First-timers expect big challenge at PLAYERS
By Melanie Hauser, PGATOUR.COM Correspondent
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. -- Kevin Stadler has been coming here for, well, forever.
| First-time appearance | |||||||||||||||
| 2008 PLAYERS Championship | |||||||||||||||
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He kicked around practice rounds with his dad, Craig Stadler. Was 2 years old when the old man tied for sixth in 1984. But no, Kevin didn't caddy here. He only tried that once at Bay Hill and, well, that was enough.
Now it's his turn. At 28, Kevin is playing in his first PLAYERS and no, dad isn't caddying. Nor is he offering any advice. And that's OK. Stads the younger is feeling right at home.
"I don't know if I have something wrong with me or not, but it doesn't feel any different,'' he said, pausing to smile.
"... It is only Tuesday. I'm sure (it'll be a) different feeling come the weekend.''
Come Thursday, actually. That's when Stadler and 13 others will tee it up for their first PLAYERS. At their home course. Against the best field in golf. For the biggest purse -- $9.5 million -- in the game.
It's enough to make 14 hearts race a little faster. Even the ones fortunate enough to have played in a major like Johnson Wagner. But then, Wagner didn't have time to think about the Masters. One minute he was winning the Shell Houston Open, the next he was in Augusta.
Here, he and others, like Stadler and Jeff Overton, have had plenty of time to contemplate the tournament at the Pete Dye layout since they qualified at the end of last year.
"It's exciting to be here,'' Wagner said. "It definitely has the feel of a major championship. It doesn't feel like a regular week. The golf course is tremendous. It's playing firm and fast. The same you'd want to play at a major championship.''
But the one thing that surprised Wagner?
"The greens are a lot smaller than as I thought,'' he said. "And they're hard to hit. Very undulating. I didn't expect it to be as hard tee to green.''
Stadler played the course a handful of times as a kid, but it's different now. Wagner and Brendon de Jonge dropped by on their way back from the Sugar Bowl four years ago. Overton played here four or fives times in the spring, Matt Jones teed it up with Charley Hoffman on Sunday and Nicholas Thompson played for the first time Tuesday.
"The greens are firm,'' said Thompson, who qualified in large part due to a pair of fourth-place ties at both the Zurich Classic of New Orleans and the EDS Byron Nelson Championship. "I like that they're the best Bermuda I've seen and there's a premium on driving the ball in the fairway and preferably driving it long. The more difficult the circumstances when it comes to firmness and narrow fairways ... that's what I like.''
Overton said just being on the property -- the home of the PGA TOUR -- is phenomenal.
"I have to go seize the moment and love every minute of it,'' he said. " The whole complex is just phenomenal. Everything. The course, the locker room, the pro shop, the smoothies ... "
And then, there's the signature hole -- the par-3 17th.
"I think anytime you get all those people surrounding an island ... '' Overton said . "You can hit it a foot and everyone goes crazy and you get a tingle down your spine or you can knock it in the drink and everybody boos you and you can want to run as fast as you can to the clubhouse. It's going to be phenomenal to get out and compete.''
Yes, the 17th has everyone's attention. Jones and Hoffman's caddies took a swing each on Sunday and tied -- with double bogeys.
"I've spoken to so many people about 17,'' he said. "How they say not as bad as you think and others say, oh yes, it's much worse than you think.
"It's an intimidating shot. The wind's hard to judge on that hole. Walking up 16 and seeing the green it's an experience.''
Added Thompson, "I hit it 10-12 feet and didn't even putt." Why? "I don't putt to the hole in practice rounds.''
But he knows come Thursday, it will be a tough test. Just maybe not the toughest.
"Nothing is more nervewracking than the 16th at FBR (Open),'' he said.
Nothing is more exciting though, than a players' first opportunity to play against the best field in the game.
"It starts to make my heart beat a little,'' Overton said.
These PLAYERS rookies come from varied backgrounds, different countries and a variety of experiences. They qualified from last year, from this year's FedExCup points list and from the official world rankings and they've won -- not all at the PGA TOUR level -- but they know what it takes.
"It's what I work for,'' Thompson said of playing in events like this, majors and invitationals. "I work to get in position and in position to win and I haven't broken through on this tour yet. But the more times you put yourself in that position, the more your odds go up of winning.''
And, yes, it could happen here. Jack Nicklaus (1974), Craig Perks (2002) and Hal Sutton (1983) all won THE PLAYERS on their first tries (Nicklaus in the inaugural event).
"My favorite memory was when my good friend Craig Perks chipped in on 16, made a long putt on 17 and chipped in again on 18,'' said PLAYERS rookie Tim Wilkinson. "I played with him the winter before he won it. I was still an amateur and then he went on to win THE PLAYERS."
Even if one of the rookies doesn't catch lightning in a bottle, this is another step in their careers -- toward a continued run in the top 125, a move up the Official World Rankings list or annual spots in all the game's biggest events. A lot on the line, Thompson said.
"It's not considered a major, but it's almost considered one by the guys out here,'' Overton said. "When you play here, you know you belong.''
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