They are not about to say it out loud.
No one really wants to go on the record when it comes to stuff like this.
No one wants to speak up and tell the world how much the players secretly hate the Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass.
It is, after all, the PGA Tour’s flagship event. Like it or not, you have to show up, like it or not, you have to grit your teeth and bear it because, after all, just in case you happen to have a great week, there was a big fat check for $1,890,000 waiting for the winner, and last Sunday it was previously unheralded Si Woo Kim.
So there’s the golf-viewing world, watching the lost-ball-fest at the 17th and 18th where probably 100 balls were drowned over the final two days. There’s the audience wondering where all the big names are?
Jordan Spieth missed the cut. He has no love for the place, doesn’t suit his game in any way.
Defending champion Jason Day kept the winner’s curse alive. He made darn sure, went and shot 80 the final round, seven-over, tied 60th, good work for the world’s No. 4. Seriously? You think he LIKES that golf course? Maybe last year.
Justin Rose didn’t want Day to feel lonesome. He put up his own snowman, world’s No. 8 goes T65.
Give Rickie Fowler credit, he avoided the dreadful snowman but his closing 79 left him in that tie for 60th with J-Day. You think Rickie cares?
That back thing started buggin’ Rory McIlroy again. He closed with a 75, T35, off to the MRI tube where he found out that rib problem from the Middle East is back again.
Sergio Garcia hung in there for a while. Still riding high from his Masters win, his closing 78 sent him crashing into a tie for 30th.
Henrik Stenson’s 71 on Sunday moved him into a tie for 16th.
No. 3 Hideki Matsuyama shot 69 on Sunday, good work and it jumped him all the way into a tie for 22nd.
Now, one guy who didn’t phone it in on Sunday was the world’s No. 1. Dustin Johnson shot the day’s best round, a four-under par 68 that jumped him into a tie for 12th, didn’t have to look far to find him. He’s still the best out there.
Finally, Adam Scott saved face for the top 10. His 70 earned him a tie for sixth. Three cheers for Adam Scott!!!
So when you see the best players in the world shooting such laughable numbers, you would think that maybe this golf course isn’t all the PGA Tour builds it up to be. When you put water into play on 16 of the 18 holes, that’s gotta be a head-scratcher.
What the Stadium Course gave us was a Sunday without drama, unless you want to count the spat between Golf Channel analyst Brandel Chamblee and runner-up Ian Poulter as drama.
Seems Chamblee dissed Poulter for not going for the 16th with his second shot. Did you check out that lie Poulter had? The lie had “this one’s going right” written all over it had Poulter tried it.
Besides Poulter’s not a power guy.
There was no drama once Si Woo found dry land at the 17th, really not much at all.
You think J.B. Holmes likes that golf course?
Go find the last time a 54-hole leader in the PGA Tour event shot 84 the final day.
Seriously, the course leaves a lot to be desired.
The re-designed 12th hole was supposed to create some drama. Sorry, it was simply a boring layup hole.
The good news for the gang is they don’t have to come back to this place for another 360 days or so.
And you know, deep down inside, they are all happy about that.
