Soggy Players Championship is Now a Test of Endurance

After 4.8 inches of rain over two days at TPC Sawgrass, the players' enemy is now wind of up to 38 mph.

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – It’s not a day for the faint of heart.

The first round of the Players Championship restarted Saturday at noon after a total of 4.8 inches of rain drenched a TPC Sawgrass course that at times over the past two days looked more like marshland than a championship golf course.

Yet, early Saturday afternoon, the challenges were not the wet conditions but the windy and falling temperatures that welcomed the 47 players that waited two days to complete their rounds.

Players faced a 25-mph wind with gusts of 38 mph and a temperature that moved from the 70’s early Saturday morning to under 60 degrees by early afternoon and is forecast to dip under 50 degrees as the sun will be setting. The Players Championship is becoming more of an endurance test than a golf tournament.

A perfect argument for the pure carnage of Saturday’s early play is at the par-3, 17th hole. The difficulty of hitting the island green was increased dramatically as Brooks Koepka, Scottie Scheffler and Xander Schauffele resumed their round on the 17th -- and all three found the water with their tee shots.

Koepka attempted to hit the green with an 8-iron that carried 125 yards and landed short of land on a hole that was playing 146 yards. Scheffler’s 7-iron shot flew the green.

The last seven groups (21 players) to finish the 17th hole after the restart were a cumulative 22-over-par.

Some players changed clubs between rounds because of the wind. After Collin Morikawa finished his first-round 73, his caddie, J.J. Jakovac, ran to the locker room and replaced a 5-wood with a 2-iron, to keep the ball low and hopefully under the wind.

Tommy Fleetwood and Tom Hoge continue to share the lead with 6-under 66. Both players finished on Thursday. Fleetwood’s second round is scheduled to begin at 5:11 p.m. and Hoge will start his second round at 6:28 p.m.