The Five: Fascinating subplots at THE PLAYERS Championship

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – THE PLAYERS Championship is here. It’s one of the best weeks of the year but also one of the busiest.

Storylines abound, from Scottie Scheffler chasing a historic three-peat to hotshot rookie Karl Vilips playing his way in as the last man in the field after winning in Puerto Rico. To prep for the week, here are five specific subplots to follow. These five storylines will play a key role in who hoists THE PLAYERS trophy at the end of the week. Let’s get into it.

1. Scottie Scheffler’s putting bounceback

It’s been a calendar year since Scheffler’s switch to a mallet putter, which revived his performance on the greens and sparked the dominant nine-victory, Player of the Year-winning season.

In that span, Scheffler has been markedly consistent on the greens. He’s gained strokes on the greens in 14 of 20 events, and he’s had only two very poor weeks – the U.S. Open at Pinehurst No. 2 and last week’s Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard. On the slippery Bay Hill greens, Scheffler lost nearly six strokes to the field for the week. He finished seven shots behind winner Russell Henley.

Scheffler dismissed the performance, citing the lightning-quick conditions at Bay Hill.

“Putting on a surface that's practically dead, the ball can have a life of its own,” Scheffler said. “I'm proud of hitting a lot of good putts, just wasn't my week on the greens.”

Scheffler doesn’t need to putt outstanding to win, just average or slightly above. He ranked 37th in putting when he won THE PLAYERS in 2024 and 48th in 2023 when he won by five shots.

If you take Scheffler at his word, there should be no reason that he can’t shake off an anomalous week at Bay Hill. But it’s worth monitoring as Scheffler goes for a historic three-peat. If he doesn’t win, his putting will be the first thing that’s dissected.

2. Rory McIlroy’s equipment swaps

Rory McIlroy had three TaylorMade Qi10 woods in the bag when he won the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am in February, but none of those clubs were in his bag for the first three rounds of the Arnold Palmer Invitational.

McIlroy swapped into TaylorMade’s newest line of equipment but struggled to acclimate to the new equipment. He lost strokes off the tee on Saturday, which set off alarm bells and pushed McIlroy to return to his old setup on Sunday.

“Didn't quite work out the way I wanted it to,” McIlroy said. “I probably just didn't give myself enough time – and it's totally different, you know, it can look good on the Trackman and it can look good on the range at home at the Bear's Club or on the golf course, but once you get out here in these conditions that's where it really shows itself and it just wasn't quite ready.”

The switch didn’t immediately bring back McIlroy’s success. He lost strokes off the tee again on Sunday with the old equipment, signaling there could be a reacclimation process back into the old gear. A few days at the range at TPC Sawgrass should be enough to iron out the inconsistencies, but in McIlroy’s own words, “it’s totally different” once out in tournament conditions.

3. TPC Sawgrass’ renovations

There are several notable changes to TPC Sawgrass this year, thanks to an enhancement project led by Davis Love III to bring back Pete Dye’s original vision. The most noticeable of those changes is the return of the famed overhanging oak tree in front of the sixth tee box, which was lost to disease in 2014.

Love III and TPC Sawgrass Director of Agronomy Jeff Plotts found a tree 100 yards into the woods on the right of the sixth hole that would closely replicate what was there before and replanted it 30 yards in front of the tee box. It will now force players to have to hit low bullet shots off the tee box.

“It’s in the eye again,” Billy Horschel said. “It’s going to make you think.”

The par-5 second hole was lengthened by 15 yards, a response to ShotLink data that indicated players were frequently hitting less than driver and were still able to take it over the trees that line the left side of the fairway, setting up a better angle to attack the green. Love also lengthened the par-5 11th hole by 15 yards, creating a new tee complex that complicates the angle of the tee shot. The last notable change came to the difficult par-4 14th. Love’s team pushed the cart path further out of the sight line, allowing more creativity with the land that lines the right side of the hole. In keeping with Dye’s original design, Love added deep, dramatic moguls with additions of palms, oaks and native grasses in the right rough.

4. Xander Schauffele’s short game

Xander Schauffele made his first start in six weeks when he returned to the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard. Understandably, he was rusty, most notably with his short game.

Schauffele was under 50% in Scrambling, typically one of the strongest parts of his game. Part of that was Bay Hill, which his caddie Austin Kaiser told him was “probably the hardest place you can come back to out of any tournament.” But crucially, Schauffele had not played much. In the six weeks he was out, he played all of 27 holes.

As Schauffele acclimates back to PGA TOUR golf, his short game will undoubtedly improve. But will it improve enough to contend this week? Schauffele has already put the moral victories aside, making it clear he has urgency to contend soon.

“I'm trying to convince myself to be in a good spot mentally regardless,” Schauffele said. “I can't sit all year long and feel sorry for myself like, 'Oh, you know, I'm just rusty, I haven't played.' That stuff doesn't matter in any sport, so it is what it is, and I'm gonna have to sort of pick up the pace.”

5. Collin Morikawa’s emotional rebound

Collin Morikawa spent 20 minutes talking with the media on Tuesday at THE PLAYERS Championship. All but one question posed to the world No. 4 was about his Sunday performance at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and his growing list of close calls without a victory.

Morikawa said he was “pissed” to lose at Bay Hill. He felt like he got beat by Henley, but in some ways, Morikawa said he gave it away, too. It’s not lost on him that he’s failed to close. He was squarely in the mix at the Masters and PGA Championship in 2024 and failed to convert. He was close at the Memorial Tournament presented by Workday and The Sentry. None felt as close as at Bay Hill.

"I'm going to think about it,” Morikawa said. “I know what happened. I fully am aware of how it played out. But I just have to move on and I have to learn from it. I have to keep getting better. Like I always say, like, you know, why not win this week.”

It’s a tall task to free the result from your mind within a few days. That’s what Morikawa will need to do if he hopes to win THE PLAYERS, a tournament he has historically struggled at. Morikawa has never finished inside the top 10.

But his swing is in as good a spot as ever, so why not win this week?