Prestigious Sawgrass can give McIlroy a major lift
IN 2012, as the reigning US Open champion, Rory McIlroy missed his third cut in three appearances at The Players Championship, the unofficial fifth major of world golf.
‘I’ll come back, I promise,’ he said after rounds of 72 and 76. ‘Hopefully, I’m coming back here for another 20 years. If I don’t figure it out on my 20th go, there’s something wrong.’
This week represents his ninth participation at The Players. It should be his 10th but he chose not to come in 2011 and later admitted the call ‘was not one of my brightest.’
For this is an event of immense prestige, carrying a prize fund ($10.5m), second only to the US Open and more ranking points of any event outside the majors.
First played for in 1974, many top pros, including Phil Mickelson, are adamant The Players should carry elite status by now. Unlike the four majors, which are run by Augusta National, the USGA, the R&A and the PGA of America respectively, the Players Championship is the biggest tournament overseen by the PGA Tour.
Those in favour of an upgrade, argue the PGA Tour merits its own major and how The Players traditionally draws the strongest field of any pro event.
The major debate is a hoary one and unlikely to be solved overnight. For starters, would former winners, including the unheralded Craig Perks in 2002, be automatically elevated to major champions?
In that event, Jack Nicklaus, the only threetime Players’ winner, would jump to 21 majors, with Tiger Woods up two to 16.
Nicklaus and Woods are not alone among the greats on The Players roll of honour as Lee Trevino, Ray Floyd, Greg Norman, Nick Price and Mickelson have all won.
Initially, The Players was the preserve of the home guard and Sandy Lyle (1987) was the only winner outside the USA in the first 17 years. But the advent of a world ranking system, and the growth of world golf, has seen a shift in power.
No Irish golfer has won The Players, but Pádraig Harrington was runner-up in 2003 and 2004, near-misses which are often overlooked by his subsequent major successes.
Can McIlroy add his name to that exclusive list of European winners? Why not? For starters, it seems he has begun to ‘figure out’ how to crack the code of the tricky Florida lay-out. Sawgrass isn’t all about staying dry on the short 17th with its island green; it requires patience and aggression in equal measure. For the Co Down native, the key is knowing when to attack, and when to hold back. The time he missed the cut in 2012, McIlroy said beforehand he would play the long 9th as a threeshooter but duly took on the green with a fairway wood.
While he covered the hole in nine shots over the two days, seven bogeys and one double – on the notorious 17th – cost him. In fairness, McIlroy has since shown a willingness to learn from his Sawgrass slip-ups and his CV from 2013 onwards, is impressive.
He’s tied sixth (2014), tied eighth twice (2013 and ’15) and also tied 12th (2016).
If last year’s 35th-place finish – McIlroy signed off with a double bogey on the 18th – was modest, he was excused by a nagging rib injury which held him back for much of the season.
In his last five years at Sawgrasss, McIlroy has covered the signature 17th in a cumulative six-under par, with no water calamity, or a bogey, in the 20 times he has played the hole. He also finished just four shots off the winning score in 2013 (Woods), 2014 (Kaymer) and 2015 (Fowler).
Despite the up and down form shown at the Wells Fargo Championship at Quail Hollow this week, McIlroy has every chance of adding to his Arnold Palmer Invitational in March, and filling his sails with confidence ahead of the Memorial Tournament, PGA at Wentworth and US Open at Shinnecock Hills.
His putting issues have not gone away, but he’s a sublime bunker player and continues to drive the ball longer, and straighter, than most.
While he took a while to get his head around his humdrum final round at Augusta last month, he arrived at Quail Hollow fifth in driving distance on the PGA Tour and sixth in the overall putting standings.
McIlroy has been stuck on four majors since 2014. Should he win at Sawgrass, it may not only give him the feel of a fifth but also rekindle the debate that The Players is ready to stand alongside its major brethren.