Rory McIlroy hopes to produce an encore performance at the 9.5 million-dollar Players Championship starting here on Thursday, but he will have to fend off one of the best fields of the year to win the world?s richest tournament.
McIlroy, coming off his stunning final round 62 to win the PGA Tour event in Charlotte on Sunday, is among the favorites at the Sawgrass TPC, where it?s been notoriously hard over the years to pick the winner.
Tiger Woods, for example, has a relatively mediocre record here. He has won only once, in 2001, and has not finished inside the top 10 since.
Phil Mickelson, who can overtake embattled Woods as world number one if he wins on Sunday and Woods finishes worse than fifth, also has one victory here, in 2007, but neither he nor Woods has contended regularly on a course that often penalizes their wayward drives.
McIlroy, with the monkey off his back after scoring his maiden US PGA Tour victory, should be able to adopt a relaxed, nothing-to-lose attitude.
"It?s great to get a win so early over here," the Northern Irishman said Wednesday, a day after celebrating his 21st birthday with 40 or 50 friends at a nearby restaurant.
"It has taken a few of the European guys quite a bit longer to do it. I?ve been a pro two-and-a-half years, I?ve won two tournaments. It?s about time to start winning a bit more.
"But I don?t want to get too carried away. This win doesn?t mean I?m going to contend in the majors right away. I?ve got 25, 30 years to go after the majors and more tournaments but I?m just going to take my time and try to figure them out and find the right way to prepare for them."
Ireland's Padraig Harrington may be one to watch this week after a promising performance last week, equal seventh in Charlotte.
"Last week was a good tournament for me, because some parts of my game that I would consider weak were strong, and some of the strengths of my game probably didn?t perform as well as I would have liked, so it showed a lot of potential last week and I left very happy," Harrington said.
Even though the rough here is not as long as in some years past, Harrington thinks it?s imperative to hit the fairways.
"I suppose somebody?s going to get away with missing a few fairways but in general you don?t want to miss too many," said the 2003 and 2004 runner-up.
With due respect to Harrington, most interest will center on Woods, as he tries to avoid missing two consecutive cuts for the first time in his career.
Woods, who is rumored to be in the process of splitting with wife Elin and coach Hank Haney, has struggled mightily with his driver in his only two starts this year.
Several holes here are unforgiving off the tee, particularly the par-four 14th and 18th. Both have water on the left and penal rough on the right.
If Woods sprays his drive right on those two holes, it will be a sign that he has no confidence in his swing. If he finds the fairway, it will be a positive sign.
Henrik Stenson is defending champion, but he has no great form to speak of and is long odds to become the event?s first back-to-back champion.
Copyright 2010  AFP Global Edition
