Previewing the Players Championship: Can Koepka contend, who are some sleepers?
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — Whether you imagine in the idea of the Players Championship as a significant or not, one in every of the greatest weeks on the PGA Tour has arrived and storylines abound.
Defending champion Rory McIlroy and world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler are each making an attempt so as to add a 3rd Players title to their résumés. Brooks Koepka is taking part in in his first Players since 2022. The golf course is ready to have extra chunk than it has proven in recent times whereas a bunch of different gamers are vying for a career-defining win.
Here are 5 storylines we’re watching at TPC Sawgrass this week.
1. Is Scottie the overwhelming favourite this week?
Paolo Uggetti: The numbers say sure and so they most likely ought to and but, should you’ve watched any of Scheffler’s golf over the course of the previous three tournaments, you’ll know it isn’t that easy. At all three occasions, Scheffler has struggled on Thursdays, and final week at Bay Hill he appeared extra pissed off than ever along with his play when he threw a ball into the water after a missed putt.
The truth {that a} T-24 end will be thought of unhealthy for Scheffler says all you might want to find out about how excessive his ground is, and this week needs to be no completely different. While Scheffler downplays his struggles on the microphone and wears it on his sleeve on the golf course, the actuality is that this week is tailor-made for him — he has already gained this occasion twice and TPC Sawgrass calls for nice iron play. There lies the catch.
Scheffler’s iron play has not been his regular, all-time, all-world self these days. In truth, after main the PGA Tour in strokes gained: method for 3 straight seasons, Scheffler is 88th to date this season. It’s robust to imagine that he’ll proceed for a participant of his caliber and this week is nearly as good every week as any for him to begin turning into an unbeatable power once more.
Mark Schlabach: With McIlroy probably sidelined with a again damage, I’d say Scheffler is an awesome favourite.
After changing into the first golfer to win back-to-back Players Championship titles in 2023 and ’24, Scheffler can be part of Jack Nicklaus as the solely three-time winner in historical past. (McIlroy may also obtain this if he performs, after ending first in 2019 and ’25.)
Scheffler has appeared semihuman the previous few weeks, as Paolo famous. Slow begins have plagued him in 2026; his scoring common in the last three rounds (67.0) is almost 3.5 strokes higher than the first (70.4) this season. He would not appear to have a solution for why he has been gradual out of the gates.
However, getting off to a quick begin at TPC Sawgrass hasn’t been an issue for Scheffler, who is 13 underneath on the first three holes throughout his profession.
Two-time main winner Collin Morikawa has been sizzling and is taking part in with a number of confidence, and reigning Tour Championship winner Tommy Fleetwood continues to be taking part in nicely.
But I’ll roll with Scheffler once more if Rory is not round.
2. Besides Rory and Scottie, which different participant will you be watching the closest this week?
Uggetti: Maybe it is previous information by now, however the Brooks Koepka expertise continues to be intriguing, particularly this week. This is the first time Koepka is teeing it up on Tour with the prime gamers in the world all a part of the area. And whereas the PGA Tour makes an attempt to not-so-subtly flip the Players extra right into a major-like occasion, it is going to be curious to see how Koepka will get up for the problem as he often does with larger occasions.
This course would not precisely match him like a glove. In seven begins, he has by no means had a top-10 end, and he missed the reduce the final time he performed this occasion in 2022. And then there’s the manner he has performed the well-known par-3 seventeenth gap. In 20 rounds at TPC Sawgrass, Koepka is 20-over par on the gap.
“That 17th hole has gotten me over the years,” Koepka mentioned. “I’ve played good rounds here; that’s just kind of the one bugaboo that always gets me.”
Although he struggled in his first two begins again on the PGA Tour, Koepka confirmed flashes of his previous self when he shot 6-under 65 in the last spherical at PGA National a number of weeks in the past. This week, nevertheless, will probably be a extra true measurement of the place his sport stands amongst the Tour’s finest.
Schlabach: Two-time main winner Xander Schauffele was exhibiting indicators of rounding into his earlier championship kind earlier than slipping in the last 36 holes in final week’s Arnold Palmer Invitational, wherein he tied for twenty fourth at 2 underneath.
After recovering from a painful rib damage that derailed his 2025 season, Schauffele had good showings when he tied for nineteenth at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and for seventh in the Genesis Invitational.
Schauffele is a two-time runner-up in The Players, in his first begin in 2018 and once more in 2024. His quick sport has been distinctive at the Stadium Course — he is tied for second in strokes gained: round the inexperienced (0.66) since 2018.
Will we begin to see the Schauffele who dominated the sport, together with Scheffler, in 2024?
3. Sleepers for this week?
Uggetti: How about one other previous winner? Rickie Fowler gained this occasion over 10 years in the past and has gone via many ups and downs since then, however his sport appears to be trending up to date this season.
Fowler has made 5 begins and his worst end is a T-28 at Riviera. He notched 4 top-20 finishes and a T-9 final week at Bay Hill. He is seventeenth in strokes gained to date this season and, save for his sport round the inexperienced (157th), Fowler is taking part in some of the finest golf he has in recent times. So much has modified since he gained at TPC Sawgrass in 2015, however this can be nearly as good every week as any for him to name on his expertise.
Schlabach: I’m undecided a former Players Championship winner and the Twenty eighth-ranked golfer in the world qualifies as a sleeper, however Yes Woo Kim You have an awesome observe report at TPC Sawgrass and you’ve got been hanging the ball in addition to anybody this season.
The Korean golfer has already performed a whopping seven instances this season, ending in the prime 15 in 5. He was runner-up in the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines and tied for third in the WM Phoenix Open.
Heading into this week, Kim is second on tour in strokes gained: method (1,198) and tee to inexperienced (1,947). He already has 23 rounds underneath par in 2026.
Kim, who as a 21-year-old gained the 2017 Players Championship, is aware of his manner round the Stadium Course.
Jake Knappwho is ranked forty second in the world, was taking part in spectacularly earlier than he needed to pull out of the API final week due to sickness. He completed in the prime 11 in every of his first 5 begins, together with a solo sixth in the Genesis Invitational.
There is not a lot Knapp hasn’t executed proper to date in 2026. He ranks second in strokes gained: complete (2,183) and fourth in placing (1,095). He’s additionally seventh in driving distance (319.4 yards), though accuracy off the tee (58.6%) has been a problem at instances.
4. How do you suppose the course will play this week?
Uggetti: After strolling round TPC Sawgrass for a number of days now, it’s clear that the Tour is making a concerted effort to set this course up a bit tougher than it has in recent times. The tough is thicker — Justin Rose confirmed as a lot when he mentioned his caddie advised him it was half an inch longer — and the greens appeared to have a bit extra of a firmer bounce to them to date.
I watched Tuesday as Wyndham Clark hit a sand wedge into the twelfth inexperienced and the ball bounced about waist excessive earlier than touchdown again down on the floor. On Monday, Adam Schenk hit two balls into the tough proper of 18 and had bother discovering them amongst the moguls. Chipping round the inexperienced will probably be trickier and it seems some collars round the water have been shaved down a bit as nicely.
At the danger of utilizing the phrase “major championship test”, it seems that we are going to see a more durable Sawgrass this 12 months than most. And though there may be rain scheduled in the forecast for Thursday, it doesn’t seem that it is going to be vital sufficient to really change the situations.
5. Prediction for the winner?
Uggetti: Give me Ludvig Åberg. Last week’s end at Bay Hill (T-3) and the T-20 at Riviera have been promising and it seems that he has discovered a groove after a tough begin to the season on the West Coast.
With this course probably taking part in more durable due to firmer greens and longer tough than regular, a man like Aberg who hits it very excessive and really straight is ready as much as do nicely. If his putter can catch some warmth (it has been the worst a part of his sport to date this season), search for him to be in rivalry come Sunday.
Schlabach: When doubtful, I’ll go together with the golfer who has been most dominant for a lot of the previous three seasons. Yes, Scheffler’s ball-striking hasn’t been as much as his historic requirements, however the man is because of have a number of weeks off once in a while.
Scheffler will be part of the Golden Bear on Sunday as the solely three-time winner in Players Championship historical past — and he’ll full the profession Grand Slam in the US Open at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club in June.
