PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — No player has ever won back-to-back Players Championships, but defending champion Webb Simpson is out to change that this week at TPC Sawgrass as the tournament begins Thursday.
Asked if he can break that trend, Simpson said, “I’m confident in what I’ve done up to this point and that’s basically all I can control. I’ve had a good week of practice and prep, and my goal is to play a great Round 1, hope I see you a lot this week, be back in this seat, but, yeah, I mean, it’s hard to kind of go to the end game when there’s a lot ahead of us.’’
Asked what his theory is on why no one has been about to defend his Players title, Simpson said, “I think one of the reasons is [the course] doesn’t really fit one style of play. I think it’s easy to see why Brooks Koepka won back-to-back U.S. Opens. [Those have been on] long, tough golf course[s].
“I’m not saying Brooks doesn’t hit it straight, but fairways are generally wider the last couple years and a bomber should have won. They can hit it as hard as they want, as far as they want. I think there’s more factors, there’s more intricacies to this golf course, so some year you might come in playing OK, get poor bounces or couple bad club selections here or there, wind comes up on 17. But I think it’s largely due to the fact that you just have so many different types of winners and it’s hard to know who is going to play well this week.’’
Koepka enters the week still confident off his two major championship wins last year.
“I’ve got a lot more confidence now than I’ve ever had,’’ Koepka said “That’s all it is. The majors are, I don’t want to say easier, but I feel it kind of is. You’ve got so many guys playing, a couple of them are mentally going to beat themselves up. Just in contention, if it’s tough, certain guys are going to throw themselves out, and it really kind of whittles down to a few players. Especially by Saturday, you can pretty much almost predict who is going to be there come Sunday.
“That’s what I love about going to a major. Half the guys you’ve already beat them by the time you’ve stepped on the first tee.’’
Koepka is agitated by missing the cut last week at Bay Hill, because one of his goals has been consistency.
“I’m starting over this week,’’ he said. “I always took a lot of pride in that [not missing cuts]. It bugged me a lot last week. I mean I’ve missed three cuts in the last three years. Two of them are at Bay Hill. I enjoyed being very consistent and making sure that when you don’t have your ‘A’ game that you’re still able to compete and be there on the weekend.
“Your top level’s always going to be up here. You’re just always trying to rise it on the bottom. I’ve felt like I’ve done a much better job of that over the last few years, and even putting myself in contention.’’
Francesco Molinari, fresh off his win at Bay Hill on Sunday, said he drove north from Orlando with his caddie after the Arnold Palmer Invitational and had pizza to celebrate.
Molinari has an odd history at the Players Championship, having played it eight times, missing the cut four times and finishing in the top-10 four times.
