The Limerick Summary: 2018 THE PLAYERS

Winner: Webb Simpson

Around the wider world of golf: Vicky Hurst won the Self Regional Healthcare Foundation Women’s Health Classic on the Symetra Tour; Stephan Jaeger won the Web.com Tour’s Knoxville Open; Tyson Alexander won the Costa Rica Open on the PGA TOUR Latinoamérica; Todd Baek won the weather-shortened Haikou Championship on the PGA Tour China; Toru Taniguchi won the Japan PGA Championship on the Japan Golf Tour; Malcolm Kokocinski won the AB Bank Bangladesh Open on the Asian Tour; and Joakim Lagergren won the ET's Rocco Forte Sicilian Open.



What is there to say? Webb Simpson just proved that you can't keep a good player down.

Or perhaps I should say that you can't anchor him to the past.

Webb hasn't won on Tour in a few years -- since 2013, to be exact -- despite being a US Open champ and being heralded as an up-and-coming player to watch. That was all before the anchoring ban outlawed his belly putter. And it was the beginning of a very dark journey in search of a viable alternative.

As everyone learned this week, Webb Simpson is one of the few players to succeed in that journey. He ranked as the #10 putter on Tour entering this week, and will no doubt be higher than that when the stats are updated.

He put that same determination into his journey around TPC Sawgrass this past week, and the rest of the field learned just how true the expectations of a few years back were. After blistering the field the first three days, he dug deep on Sunday and held on to win. Decisively!

David Duval noted that Webb was even walking differently at THE PLAYERS, carrying himself with a confidence that David hasn't seen for quite some time. It will be fun to see how Webb's career progresses from here, now that he's proven to himself that his new putter stroke can handle the heat. And just for good measure, he'll have this hot new Limerick Summary to keep him nice and toasty for a while!

For three days Webb cruised through the field;
But when struggles came, he didn’t yield.
Like the anchoring ban
That crushed many a man,
They gave Webb something on which to build.

The photo came from the front page at theplayers.com.

My "5 to Watch" at THE PLAYERS

Time to pick my "5 to Watch" for this week's major, THE PLAYERS. And yes, I call it a major. The World Golf Hall of Fame ranks it with the majors, so that's good enough for me. Besides, just because you do or don't call something by a particular name doesn't change what it is, so the use -- or lack thereoft -- of the label "major" doesn't change anything.

Enough of my mini-rant. Let's pick some winners!



Because TPC Sawgrass doesn't favor any particular style of play, we often get surprising winners. Did any of you have Si Woo Kim on your fantasy radar last year? I didn't think so. And that makes picking winners at THE PLAYERS a tricky situation. Quite literally, anybody in the field could hoist that crystal trophy at week's end.

Even picking a winner based on recent form is a bit of a crapshoot. Again, all I have to do is point to Si Woo Kim last year -- he wasn't in good form at all. Nevertheless, it's probably my best chance of picking a winner... so here I go.

• I have to say, I really like Ian Poulter's chances. Poults posted a second here last year, and has continued to show good form ever since. And with a win at the Houston Open, I think he's playing well enough to get it done this week.
• Likewise, Henrik Stenson has been showing really good form despite not winning recently. And we should remember that he is a former champion at this event. Sawgrass is built for that towering 3-wood of his, and I see no reason he couldn't break his win drought this week. Drought-breaking has been something of a habit on Tour this year. ;-)
• One player who shows up on a number of fantasy lists is Tommy Fleetwood, and I agree with the pick. Tommy has consistently played well in big events, and I see no reason that he couldn't snag a PLAYERS title for his first PGA Tour win.
• Yes, my list has a decided European bias; that's because so many of them are playing well. But let me throw Rickie Fowler into the mix. His win at Sawgrass was one of the great performances at any event in recent memory and, despite a few stumbles lately, his play at the Masters showed his game is still in great shape. Returning to the site of perhaps his greatest victory thus far -- and playing with Tiger and Phil the first two days -- could be just what he needs to add a second PLAYERS to his resume (I believe you Euros out there call it a CV).
• As for my flier, I'm taking Tiger Woods. I understand why the Big Cat isn't on anybody's radar but -- and I admit, I'm surprised to hear myself say this -- I think he's being underestimated this week. He's the only two-time winner in the field; he can play around his driver on most holes; those irons he put in play last week certainly seem to be working; and let's be clear here, do any of us really believe Tiger's putter is going to stay cold? I don't.

And my pick is... look, I really, really, REALLY like Poulter's chances this week. I like what I hear in his pressers, and I like what I see on the course, and I think you can't overestimate how much the Ryder Cup is driving him. I REALLY ought to pick him...

But I'm taking Tiger. I can't shake the feeling that he's going to catch lightning in a bottle this week. Hey, he's had three Top5s this year so far, all of them realistic chances to win.

• He had a T2 at the Honda Classic, on a course he hadn't played in decades. Where was that event? Florida.
• He had another T2 at the Valspar Championship, a really tight course. Where was that event? Florida.
• He had a T5 at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, which really challenged his game. Where was that event? FLORIDA!

And now he's teeing it up at Sawgrass, in Florida. His putting has been wonderful on courses in Florida. And he's playing the first two days with Phil, who already has a win this season.

Oh yeah. I'm picking Tiger this week. Stranger things have happened. Like Si Woo Kim.

A Good Move for the European Tour as Well

In the midst of the buzz about the PGA Championship moving to May and THE PLAYERS to March in 2019, you may have missed the ET's announcement. These moves stand to benefit the ET in a big way, and their response demonstrates that they recognize it.



When the PGA moves to May, that will make the Open Championship the final major of the year. Think about it -- the last major of the year will now be the oldest championship in golf, and the final act of the major season will be crowning the Champion Golfer of the Year. Somehow, that just feels right to me.

The promotional benefits of this new position also make perfect sense, as it will increase the perceived importance of the Open. (Let's face it, it seems like a bit of a letdown to have one more major after the Open is over. The Open is... foundational to the game. That's no insult to the PGA, it's just that the Open is about 50 years older. Foundational.) And now, there will be a nine-month gap until the Masters, not just eight. There will definitely be an increased feeling of necessity to get that last major.

But there's more. The ET will be moving the BMW-PGA to September in 2019, and I think that's going to help them as well. As it stands, the BMW-PGA -- the ET's equivalent of THE PLAYERS -- has been played the week after THE PLAYERS, and it put some stress on players wanting to play both events. Some would skip one or the other. That will no longer be a problem.

Ken Schofield even suggested that the ET might seek a co-sanction with the PGA Tour, thus improving the strength of the field. It's already played at Wentworth, a course with a long history. It's the headquarters of the PGA ET and has hosted the flagship event since 1984. In addition, it was the host of the 1953 Ryder Cup and the home of the HSBC World Match Play Championship from 1964 through 2007 A lot of big names won trophies there, and the event deserves more attention.

Even better, the BMW-PGA will probably be played after the FedExCup and will certainly be much closer to the final stretch of the Race to Dubai, lending even more importance to it. With the big events of the PGA Tour finished for the season, many more players will likely take some time to play the ET, which will help balance the world points rankings.

While it remains to be seen how all the necessary event shuffling will be handled by the three organizations, this new era of cooperation looks to be very promising for all parties. And that's good for all of us fans.

In Case You Missed It (Video)

Yeah, it's hard to believe ANYBODY missed it. But it's still worth posting. Here's Sergio's hole-in-one on the 17th at Sawgrass:



Is this an omen of better things for Sergio -- first the Masters win, and now a hole-in-one in his first tournament back? I don't know, but I'm sure Adam Scott doesn't hope so. He followed Sergio with a ball in the water, then went double-double to give up four strokes and the lead at THE PLAYERS.

I still don't expect Sergio to play particularly well this week. He's probably still emotionally spent, and he needed the hole-in-one just to get back to one-over for the day. But it's great to see him have some things go his way, after it took so long for him to break through and get that first major.

My "5 to Watch" at THE PLAYERS

Once again it's time for me to show my ignorance and try to pick five players most likely to win a big event. This time, it's THE PLAYERS.



You all know the basics of this event, as THE PLAYERS has been played at TPC Sawgrass for decades now. The Pete Dye layout holds the unique distinction of being totally neutral as a playing field -- it doesn't favor long hitters over short, or old players over young.

The one prejudice it holds is that it hates defending champions. In all its years at Sawgrass, THE PLAYERS has never seen a repeat champion.

Therefore, I won't be picking Jason Day this week.

However, the overall fairness of the course doesn't give me much more help than that. Anybody could conceivably win this week, as long as they're on their game. And the changes made to the course for this year's playing should magnify that wide-open mentality.

One special mention: Although he typically plays well at Sawgrass, I'm not including Sergio in my list. This is simply because he hasn't played since winning the Masters and I expect a bit of "major hangover" this week. And he's earned it!

But that doesn't make much of a dent in the potential winners either. Five seems a very small number at this event.

• After showing very little rust at the Wells Fargo last week, I continue to include Dustin Johnson in these lists. As long as he can keep reasonable control of his irons -- he doesn't really need woods -- I think he can get his first win at Sawgrass.
• Aside from the missed cut at Zurich, Rickie Fowler has been playing very well this year. And we all remember his dramatic win here in 2015. He's done it before...
• First-timers don't often win at Sawgrass, but Jon Rahm could certainly be the exception. He already has one win this season and, coupled with his usually straight long game and his touch around the greens, this could easily be his second win of 2017.
• Justin Rose. I just have a feeling about him.
• And for my flier, I'm taking Wesley Bryan. Wes hasn't played particularly well since winning the Heritage, and he missed the cut last week. But I'm expecting some magic when I pick a flier, and who better to perform magic than a trick shot artist?

And my pick to win is... SURPRISE! I'm taking Justin Rose this week. I can't tell you why. DJ has every reason to win on his side, but I can't shake the idea that Rose is primed to win.

I guess we'll find out soon enough.