Scottie Scheffler delivered on months of marvellous ball-striking with a victory at the Arnold Palmer Invitational on Sunday and now the world #1 will bid to do what no player has ever achieved as he seeks to successfully defend his Players Championship crown. The Players, taking place as has been the case since 1982 at Pete Dye’s Florida masterpiece, TPC Sawgrass, still advertises itself as &# 8220;the strongest field in golf” and while that statement has raised a few eyebrows with the LIV Golf contingent absent, this 144-player field is still as strong as it gets outside of the four Major championships.
Scheffler produced a perfect performance at The Players Championship a year ago, winning by five shots to claim Sawgrass glory for the first time, and he was dominant again at Bay Hill on Sunday, firing a closing 66 to win the Arnold Palmer by the same margin. A putter switch galvanized Scheffler on the greens last week and, given his status as the best ball striker in the game, he's likely to prove impossible to stop if he continues to roll in putts as he did on Sunday. However, that does remain a big if. Scheffler's odds of +550 reflect his superiority but those odds feel too slim to entertain given the packed field.
Sawgrass, the long-time venue for this famous tournament, is a classic Florida layout that hasn't tended to favor one type of player. Short, accurate types have prospered in Ponte Vedra, although the power hitters have come also to the fore more often following the switch to March, which saw the course effectively lengthened by softer conditions. Generally, though, the winner has come from the top class with 8 of the last 10 champions either already a winner of a Major or a future Major winner. Rory McIlroy won this title in 2019 and he has been playing better than his recent finishing positions suggest but he's making big errors and Sawgrass, and in particular its infamous island green 17th, is a course where mistakes can be compounded.