By Brian Wacker, PGATOUR.COM

CROMWELL, Conn. -- Rory McIlroy’s performance at the U.S. Open has drawn comparisons to Tiger Woods and his 2000 victory at Pebble Beach. Geoff Ogilvy, however, compares McIlroy to Greg Norman -- not for his Masters meltdown, but for his ball-striking and ability off the tee.

“He hit 62 of 72 greens at the U.S. Open,” Ogilvy said Thursday from the Travelers Championship, where players were still buzzing over McIlroy’s victory at Congressional. “There’s no way I could ever do that. Not too many people can do that, especially after the Masters when everyone probably would have given him the year off.

“Two months later he was playing like it never happened. Amazing. It’s Greg Norman ‘86 type stuff; he’s just clearly better than anyone else. There’s so few really class ball-strikers out here -- I know that sounds silly but real class ball strikers like Nick Price and Greg Norman. It’s Greg Norman in the mid-80s is who he is. He just completely outplays everyone with no fear. Some people are being aggressive and they’re just cavalier. He’s not cavalier.”

Ogilvy should know. He had a view of McIlroy from two groups behind him the first two days of the U.S. Open. Ogilvy also played against and beat him in 2009 on his way to winning the World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship and later that year was paired with McIlroy in the final round of the WGC-HSBC Champions, where McIlroy nearly came from nowhere to win the tournament with a Sunday 63.

“I played well and I birdied 15, 16 and 17 and didn’t win any of them,” Ogilvy said of the WGC-Accenture Match Play. “To be 2 up with four to play and go birdie, birdie, birdie and not win a hole was pretty unbelievable.

“I remember I closed out the match and my caddie and I jumped in the van that takes you back to the clubhouse and we both just looked at each other and said this guy’s unbelievable.”

Ian Poulter took it a step further.

“He’s as good a ball-striker as I’ve ever seen,” Poulter said.

“He swings it naturally. There’s not much technically he needs to worry about.”

Poulter added that he also wasn’t surprised that McIlroy bounced back from his heartbreak at the Masters and that he did so in resounding fashion.

“Look at his first rounds in majors,” Poulter said. “It was a case of when, not if.”

Now it will be a case of not when but how many.

Here is the live interview schedule for players speaking in the media center this week, which will be streamed live on PGATOUR.COM:

Tuesday, May 31
11 a.m. – Jack Nicklaus
2 p.m. – Justin Rose
3 p.m. -- Jose Maria Olazabal
4 p.m. -- Ben Curtis

Wednesday, June 1
10 a.m. -- Luke Donald
11:45 a.m. – Keegan Bradley 
Noon -- Charl Schwartzel
3:30 p.m. -- Fred Couples

Here is the live interview schedule for players speaking in the media center this week, which will be streamed live on PGATOUR.COM: Tuesday, May 24 3 p.m. ET – K.J. Choi Wednesday, May 25 1:30 p.m. ET – Jordan Speith Following 8:50 a.m. ET pro-am – Gary Woodland Following 9 a.m. ET pro-am – Jason Day Following 10 a.m. ET pro-am – Dustin Johnson

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. -- Jeff Maggert withdrew from THE PLAYERS Championship on Wednesday afternoon, citing "family matters."

He was replaced in the field by Kevin Chappell, the first alternate. “Thank you Jeff Maggert” Chappell tweeted at 3:29 p.m. ET.

Chappell, a rookie from Fresno, Calif., finished tied for second at the Valero Texas Open earlier this year and currently ranks 76th on the FedExCup points list.

Chappell will replace Maggert in the 9:11 a.m. tee time slot on Thursday off No. 1, and will play with Nick O'Hern and Tommy Gainey.

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. -- The wind has picked up significantly at TPC Sawgrass and while it’s still sunny there is a 30 percent chance for thunderstorms today.

That’s also the case for the rest of the week. Temperatures are expected to be in the high 80s for the first two rounds and the low 80s for the last two. The chance of isolated thunderstorms increases to 40 percent on Sunday.

In case you’re wondering, the last time there was a Monday finish for THE PLAYERS due to weather was in 2005 when Fred Funk won. The tournament was played in March then before moving to May in 2007.

By Brian Wacker, PGATOUR.COM Site Producer

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. -- The tornadoes that tore through Tuscaloosa, Ala., and the surrounding areas on April 27 left hundreds dead and left a trail of destruction so bad that Jason Dufner believes things are worse than even what’s been reported so far.

“A lot of small towns, pretty much all of north Alabama has been affected,” said Dufner, who played at Auburn and still lives in that town today. “A lot of people are still missing.”

That’s prompted Dufner to start a foundation called Birdies for ‘Bama. For every birdie Dufner makes beginning at this week’s PLAYERS Championship and through THE TOUR Championship presented by Coca-Cola, he’ll pledge $100 toward tornado relief efforts. For every eagle he makes, he’ll donate $500.

That should add up -- Dufner ranks 35th on TOUR in birdies with 158 and 57th in eagles with three in 10 starts this season.

Dufner hasn’t had a chance to return to the area since the tornadoes hit, but he said he plans to soon. When he does, he’ll do whatever he can to help.

“Being from Alabama we wanted to do something to help,” Dufner said. “So we’re going to get something going.”

By Brian Wacker, PGATOUR.COM Site Producer

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. -- Matteo Manassero remembers the first time he met Seve Ballesteros. He was just four years old and was at the Italian Open.

Of course Manassero just turned 18 last month, so remembering his first encounter with the Spaniard isn’t all that difficult.

“Seve made a huge impact on everybody who’s from Italy,” said Manassero, who received a letter from Ballesteros congratulating him on his first win as a professional, which came as a 17-year-old in Spain. With the victory Manassero became the youngest winner in European Tour history.

“If you met him, you never forget him. He was a special person and has stayed in the memory of everybody.”

Manassero is of course already making plenty of memories of his own. He has two career wins and is in the field for his first PLAYERS Championship by virtue of his being ranked in the top 50 in the Official World Golf Rankings -- he’s currently 33rd.

The Italian teen has made just three starts on the PGA TOUR this year with his best finish in stroke-play a tie for 20th at the Transitions Championship. He also reached the third round of the World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship.

As for how Manassero thinks he’ll fare in his first trip to TPC Sawgrass?

“I like the course, it’s fantastic, everybody knows Sawgrass, it’s a special place,” said Manassero, who added that he intends to split his time between nine or 10 events on the TOUR and 15 or so events on the European Tour.

“This course suits my game because you need to keep the ball in play and the greens are small and slopey. It’s a tough course but if I play a good game I’m going to be okay on this course because I don’t have to hit the ball 320 yards, because I cant.”

By Brian Wacker, PGATOUR.COM Site Producer

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. -- Jhonattan Vegas is quickly discovering that life on the PGA TOUR, especially when you play well, involves a lot more than what goes on inside the ropes. It’s been a tough adjustment for the rookie.

“It’s been pretty overwhelming to be honest,” said Vegas, who is playing in his first PLAYERS Championship this week. “There’s so much that I had to deal with that I wasn’t prepared for at all, but it’s been great. That’s part of being on the PGA TOUR, going through that learning process.”

Sine finishing in the top 20 in four of his first six starts this season -- one of which included his win at the Bob Hope Classic and a tie for third at the Farmers Insurance Open -- Vegas has struggled. He’s missed four of his last five cuts and in the one he didn’t miss finished in a tie for 44th.

Of course winning in just his second start also makes life a lot easier for the popular Venezuelan. He doesn’t have to worry about his card for the next two years and it’s also put him in some pretty illustrious pairings that have included, among others, Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson.

“That was a great experience playing with [Tiger],” said Vegas, who was paired with and outplayed Woods during the third round at Torrey Pines. “That pretty much tells you what the PGA TOUR is all about, when Tiger’s around.”

As for Vegas’ whirlwind schedule, the near future includes the Volvo Match Play Championship in Spain, the Memorial tournament presented by Nationwide Insurance and then hopefully the U.S. Open.

First, however, Vegas will focus on playing here.

While it’s Vegas’ first time in the field for THE PLAYERS, he has played the Stadium course before. After missing the cut at last year’s Winn-Dixie Jacksonville Open on the Nationwide Tour, played at Dye’s Valley course, Vegas stuck around and played the Stadium course.

“I feel really comfortable playing this course,” Vegas said. “And hopefully I’ll have a good week.”

By Brian Wacker, PGATOUR.COM Site Producer

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. -- Tiger Woods said Tuesday that his left knee and Achilles are “better,” though he stopped short of saying they were 100 percent.

Still, he’s in the field here at THE PLAYERS Championship, where he’s playing for the first time since injuring himself at the Masters.

Monday marked the first time Woods hit balls since the Masters, which he did at Isleworth under the watchful eye of his coach Sean Foley. Tuesday was the first time he played, spending the afternoon on the back nine at TPC Sawgrass.

“It is what it is,” Woods said of the injury. “This is a big event, and I want to be here and play.”

How well he plays is another matter. Woods has just four career top-10s at THE PLAYERS Championship, only one of which has come since his win here in 2001.

Then there’s the matter of how well his knee and Achilles will hold up.

”It didn't feel good on Sunday [at the Masters],” Woods said. “That was tough. I played through it, but yeah, it was one of those things, I just had to ‑‑ I was in the midst of playing and competing and had to power through it, so I did it.”

Woods will practice again on Wednesday and is expected to play the back nine. However the knee feels, or reacts, hasn’t done much to dissuade his expectations.

“Well, same as always, try and win the event,” Woods said. “Nothing has changed.”

By Brian Wacker, PGATOUR.COM Site Producer

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. -- To understand how exactly Luke Donald got to this point in his career, you have to go back to the second round at Riviera earlier this year.

He’d just shot 79 and missed the cut.

Donald decided to go to Tucson, Ariz., a day early to prepare for the World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship. Tuesday of that week, something clicked.

“I practiced Sunday and Monday, and I still wasn’t really feeling my swing,” Donald said. “I just found something on Tuesday in the morning, just a little key in my swing, just trying to tuck my right elbow a little bit more on the takeaway, and everything seemed to fall into place from that point on.”

As it turned out, the missed cut in L.A. would be his last. Donald went on to win in Tucson and hasn’t finished outside the top 10 since.

Donald comes to this week’s PLAYERS Championship playing arguably better than anyone else in the world and given his ball-striking one of the favorites, even if he hasn’t won here before.

“Obviously top-10s aren't the goal, but being in contention, having chances to win is,” Donald said. “It's just nice to kind of get to an event and feel pretty confident about where you're hitting the ball.

“Tee to green I feel like I've been a lot more solid this year, and my short game has been pretty stellar.”

So has just about everything else. Donald is 13th in strokes gained putting, fifth in birdie average, first in scoring average and, as a result, second in the FedExCup standings.

Of course it’s not exactly as if Donald came out of nowhere this year. In 2005, he was in contention going into the final round of THE PLAYERS and in 2006 he held a share of the 54-hole lead at the PGA Championship at Medinah.

So what’s the difference?

”About six years of experience, I suppose,” Donald joked.

The real answer was that Donald, like any accomplished musician or artist, which he just happens to be, has learned an awful lot.

“You learn about yourself, about your game, how to manage your emotions,” Donald said. “I think I know my swing a little bit better now. I trust myself more. Those are the main differences.

“The goal is to continually improve, to get better at every facet of the game. If I'm behind now than what I was in 2005, then my practice is going to waste.”