The 2022 Players Championship starts Thursday morning at the legendary TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla. and there’s no shortage of storylines heading into a tournament that has a stunning $20 million purse with $3.6 million going to the winner.
Unfortunately, it looks like weather is going to be a big factor as it is expected to rain a lot Thursday, Friday, and Saturday before being sunny and chilly on Sunday.
So it’s going to be a wild one at Sawgrass. This season has already been a wild one, with a bunch of first-time winners but with also big names lurking and getting some wins, too.
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Let’s take a look at three burning questions heading into the Players.
Can Justin Thomas be the first player ever to win back-to-back Players Championships?
So many legends of the game – including Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods – have won the Players but nobody has won it two years in a row. Thomas picked up a thrilling win last year with a masterful performance on Sunday and seems poised to contend again this year.
Thomas is coming in hot, as he has two top 10s in his last two events – he finished 8th at the Phoenix Open and 6th at the Genesis Open. He’s one of the best players in the game and has everything it takes to get it done again at Sawgrass.
Can Jon Rahm win his first Players?
The No. 1 player in the world hasn’t won a Players Championship yet but it feels like he’s on his way to getting it done, as he finished 12th here in 2019 and 9th in 2021. He has three top 10s already this season and is coming off a 17th place finish last week at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. It feels like this could be his time to win another huge tournament.
How much of a factor will the weather be?
The forecast looks brutal with 100 percent chance of rain on Thursday and Friday. Things get a little better on Saturday when there will be just a 95-percent chance of rain! I’m kidding, of course. Saturday should be brutal, too. There have been warnings of flash floods, which isn’t ideal. It will be sunny on Sunday but the high temperature is expected to be just 53 degrees. So yeah, it’s going to be interesting to see just how much golf they can get in over the first three days and how well the best golfers can play under such difficult conditions.
All I can say is – buckle up!
