The Players preview: Time to dish the dirt on Sawgrass

You’re the boss of an important American organisation putting in a bit of Sunday overtime at the office, as all good bosses do, when in walks this guy and, without so much as a by your leave, dumps a load of dirt on your desk. Do you: A. call the cops and have him thrown out of the building and, hopefully, into jail; B. retaliate by dumping a truckload of muck in the lobby of his office; C. say thank you very much and decline his subsequent offer to clean the mess up because you want to show it off to all your colleagues.

If you’re PGA commissioner Tim Finchem the answer is ‘C’. It’s how he described a meeting with course designer Pete Dye last summer at which the fate of TPC Sawgrass was sealed. Dye had taken the dirt, in three ’styrofoam’ cups, from different parts of the course to show how years of accumulated swamp muck was blocking drainage and significantly altering the contours of the original course.

Result, a course everyone is whistling over, chalk and cheese from last year. Finchem says the changes were “really conservative” but that’s not how players and press see it. Firm and fast is how it is described now, with rough that is unlikely to be much trouble and far more scope to play a variety of shots from around the greens. With the course also lengthened, the tee shot looks to be a much less vital element.

That already conjures up the inevitable name of Tiger Woods, whose weakness at the moment is off the tee. When Ernie Els starts comparing Sawgrass to Hoylake and you remember Tiger’s emotional and peerless victory there last year, it all adds up. Some hacks are trying to keep things interesting by pointing to Tiger’s relatively poor Players record, but that is before course changes that play right into his hands. His flaky victory last week will surely also have set him up to continue his imperious procession through the season.

There’s only one thing I see preventing Tiger from winning and that’s the weather, with tropical storm Andrea set to test the course’s new drainage system to the hilt and the wind likely to kick up a bit. Mind you, the most worrying aspect of Thursday’s forecast was smoke from vegetation fires raging in the vicinity.

So is anyone up for giving Tiger a game this week?

Phil Mickelson: less pressure on tee shots will also suit Lefty and with two third places under his belt since linking with Butch Harmon he must fancy his chances a lot. It’ll be excellent practice for the US Open anyway!
Vijay Singh: He should be in the hunt although he left his reputation as fearless finisher behind last week.
Retief Goosen: Firm and fast should be right up his street, but he’s still firing too many blanks.
Adam Scott: Subdued since his Houston win but his stats say he should be a contender.
Jim Furyk: Has not been able to put a solid game together since his wrist problems. He says he’s over them but two missed cuts in a row suggest otherwise.
Ernie Els: He’s primed for this one after a modest warm-up last week, but Ernie’s rehabilitation is still a work in progress. Needs a solid improvement in his iron play.

Look out too for some momentum players: Arron Oberholser, coming back into form last week, Rory Sabbatini and Steve Stricker. Top ten in his last four outings says Ken Duke is no flash-in-the-pan golfer, although a bit of final flash is what he now needs. I’ve again put a small amount on Anthony Kim, who has always improved his price at some stage in recent competitions. The trick is knowing when to cash in.

The form book stats in the crucial areas of iron play and putting suggest Stuart Appleby should be in with a shout, although his fortunes have been miserable of late.