Nineteen of the top 20 players in the world, a total prize pool of 25 million dollars, the absence of Tiger Woods, the challenge for world leadership. These are just a few numbers of The Players Championship, the flagship tournament of the 2023 PGA Tour which will be the protagonist in Florida from 9 to 12 March.
In Ponte Vedra Beach there will be a show challenge between the big names in world golf and the only one absent, as regards the Top 20 of the world ranking, will be the Australian Cameron Smith (fifth), defending champion and now one of the protagonists of LIV Golf , the Arab Super League in stark contrast to the top American men’s circuit.
The Players, schedule
Spaniard Jon Rahm, number 1, American Scottie Scheffler, second, and Northern Irish Rory McIlroy (winner in 2019), third, will once again compete for the world throne. And these three top players will find themselves side by side in the first two rounds.
At TPC Sawgrass (The Players Stadium Course), where 17 out of 18 holes have water hazards, the show is guaranteed. The prize pool, a record for the PGA Tour, will be identical to those guaranteed (in each race) by the Arab Super League.
An increase of 10 million compared to 2021 and 5 million compared to 2022. The first place will secure 4,500,000, the second 2,725,000, 25,000 dollars more – just to make a comparison – than what Scheffler collected last year year for the triumph at The Masters.
But there’s more: because the 90th place winner will be rewarded with $41,250. Impossible, with a field of this type, to hazard predictions. Considering also the feat, signed last week at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, by an outsider like Kurt Kitayama, now looking for another masterpiece.
In Florida there will also be a little bit of Italy. The blue number 1, Francesco Molinari, after the 14th place at Arnold Palmer is looking for continuity also in view of the Ryder Cup in Rome, the Piedmontese’s stated goal.
With Rahm, Scheffler and McIlroy, Max Homa, Justin Thomas (scored in 2021), Patrick Cantlay, Will Zalaris, Xander Schauffele and Viktor Hovland are also aiming high. In an appointment that was played for the first time in 1974 (to sign the company was Jack Nicklaus, who then took the scene and the title in 1976 and 1978 as well). And where the big absent this year will be Woods, winner of both 2001 and 2013.
