It’s THE PLAYERS Championship

by Jeff Skinner

It’s THE PLAYERS Championship week and that means plenty of hype, a lot of Tim Finchem and one heck of a good golf tournament. This is the PGA Tour’s premier event and while the four traditional majors hold a higher place in the hierarchy of golf, THE PLAYERS still gives us plenty of thrills come Sunday afternoon.

Of course it’s that diabolical piece of swamp that Pete Dye fashioned into a golf course that supplies so much of the drama. TPC Sawgrass is a bit like Donald Trump: you either hate it or you love it. Fans love it as even the best players struggle on the infamous seventeenth. Players, some of them anyway, hate it thinking that one hole, the seventeenth shouldn’t decide the tournament.

Hate it or love it the PGA Tour does it right with the biggest purse in golf and the toughest field of the year, including the majors. They are playing for a total purse of $10,000,000 with a cool $1,800,000 going to the winner. For that kind of money I’d swim with the gators that haunt Sawgrass.

Everybody that is anybody is playing this week that is except the most written about golfer, Tiger Woods and the most interesting golfer, Miguel Angel Jimenez. Woods is out due to his rehab from back surgery and Jimenez decided to take the week off because he got married. Yes, the Coolest Guy in Golf answers to no golf tournament. No matter what the purse. Click here for some pics of Miguel and his bride. He’s the coolest groom of the year.

Think you know THE PLAYERS Championship? Try your luck and see if you can answer a few of these questions on Finchem’s baby. The answers are below the video.

1. Who won the first PLAYERS? 2. Who is the all time money winner at THE PLAYERS? 3. Who holds the lowest scoring average (minimum 8 rounds) at THE PLAYERS? 4. What is the most difficult hole at The PLAYERS? 5. What is the easiest hole at THE PLAYERS? 6. Who made the last hole in one at the 17th? 7. How many balls went in the water at 17 last year? 8. Who is the oldest player in the field this year? 9. Who will win the ’14 PLAYERS Championship?

Check out all the hot spots at TPC Sawgrass and how the PGA Tour takes care of their fans at THE PLAYERS Championship.

Answers: 1. Jack Nicklaus, who else! 2. Tiger, again who else! 3. Chris Stroud. Who? Yes, Chris Stroud with a 70.79 average in 14 rounds. 4. 18 is the toughest. 17 is usually the ninth toughest. 5. 16 is the easiest, so the players catch a break before 17. 6. Our favorite golfer, Miguel Angel Jimenez in the 1st round in 2002. 7. 44 balls got wet. 8. Kenny Perry, 53. 9. Your guess is as good as mine, no probably better.