PLAYERS Championship, Monday practice round

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The 35th PLAYERS Championship will tee off Thursday from TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla.

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PGATOUR.COM's The Live Report is on the scene at TPC Sawgrass for this week's PLAYERS Championship, where we'll provide updates all day long for each round, including the practice rounds, so check back often. (All timestamps are Eastern Time.) Facebook | PGA TOUR Twitter | Twitter with PGATOUR.COM's Brian Wacker

LATE AFTERNOON PRACTICE SESSION (5:00 p.m.): The sun is back out, albeit low in the sky, and the wind has picked up here at TPC Sawgrass, where a number of players are still on the range practicing.

Rory McIlroy was just headed out, finishing up a phone interview, while others like K.J. Choi were still pounding on the range after hours of work. Last week's winner Sean O'Hair was also on site, though he only spent time on the putting green after winning in Charlotte on Sunday.

One player who wasn't here yet was Tiger Woods. He'll be out for his usual early-round practice session tomorrow, coming in from his yacht "Privacy" which is currently docked somewhere off the coast of St. Augustine. -- Brian Wacker

THE AVERAGE PLAYERS CHAMPION (4:25 p.m.): In 35 PLAYERS Championships, the champion has ranged from 23-year-old Adam Scott to 48-year-old Fred Funk, and from 5-foot-7 Lee Trevino to 6-foot-3 Davis Love III. Here is the average of PLAYERS Champions:

RAIN HAS LEFT (4:15 p.m.): It looked like we would have some sustained downpours here, but as often the case is in Florida, the rain came and left and now the sun is back out and so are the players. -- Brian Wacker

RAIN HAS ARRIVED (4:00 p.m.): So much for those practice rounds. With the wind picking up and clouds rolling in, the sky just opened up a few minutes ago and it's now pouring here at TPC Sawgrass, where players who were on the course are srcambling to get back to the clubhouse.

The forecast for the week here, however, has partly cloudy skies on Thursday, Friday and Saturday with sunshine on Sunday. Temperatures are expected to be in the mid-to-high 80s all week. -- Brian Wacker

MEDIA DAY WASHED OUT (3:15 p.m.): Much of the mass of media that will be covering this week's PLAYERS Championship hasn't arrived here yet. Some of them were attending U.S. Open media day at Bethpage Black, where a Tiger Woods phone press conference and a round of golf was scheduled. Unfortunately for those in attendance, they were rained out. -- Brian Wacker

PERKED UP (3:10 p.m.): Craig Perks was just making his way through the driving range, stopping to say hello to seemingly everyone, and why not given his popularity. One of the PGA TOUR's true nice guys, Perks, who won his one and only TOUR event here in 2002, now spends his time teaching at the new teaching institute at Le Triomphe, which opened last fall in Louisiana. This week, he'll be helping anchor our Live @ coverage, which you can read more about here. -- Brian Wacker

BADGER BOYS (3:00 p.m.): Steve Stricker and Zurich Classic of New Orleans winner Jerry Kelly sidled up next to each other at the driving range before going out and playing a practice round together this afternoon.

Kelly as you might recall got some key putting tips from his fellow Badger state buddy before going out to win for the first time in nearly seven years. Kelly was mum on what exactly the tip was, as was Stricker, but he was a little more talkative about the oysters he downed in his post-win press conference.

Kelly loves New Orleans and loves the food there, but that started long before he made it to the PGA TOUR. When Kelly was playing the Nationwide Tour -- which will celebrate its 20th year with a special gathering that Kelly, among others will attend tonight -- he became a fan of the Crescent City's cuisine when the tour would play there. -- Brian Wacker

HONORING THE NATIONWIDE TOUR (2:30 p.m.): Later today at TPC Sawgrass, the Nationwide Tour will host a "20th year Reunion" in conjunction with the celebration of the tour's 20th season. All former Nationwide Tour players in THE PLAYERS field this week have been invited to attend the barbecue.

Three former Nationwide Tour graduates have won THE PLAYERS -- Stephen Ames (2006), Craig Perks (2002) and David Duval (1999) -- and in all, 245 PGA TOUR titles have been won by former Nationwide Tour players.

In the field this week are three graduates of last year's The 25 who gained the TOUR cards for 2009 by finishing in the Top 25 of the 2008 Nationwide Tour money list -- Matt Bettencourt, Jeff Klauk and Scott Piercy.

SNEDEKER OUT (1:50 p.m.): It's been a rough year for Brandt Snedeker, who has missed 7 of 10 cuts with just one finish inside the top 40. That was a T17 at Bay Hill. He won't get a chance to improve on that this week, either, after he withdrew from the field with a rib injury on Monday.

That means that Jason Dufner, who finished T5 at last week's Quail Hollow Championship, will take his place in the field. This will be Dufner's first PLAYERS Championship, though he's having a strong year with three top 10s, including each of the last two weeks.

As a result of Dufner getting in, Webb Simpson is now the first alternate should anyone else drop out this week. -- Brian Wacker

HAPPY BIRTHDAY (1:35 p.m.): As of Monday, we can no longer call Rory McIlroy a teenager.

The Northern Ireland sensation, who finished in the top 20 in his first five PGA TOUR starts this year, officially turned 20 on Monday. But don't worry -- he's still the youngest player in the field this week.

Should he win THE PLAYERS this week, McIlroy would become the third-youngest golfer to win on the PGA TOUR and the youngest in 87 years. Johnny McDermott won the 1911 U.S. Open at the age of 19 years, 10 months, while Gene Sarazen won the 1922 Southern Open at 20 years, 5 days. McIlroy will be 20 years, 6 days if he wins on Sunday. -- Mike McAllister

Here are the upcoming birthdays of golfers in this week's field: