For the first time since 2019 the PGA tour is returning to the infamous 17th at TPC Sawgrass where this tough field will compete to take home the PGA tours largest purse of the season at the 2021 Players Championship. After the event was cancelled in 2020 due to the covid-19 pandemic, PGA players will all have their shot at tackling the island green for their cut of the $15,000,000 purse that is on the line this weekend in Florida. After an exciting week this past weekend at Bay Hill where we saw power reign supreme, we will watch as the players will have to dial it in as TPC Sawgrass is a place where even the small misses can have you watching from the sidelines come the weekend.
Looking at the field we have some tough competition stirring, 49 of the top 50 players are set to tee it off Thursday with Matthew Wolff being the only one unable to play this weekend. With the competition at its most elite we look have decided to look at a few Canadian names that might not be on top of the betting sheets but could be atop the leaderboard come Sunday.
Nick Taylor
Although a tough start to the 2021 PGA season which has only produced 2 top 20 finishes, Taylor did have success in 2019’s visit to TPC Sawgrass with a 16th place finish that saw him shoot an impressive 8 under through his weekend. With 3 of 4 cuts made at The Players Championship Taylor has proven he can make his way around the course and get into the money rounds but if Taylor hopes to get it done, he will need to capitalize on the Thursday and Friday rounds and try to keep pace leading into the weekend. At a 300:1 odds going into the weekend it might be a long shot for Taylor to pull this one off but maybe we will see him hoist the trophy one more time this weekend.
Adam Hadwin
With only one career PGA Tour win under his belt Hadwin does not strike you as the one to add as your betting favourite, as a matter of fact his current 250:1 probably would have you wondering if we will see Hadwin come Saturday and Sunday. Even with a lackluster beginning to the season Hadwin has one thing going for him and that is his performance in Florida golf, with numerous top 10 finishes: including his 2017 Valspar Championship victory. Hadwin finds ways to get into the weekend and compete for the prize money. Maybe we will see the 2017 Hadwin return and pull off another great week of golf.
Mackenzie Hughes
In his limited exposure to TPC Sawgrass Hughes has been able to find consistency which has led to two great pay days for him; a 16th place finished in 2018 followed up by a 57th place finish in 2019 have been Hughes’ only two trips to the Players Championship. Three Top 10 finishes in his 12 starts this season and 9 cuts made Hughes seems to have found his way to the weekend more often than not but he still is looking for a follow up victory to his single PGA Tour win back in 2016. With how wild 2019’s weekend pairs where it would be difficult to count any of the tour professionals, Hughes looks to make it 3 consecutive cuts made at TPC Sawgrass and if he can get it done come Sunday, he would payoff pretty well with 200:1 odds going into the tournament on Thursday.
Corey Connors
His resume of wins may not be fully established yet, but many would consider Connors as Canada’s newest face of golf. Many great golfing professionals have come out of Canada, DeLaet, Hearn, Ames, and Weir to name a few but with the rising talent we see coming up now we are beginning to see a trend when the red and white flag is showing on the leaderboard, the name Connors seems to be next to it. With a steady start to the 2021 season Connors has seven Top 20 finishes in his ten cuts made this year. Coming off a strong weekend at Bay Hill Connors would hope to build on his Top 3 finish and continue to push towards his second career PGA Tour victory. With the 80:1 odds Connors could turn out to be a good betting option he tends to find his way on to the leaderboard and with the momentum he carries maybe he will not be the only one with a big win this coming Sunday.
The 17th: Island Green
Before we let you go, it would not be the Players Championship if we didn’t discuss the Par 3 17th island green. Many tournament hopes have been dashed at this hole, who would have thought that a 137-yard shot could cause so much havoc.
· 2007: During Tournament play 50 balls were sent into the water on 17 breaking the 2000 tournaments record of 45
· It is estimated that over 120,000 golf balls are retrieved from the water surrounding the 17th at TPC Sawgrass per year
· There has been a total of 9 Hole-In-Ones during tournament play on the 17th, the most recent was Ryan Moore in the opening round of the 2019 Players Championship.
· The Capacity for fans to spectate is 36,000, making it one of the most viewed holes on the PGA tour.
· Most successful Player to play the 17th hole at TPC Sawgrass has been Bernhard Langer who has recorded 24 birdies over his career on this hole
· 12: the record for highest score on the 17th in PGA Tournament history set in 2005 by Bob Tway
· Brad Fabel: many people may not recognize the name but for two reasons Fabel has memories of the 17th at TPC Sawgrass will not be forgotten. 1) Fabel was the first player to get a Hole-in-One back in the 1986 Players Championship 2) Fabel was the unluck recipient of the infamous seagull ball snatch in the 1998 Players Championship.
What do you get when you take 144 players and put $15 million dollars on the line? You will want to tune in this weekend as the PGA Tour makes its stop at one of the world’s most famous holes in golf. The Island Green at TPC Sawgrass for the 2021 Players Championship.