Charlie Woods signs apparel and footwear deal with Taylor made following his…….

No way did Tiger Woods do that. Before The Players Championship relocated to the TPC Sawgrass, a former marsh, neither did Jack Nicklaus.

The main championship of the PGA Tour is in its 50th edition, and no winner has ever successfully defended the title. Scottie Scheffler is the next competitor, and his chances are just as good as those of any of the previous champions.

Which encompasses Woods, who had only one opportunity to try it in 2002, finishing in a tie for fourteenth place without breaking

“I simply believe that, generally speaking, not many people win again on this golf course,” Scheffler remarked. “This golf course hasn’t produced many winners that you have seen.”

The Stadium Course of the TPC Sawgrass is home to just five winners in total. Prior to The Players’ permanent relocation to this Pete Dye arena of never-ending excitement and that one (largely) island green on the par-3 17th hole, Nicklaus won the tournament three times.

For the first time since Jason Day in 2016, Scheffler holds the top spot in the world rankings. Scheffler is the current defending champion of The Players. The distinction is that Scheffler came to Sawgrass directly off a five-shot victory at Bay Hill in a commanding display.

When his putter finally clicked, he was already the greatest from tee to green, so the other top players in golf had every cause to be anxious.

Champion of the FedEx Cup Viktor Hovland commented, “I’ve personally had some really, really nice ball-striking weeks.” It’s quite remarkable that he has been able to maintain that level of performance for such a long time and win so many tournaments in the past several years. Because you may experience periods of feeling like you’re hitting it on a string and you can’t miss, but you may experience some difficulty the next month. He simply appears to carry on with his current activities.

For the past ten months, Scheffler has been the best, and the math isn’t hard to figure out. In addition to his three wins over the past year, which included the Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas, he has just three times in 22 tournaments placed outside of the top 10.

Even on a course where it appeared as though he was playing alone a year ago, it remains to be seen how that translates to Sawgrass. Similar to his performance in the Arnold Palmer Invitational, he led by six strokes at one stage and prevailed by five shots being fired.

Unfortunately, history does not support him. Throughout the event, problems can be found almost anywhere on the Stadium Course, which is known for never favoring one particular style of play.

The fact that it truly doesn’t favor one kind of player is why Scheffler believes it to be among the best venues they play while on tour. This is not exactly a place where bomb-and-gouge works well. It can be difficult for the shorter hitters to succeed here, though, since you have to strike the ball precisely where you are trying to avoid facing a harsh penalty.”

Asterisks are now required by The Players, but only if the company makes the claim that its field is the deepest and strongest in golf. Not even the Masters champion Jon Rahm or the two-time Sawgrass winner Cameron Smith are at Sawgrass these days because to the defections to LIV Golf, which has split the golf world. Bryson DeChambeau, Brooks Koepka, and Dustin Johnson did not. Additionally, PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan seems to indicate that there isn’t a quick solution.

Regarding an agreement with the Saudis and a resolution to the fragmented golf scene, Monahan stated, “It’s going to take time.”At the very least, The Players is a chance to shift the spotlight back inside the ropes, if only for four days, starting on Thursday.

The commissioner has “a long way to go” to win back the trust of Xander Schauffele, who is not a fan of Monahan. In support of Monahan on Wednesday morning, Rory McIlroy stated that the tour was in a stronger position thanks to fresh funding from a group of private investors and that he was the ideal candidate for the post.

And Scheffler, who implied that the players who are absent from Sawgrass this week due to LIV are to blame for any division, was also present.