONTE VEDRA BEACH — World No. 1
has been the man to beat whenever he has teed it up in recent months.
This week, he would be happy to contend at the Players Championship.
Johnson’s overpowering game and designer
tricky layout been uneasy rivals.
Johnson’s best finish during eight starts at TPC Sawgrass is last year’s tie for 28th, culminating with a four-under par 68. On Wednesday, a reporter noted it was just Johnson’s second round in the 60s during 26 tries here.
“Thanks for that,” Johnson deadpanned.
Johnson still likes his chances, and for good reason.
The 32-year-old won three consecutive starts prior to suffering a freak back injury that forced him to withdraw from the Masters.
Johnson returned from a four-week layoff last week and finished runner-up to
who sank a 22-foot birdie putt on the final hole for a one-shot win.
“I'm interested to see how I can play here this week,” Johnson said. “I haven't had a lot of success around here, so it's definitely a challenge for me. But I feel like if I'm going to play well here, this is the time.
“Everything throughout my whole game is in really good form right now.”
Johnson leads the PGA Tour in driving distance and greens and regulation, is 23rd in putting and 27th in scrambling.
“This golf course tough,” Johnson said.
“You've got to have all facets of your game working if you want to contend.” have is
wire-towire win in 2016 was the first in 33 years at TPC Sawgrass. Shockingly, it also was Day’s last victory.
Ranked No. 1 at the time, the 29-year-old Aussie is now No. 3. Given Johnson’s dominance, Day knows he is a long way from resuming the top spot, but he is ready to try.
Day has just one top-10 finish in 2017. But his mother is recovering well from recent surgery for lung cancer that led Day’s withdrawal in March from the Dell Match Play Championship.
“Finally, I can kind of take a breath and sit back and go, ‘OK, I need to start my trip back up the mountain again,’” Day said.
once quipped, “Not even God can hit a 1-iron.” plans to give it a try this week. When Nike’s golf division disbanded in August, McIlroy became the game’s most-coveted free agent. The world’s second-ranked golfer recently a long-term deal with Taylor Made.
A 1-iron will be among McIlroy’s 13 Taylor Made clubs; he will stick with an Odyssey putter for now.
“That could be helpful for around here,” he said of the 1-iron.
Measuring a modest 7,215 yards, TPC Sawgrass demands accuracy more than length off the tee. Day relied heavily on a 2-iron off the tee last year, but could pummel it more than 300 yards.
New clubs are not the only big news — or big change — for McIlroy, 28. He and married two weeks ago in Ireland.
“It seems like with everything that’s went on the last few weeks — with getting married and teaming up with TaylorMade — it seems like everything’s very settled,” he said. “There’s not many question marks going on in my life right now. I feel like everything’s exactly where it’s meant to be.”