Week 18 Approach Shots: THE PLAYERS

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TOUGH DEFENSE AHEAD: Only five times in the history of THE PLAYERS Championship at TPC Sawgrass has the eventual winner managed just one round in the 60s. Sergio Garcia became the fifth in 2008 when he opened with a 6-under 66 and then came back with rounds of 73-73-71 over the final 54 holes. Garcia joined Jerry Pate (1982), Hal Sutton (1983), Fred Couples (1984) and Fred Funk (2005).

Quick Facts

WHAT: 20th of 37 regular-season PGA TOUR events WHEN: May 7-10 WHERE: Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla. COURSE: THE PLAYERS Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass TV: 1 p.m. and 9 p.m. ET, Thurs.-Fri. on GOLF CHANNEL; 2 p.m. Sat.-Sun. on NBC RADIO: 12 p.m.-9 p.m. ET Thurs.-Sat.; 12 p.m.-12 a.m. ET Sun., PGA TOUR Network (XM 146/SIRIUS 209) FEDEXCUP POINTS: 600 for winner KEY LINKS: Tee times | Leaderboard SHOT TRACKER | Tournament page VIDEO: Opening Shot

THE PLAYERS Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass is expected to be another difficult test this year as the deepest field in golf gathers in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., adjacent to the PGA TOUR headquarters for the 36th PLAYERS Championship -- the 28th at the Pete Dye-designed course.

Although Garcia held the first-round lead a year ago, he eventually had to come from three strokes off the pace to force a playoff with Paul Goydos. Garcia then made a par on the first extra hole, the par-3 17th, to win THE PLAYERS, a year after finishing second, two strokes behind Phil Mickelson.

The top-10 players in the Official World Golf Ranking are playing this week, including 24 of the top 25. Garcia is ranked No. 3. His best PGA TOUR performance this season came at The Honda Classic, where he tied for 13th. Garcia also has two top-10 finishes on the 2009 European Tour.

PLAYERS ONE OF FIVE EVENTS WITH 600 FEDEXCUP POINTS UP FOR GRABS: While the PGA TOUR Regular Season consists of 37 events in 33 weeks, several events offer more FedExCup points than others. This is one of those weeks.

THE PLAYERS Championship is worth 600 points to the winner, one of five events to offer that many. The others are the Masters, the U.S. Open, the British Open and the PGA Championship. The World Golf Championships (Accenture Match Play Championship, CA Championship and Bridgestone Invitational) give 550 points to the winner, while PGA TOUR events are worth 500 to the winner. Alternate field events give 250.

Geoff Ogilvy leads the FedExCup points chase, 24 points ahead of Phil Mickelson. Sean O'Hair, who won last week's Quail Hollow Championship, improved to the third position. He trails Ogilvy by just 51 points.

PLAYER NOTES: Currently the No. 3-ranked player in the world, Garcia comes into THE PLAYERS Championship looking to become the first player since the tournament began 35 years ago to successfully defend his title. Garcia has won seven times on the PGA TOUR, including last year's playoff victory at the 17th hole at THE PLAYERS. ...

Last year's playoff between Garcia and Paul Goydos ended what was the longest playoff drought on the PGA TOUR. The last playoff at THE PLAYERS Championship before 2008 came in 1987 when Sandy Lyle beat Jeff Sluman with a par on the third playoff hole. Ironically, the last two playoff winners are also the only European winners in PLAYERS history. Lyle is from Scotland and Garcia from Spain. ...

While Tiger Woods has not missed a cut in 11 attempts at THE PLAYERS, he has gone a stretch of six consecutive tournaments without a top-10 finish, dating to his 2001 victory. That is Woods' longest active streak and also the longest streak at any event in Woods' career. All of his career top-10 finishes at TPC Sawgrass came in three consecutive appearances: 1999 (tied for 10th), 2000 (runner-up) and 2001 (won). ...

Phil Mickelson, the 2007 PLAYERS champion, is ranked second in the FedExCup standings and is No. 2 in the Official World Golf Ranking. Mickelson, who has won twice in 2009 (Northern Trust Open and World Golf Championships-CA Championship) shares several PLAYERS Championship scoring records. Mickelson tied the low back-nine score (30, 6-under) and the low third-round score (64, 8-under) in 1996 and tied for the low first-round score (64, 8-under) in 2002. ...

In the 27 years that THE PLAYERS has been held at TPC Sawgrass, there are two holes that have recorded the most triple bogeys or worse. The 17th and 18th holes have each recorded 197 triple bogeys or worse in the tournament's history. ...

Of the 27 PLAYERS winners, only two winners have made a bogey on the 17th hole Sunday. Steve Elkington bogeyed there in 1991, and Fred Funk made bogey in 2005. Of the other winners, 16 have made par, and nine have made birdie on the hole in the final round. ...

Only three players have won THE PLAYERS and a major championship in the same year, and only one player has won both the Masters and THE PLAYERS Championship in the same season. They are Woods (2001 Masters), Sutton (1983 PGA Championship) and Jack Nicklaus (1978 British Open). ...

ON-COURSE OBSERVATIONS: PGA TOUR Network correspondent Fred Albers is on the scene in Ponte Vedra Beach for this week's satellite radio coverage (XM 146/SIRIUS 209). Reports Albers:

The greens at THE PLAYERS Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass might be in the best shape in tournament history. Vijay Singh was absolutely ecstatic in describing their condition. In fact, he called them the best he's ever seen anywhere -- and that's a compliment considering he practices daily at Sawgrass.

Only two Europeans -- Sergio Garcia and Sandy Lyle -- have ever won this event, and it might be a tough course to fit their eye. European Tour courses are generally very natural looking, and this Pete Dye creation, while absolutely of championship caliber, is much different than Europeans see the rest of the season. Robert Karlsson says it does take a while for Europeans to adjust, but it's just part of being a professional golfer.

Phil Mickelson says he is happy to see the rough is down. The 2007 champion says years ago, deep rough did not bring as many shots into play. Now, with several chipping areas and a manageable cut of rough, players are able to be much more creative in their shot-making.

Weather forecast for THE PLAYERS Championship

THURSDAY, Rd. 1 FRIDAY, Rd. 2 SATURDAY, Rd. 3 SUNDAY, Rd. 4 Isolated storms Temp: 89 high/70 low Mostly sunny Temp: 91 high/71 low Partly cloudy Temp: 90 high/71 low Partly cloudy Temp: 88 high/71 low

DTN/Meteorlogix is the official weather provider of the PGA TOUR. For more information, click here

THE PLAYERS Championship snippets

Foreign field: There are 52 players in the fields are from outside the U.S., representing 19 countries: Australia, England, Sweden, South Korea, South Africa, New Zealand, Northern Ireland, Germany, Canada, Argentina, Spain, Japan, Ireland, Scotland, India, Fiji, Denmark, Colombia and Thailand. Players by points: Five players made it into the field based on their standings in the FedExCup points after the Zurich Classic of New Orleans (and due to withdrawals): David Toms, Scott Piercy, Jeff Klauk, Bob Estes and Jason Dufner. Return to Sawgrass: D.A. Weibring is in THE PLAYERS field for the first time since 1997, the longest drought of anyone at TPC Sawgrass this week. Weibring qualified by winning the Constellation Energy Senior PLAYERS Championship on the Champions Tour last year. This is his 19th PLAYERS. Course for a cause: THE PLAYERS and the PGA TOUR raised $3 million for charity in 2008. Close to 100 Northeast Florida charities benefited from the tournament and more than $31 million has been contributed to Northeast Florida charities since THE PLAYERS moved to Ponte Vedra in 1977.

In the spotlight

This week: Sergio Garcia

Each week during the 2009 season, PGATOUR.COM will spotlight one key player in the field. For this week's PLAYERS Championship, it's defending champion Sergio Garcia. Learn more about Sergio

A victory this week earns you ...

• Fully Exempt for the remainder of 2009 and through 2014 • Exempt for THE PLAYERS Championship for five years • If a PGA TOUR member, 600 FedExCup points. Anyone in the field would make the top 30 in FedExCup points, creating additional opportunities to play in the 2009 PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup and for the World Golf Championship-CA Championship in 2010 • A spot in the following events in order of play: 2009 Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial, '09 Memorial Tournament, '09 AT&T National, '09 World Golf Championship-Bridgestone Invitational, '09 PGA Championship, 2010 Mercedes-Benz Championship and '10 Masters • If a U.S. player, 3,420,000 points towards making the 2009 Presidents Cup team; if a player is currently 11th through 46th in the team standings, that could move him into the top 10