Rory McIlroy, Jason Day, Jordan Spieth, Danny Willett, Francesco Molinari and so on and so forth: it's time for The Players, the so-called fifth major, one of the most prestigious tournaments on the world circuit. We find 144 players on the field, 47 of the top 50 and 10,5 million dollars are up for grabs, almost 1,9 million for the first and the world leadership, because the points are many, while the decimals that separate the top three ranking players are few.
It will be four days of high tension for the number one, the Australian Day, the number two, the Texan Spieth and the number three, the Northern Irishman McIlory. The Players is a dream for everyone, including defending champion Rickie Fowler, who will attempt to repeat the feat. The appointment, from today to Sunday, is in Florida, in Ponte Vedra Beach. The course is the TPC Sawgrass Stadium Course, a 6500m par 72 course.
For the first time, after the victory at the Masters, the English Willet is also back in the game; while Spieth will have to face the first major commitment after the disappointment of Augusta. Fowler, on the other hand, came off a close defeat last Sunday at the Wells Fargo Open. In short, there are plenty of reasons for stress and revenge and this will help make the show more interesting. Molinari comes to Florida on the heels of an improving game following last week's 17th-place finish.
Today is the first start, on the 10th hole at 7,15 (local time) with Jason Gore and Graham DeLaet. To follow, among others, also Bubba Watson, Henrik Stenson, Adam Scott, Dustin Johnson, Justin Rose, Phil Mickelson, Sergio Garcia, Jim Furyk. The tournament is broadcast live, every evening on Sky Sports.
On the same days, on the other side of the world, the AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open is being played on the island of Mauritius, a combined tournament between the European Tour and the Asian Tour on the route of the Four Seasons GC at Anahita in Beau Champs. Four Azzurri at the starting tees: Edoardo Molinari, Francesco Laporta, Nino Bertasio and Nicolò Ravano.
Nino Bertasio, the first of the Italians on the money list, was particularly eagerly awaited after two excellent performances with fifth place in the Trophée Hassan II and eleventh place in the previous Open de España. Overall, in the year of his debut on the circuit, in eight races he missed only two cuts and also achieved ninth position in the Australian PGA.
Edoardo Molinari seems to be recovering, given the good results in two consecutive tournaments after the first eight in which he hadn't passed the cut. The prize pool is one million euros.
