Australia’s Cameron Smith will start the final round of the Players Championship just two shots behind the lead, and as the best-ranked player inside the top 14 golfers on the leaderboard.
A wet and wild (and cold and windy and just plain crazy) week at TPC Sawgrass is finally set to come to an end on Monday afternoon in the US, Tuesday morning in Australia. The weather, finally, is perfect for a delayed final round.
So that leaves a group of six players within two of the lead, which could also be described as having a legitimate shot to bag the $US3.6 million ($A5 million) winner’s cheque. Of that group, maybe half would classify as “proven” PGA Tour players. To put it another way, guys who have won big events and/or multiple events in their careers. The other half are entering some seriously uncharted territory.
Here’s the (short) case for each contender at the 2022 Players Championship. (Note, scores were published before the final group teed off.)
Anirban Lahiri (-9, leader)
Paul Casey (-8, one back)
A prolific winner on the DP World Tour. Also a back-to-back winner at the Valspar Championship, where he could win for a third time next week. A boat load of top-10s in majors but no wins. Tied for fifth here a year ago his best career Players finish.
Sebastian Munoz (-8, one back)
Hottest iron player in the field this week; he’s currently No.1 in approach play at Sawgrass with an average proximity to the hole of 29 feet. Has one PGA Tour win, a victory in a playoff over Sungjae Im at the 2019 Sanderson Farms.
Doug Ghim (-8, one back)
The 2017 US Amateur runner-up (and 2018 Ben Hogan Award winner) was in one of the final pairings a year ago in this same event. Played alongside Justin Thomas, who showed him what a victorious Sunday at TPC Sawgrass looks like. Seemed to have turned a corner with his irons, the strength of his game, last week in a MC at Bay Hill.
Sam Burns (-8, one back)
Bermudagrass putting specialist (currently sixth in the field in SG/putting). Briefly earned the “hottest player in the world” designation thanks to two tour wins between last May and last October (Valspar, Sanderson), plus a pair of runner-ups in that span, too.
Cameron Smith (-7, two back)
Already a four-time tour winner, the latest of which came at the Sentry Tournament of Champions in January, where he had a ridiculous four-day total of 34 under at Kapalua. Also has four top 10s in majors, including a T-2 at the COVID Masters. Has a cool moustache. Has an even cooler mullet.
Tom Hoge (-7, two back)
Showed some huge stones last month at Pebble Beach, where he birdied 11, 14, 16 and 17 on the final day to hold off Jordan Spieth and Patrick Cantlay for his first PGA Tour win. Grew up in Fargo, North Dakota, which would explain why the weather hasn’t affected him in the slightest this week.
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