El THE PLAYERS Championship, the flagship tournament of the PGA Tour, begins este jueves en el TPC Sawgrass with several high-quality groups from the first round. The organisers have scheduled a strong programme that will allow some of the tour’s biggest stars to play together. For Spanish fans, moreover, thanks to the time difference with Florida, some of those duels will come in ‘prime time’, allowing them to fully enjoy one of the highlights of the calendar
The world Number One, Scottie Scheffler, will be one of the main protagonists of the morning session. He will share a round with Englishman Tommy Fleetwood and the 2021 winner, Justin Thomas. His group will tee off from the 10th tee at 13:52 (Spanish peninsular time). The man from Ridgewood arrives as one of the big favourites after recording two consecutive victories in this same event in 2023 and 2024, determined to prevent Thursdays, as in his recent appearances, from standing in the way of victory
Collin Morikawa will lead another of the day’s attractive groups, where he will play with the Swede Ludvig Aberg and the South Korean Si Woo Kim, who also knows what it’s like to win THE PLAYERS (he did so in 2017). His group will start at 13:40, also from the 10th tee, a few minutes before Scheffler. It will follow the group of Brooks Koepka with Tony Finau and Akshay Bhatia, three other huge names (Koepka after his return from LIV and Bhatia after winning the Arnold Palmer) go into action at 13:28
The defending champion, Rory McIlroy, will be in the spotlight in the afternoon session playing with Xander Schauffele and the Japanese Hideki Matsuyama. The three will begin their round at 18:42 from the 1st tee. The presence of the Northern Irishman, who is seeking his third title at the event, generates particular expectation after the physical doubts he arrives with following his withdrawal from the Arnold Palmer last week due to back problems. Shortly before, Jordan Spieth, Rickie Fowler and Sahith Theegala (18:30) will play in another of the big evening fixtures at THE PLAYERS
