the following limited commercial presentation of the players is made possible thanks to our proud Partners Comcast [Music] business opa and Morgan [Music] Stanley the PGA Tour proudly presents on the Range live at TPC sass home of the PLAYERS Championship over the next 90 minutes we'll be providing you with some in-depth swing an analysis with the help from the latest in tracing technology and a beautiful day here in Northeast Florida 73° right now on the eve of the 50th Players Championship cou
ple of experts alongside Mark emman Craig perks the former players champion in 2002 I'm John swanek will set the table for you as players caddies and their camps make the final preparations for the flagship event of the p J tour and the opening round tomorrow the golden anniversary of the players so many Unforgettable moments that we will relive over the course of the week ahead of us here but this one is my personal favorite March 24th 2002 a little 32 4 finish for that man just one putt requir
ed over the final free holes and here it was at 17 Craig perks with a birdie to took a while to get there but it went down and the tiger es uppercut on the reaction there stunning Carl pson in that final pairing of the day and then a little trouble off the tea at 18 but no issues whatsoever when this man was faced with a must make from off the green more than two decades ago one of the most indelible images in our minds at the Players Championship produced by that man right there mark he has far
too much humility to celebrate himself we did that against his will very much so yeah it's uh I don't know it's it's incredible really you're always uh pretty humble when you come back you have a grateful heart I I know that Mark driving the golf ball is so important around Sor grass I only hit four Fairways that day I have no idea how I won but uh no listen it's it's um you know to be part of the the champions list they you go in the locker room and see the roll caller Champions I don't most o
f the time I don't feel like I belong I'm humbled just to be with you guys but no it's it's a privilege to come back here and be be known as a players champion the way that I accomplished that feat um it's a complicated test uh and I was able to to survive it and it's uh certainly very gratifying well you know Craig the fact that I get to stand along you alongside you is thrilling as well and I can speak on John's behalf because you know I've had sort of a complicated relationship with this golf
course the first time I came here I was like I don't like this this place is too hard and then the more I've come here The more I've realiz realized and learned the Nuance of the place getting to stand alongside guys like yourself and then realizing this golf course is not just the physical examination that everybody talks about now goodness you have to hit the ball well around you and yes putting the ball in play off the te is important but it's really an approach shot place and and with regar
d to those approach shots like 17 where you made that bomb all these targets are kind of riddled with disaster right so this test is not just physical to me it's emotional and it's mental so by week's end you've got to be abs absolutely exhausted if you've been in contention because it asks you everything you want and so when I come back here I just love this event it truly is one of my favorites I just think the stage is the main character go back to Rory first three starts him three Mis cuts a
nd then he figured the equation out you can get handcuff with the driver I think you have to play by its rules it can certainly tempt and torture you and I think those that adapt because it is perfectly unbalanced this golf course so those that adapt to what is presed are those are the ones that are successful you're not the only one who's had a complicated relationship with this golf course the best players in the world would Echo those sentiments not many understand it more than Mark Carnaval
the Arnold Palmer Award winners the former rookie of the year on the PGA tour competed in this event Cary you've lived in the poner Beach area for much of your adult lifetime it's a special week what are your thoughts as we uh embark on the 50th players well it's it's going to be interesting swanie and I too had that love relationship with the TPC Stadium Course here uh in Saw Grass and it's interesting I mean we talk about a lot players that live here even talk about it that throughout the year
they really don't even see this golf course it's not something uh that they're all familiar with yes the routing is there and everything but it's not in the same Condition it's kept Lush and soft particularly from October up until this golf tournament and then when they get here this week they really sort of uh shut everything off and they want to get this firm and fast but but it's a challenge uh it's a golf course that requires so much I mean I I've I've always said I think you have to play t
his golf course backwards from green to te to really get it but uh as far as where you need to be positioned off the tea and into the green complexes but either way we know it's going to be a great uh week we know that the winner usually plays the best that just doesn't happen every week but usually happens here but interesting enough I'm wearing the goat hat today and some people may know the story about the goats here at uh TPC Saw Grass back when they opened up this golf course uh Pete Davids
on Pete Dy they had they had a lot of area they needed to clean out so they bought three goats uh it was uh Thor chew and um prunes those were the three goats well they eventually expanded to a couple dozen goats and they really cleared out about 80% of the areas of the rough which of course they didn't have to pay for so that was that was helpful when they first got started here but eventually one of the goats ended up on the roof of the clubhouse one actually got in the club house they got rid
of them but the goats were very important to the start here of TPC s grass that's a great story Thor chew and prune he even gave us the names of it by the way screaming deal for this property for Dean Beeman back in the day for a buck huh that was a nice pickup you're kidding I got to get one of those goat hats that's Rory M's golf bag over there with the the dog head cover he's had that on there seventh since he turned professional Rory trying to win the players for second time Scotty Sheffer
of course trying to do something no man has ever done here and that's go back to back in 50 years of players history guys but always he's got a full head of steam after an authorit performance last weekend at Bay Hill to me I mean it was virtoso from T through green and just every hole seemed to hit the ball on the right side of the Target and then all of a sudden the putter begins to have large yeah his ball striking is unrivaled on the PGA tour think of last year he won the PLAYERS Championshi
p by five shots with zero putting and basically beat everyone but Terrell happen by seven so when the putter starts the warm up he's going to win by five or more well he beat Everybody by six this week little last week I should say at Bay Hill I mean it was an incredible performance and a performance I thought JN that was very cerebral as well everything he did was sort of the right decision and he never looked challenged from the birdie on the first hole it just like like it was playing sailing
and everyone was playing for seconden he also said this one was special because there was a lot of chatter about the product uh you know had it been literally a year the previous Victory came at the Players so uh seven seven wins now for the world number one this was a little bit earlier Scotty doing some work down there on the Range now I love this in his bag and he's actually using it right now that's a five iron and there's a formed grip on that five iron now for those folks who love golf tr
aining AIDS this should be right up your alley because the grip is forged to get your hands in the right place if you get a closeup you'll be able to see and he'll check this thing before every shot before every round of golf every practice session even tournament rounds he hits balls with this thing and if you watch him in his pre-shot routine he stands there and you can see how he checks his hands before every shot and Craig as you well know you can see the ribs on the grip there if your your
connection with a club is Paramount really to success and the success of the golf swing uh he made some comments after last week and I agree with you uh ball position alignment body lines aim all so important the fundamentals sometimes are overlooked but he talked about his dist distance control uh he said that he works on that extensively at home with Randy Smith who you see in the foreground there um he said he believes his distance control separates himself from the the rest on tour along wit
h obviously being tough and competitive and so on and so forth but if you go back to that uh he did a an ad or an infomercial for his equipment company tailor made and he was calling shots I don't care if it was a 9 on to a 3-wood he was saying with 99 152 it land 152 in 3-woods he said 273 when the ball was in the air it went 273 so uh not only is a is is the ball striking unrivaled I think the the distance control and the way he manages himself is the best in the game I'm so glad you would ref
erence that and you can see that the care he takes on the handle of the club and that distance control is very much a function of how you present the club facee throughout the Arc of the golf swing and people get all wrapped up in the footwork and everything that's going on underneath you can see some foot sliding there and as the club gets faster and longer there's more than that but he has got a set of hands that are heavy ly because despite all that stuff he gets his hands in the right place
and through contact he is just absolutely silky and gets that face in position all of the time number one rank player in the world that is common ground for Scotty shefer these days and he spoke earlier this week about the view from the top um I don't really think about that kind of stuff um as far as the world rankings go uh it's nice to be number one I'd much i' rather be number one than number two but in my day-to-day life it doesn't really affect anything um it's probably a lot harder to sta
y at number one than it is to get there and so if it's something that's going to occupy a lot of my thoughts I don't think that's a very good thing and so when it comes to tournament weeks be number one I don't get don't get any extra Strokes doesn't do anything for me starting a tournament um and so it doesn't really matter at the end of the day greatness and humility don't always go hand inand he possesses both of those attributes in large measure much like Arnold Palmer did and I thought ther
e was a certain symmetry to see this man slip on the red card again at Bay Hill last Sunday perie yeah I I think he's dealt with the noise as as well as anybody 78 weeks he's been at the top he's only been on tour for 5 years it's incredible but I just the Simplicity with which he plays the the his ability to deal with less than perfect you know we were all talking about how bad how bad he was putting right and and did it well on and yes he talked about the chedd but he said I'm just going to go
out there and try not to be perfect be very accepting of the RO results and I'm going to give you one more thing here Teddy Scott who I think has been instrumental in now with the seven wins he said the the key to being at the top is to play with what's inside your heart and inside your your head and never let the misses get to you and I think Scotty schfer does an amazing job with that well I couldn't Echo those sentiments anymore and I got to tell you that couple is a match made in heaven bot
h Ted Scott and Scotty Sheffer they see the world from the same vantage point and I want to use two letters with this guy and they both pece it's precision and now he hits the golf ball but then perspective and everything else because Scotty Sheffer is just a guy Golf and the results don't Define him because when he goes home or when you catch him after a round he's just Scotty and I think it's some of that that's going to allow him to stay on this lofty perch because he's been up top the rankin
gs for 70 plus weeks I he's not going anywhere just because of the perspective he has and now he keeps golf as a part of his life and not who he is he also managed the heck out of Sor grass last year when he won by five and he has this he talks about his strategy is to be aggressive or fatigue which Pete D wants you to do play towards some of those targets be a little less aggressive with the iron game and I think he and Victor hofland do that extremely well we saw Victor play well here last yea
r as well but uh yeah perspective is uh unique for Scotty Sheffer Mark you've often referenced the 6-inch Fairway between the fler ears it is love that one yeah it is largely clutter fle with free with this man isn't it uh well this right up per Alle but I'm going to steal this the anatomy of a champion um yes the space between the ears but you got to really hit the golf ball well around here and everyone talks about the ranking at top the world golf rankings he's first in just about every major
um measurement statistic on the PGA tour and he's just so rounded and now again that putter is beginning to join the party so uh look out the rest of the field well and look at this pattern as well that we've identified not uncommon even for the players at the top Echelon of the game to take a season or two to figure out how to put the pieces of the Saw Grass puzzle together here yeah he's led the PGA tour in Greens of Regulation 2022 2023 he's leading it this year we saw him lead the the field
in greens and regulation it's important he drives the golf ball beautifully as well he's got that reliable cut that he likes to hit but can shape it both ways he nearly chips as well as you too watch quential chippens are important around this place it's not when the shot is hit it's how the shot is hit and when then too and that was a great start that was a 10 and that was the impetus for the rest of the round at the eighth rather that difficult par three and this was the birdie at the 10 it's
a little bit what he did at Bill last week he he sort of pushed the field away on Sunday uh end up just hitting it in the right spots this is a difficult pitch you've got to fly in the right spot you see the grain change and then release it down the hill and uh really impressive here yeah was beautiful you talk of pushing the field away to me he does that with the way he hits approach shots because he never really puts himself in undue stress he has 18 All the Troubles long and to the left he's
hit it 25 ft to the right happens to bury on top of that so this was important remember he he had uh he' made a mess on he had a five shot Le lead standing on the 18th TI Augusta National remember he for puted he stood on this 72nd hole with Ted he said listen we need to make par here I want to keep that field away at five shot lead and that's why you got that emphatic fist bump yeah he won the PLAYERS Championship but to make the P it's sort of reminiscent what tiger at a pebble a few decades
ago 47 starts for Scotty on the tour since early 2022 three miscuts model of consistency and that scoring average is sparkling we check in on Mt Fitzpatrick US Open champion at the Country Club outside Boston a couple years ago he is not afraid of a training aid he uses the T Striker ball you just saw the little gadgety W on his wrist he's been working hard here of late to really just iron out the start of the back swing because that sets up a more shallow more appropriate approach I I would say
a performance last week that certainly caught me unaware as cuz I thought the week prior to Cognizant classic that he was really shaping up well had a low flooded driver going on I thought the distance control with the IR is good but last week almost incomprehensibly misses the cuts and a lot of it was on the ball striking so a lot of hard work here right now for Matt much like Craig Burks with his research this man is fastidious in his preparation no one's left craig perks for the research but
notoriously he charts and preserves information on every shot he's ever struck in his career it's astounding I I believe he thinks that gives him an edge and I agree with him uh you know he's been going at this since about the age of 14 he's using that statistic golf which is the Eduardo Molen system it's actually Strokes gain value to a Target not necessarily to the flag and I I think he he's only had one top 10 here in eight starts it was a ninth three years ago and I just I just think more t
han anything we the dispersion needs to get better uh again we we're not sure where he's aiming here and we got some stuff going on but I uh he's gained that the distance and so on and so forth which is important around this golf course but um I think if you look at some of the the scores in the rounds here the play is a little bit inconsistent the range is buzzing with activity and Mark Carnaval is right in the center of it what you got K it's funny I got JT posting with me JT golf game looks p
retty good ready for a big week here yeah absolutely this is uh one of my favorites uh of the year and uh love the golf course love the tournament and game feels like it's in a good spot so hopefully a good week you unlike a lot of these guys didn't get to play in the junior players that's kind of unusual I mean you've had a lot of success but you said later kind of got it later in in your career uh how much Advantage you think I mean you live you spent some time you're up in SE Allen you come d
own here a little bit I mean does is it really help guys who played this golf course much uh I think a little bit I mean just like any other place we play out here just the more you can get comfortable with some of the shots that you're asked to hit the the better off you'll be but um you know just like every other week also you do your prep beforehand and um so hopefully there's no surprises out there there but it is nice to have played in a few of these and kind of know how the golf course ten
ds to play as the week goes on and and kind of use that going forward this week is this an event and sometimes we talk about is this one really where you got to have all aspects of your golf game together I think so I mean especially when the weather is like this and they can kind of get the golf course however they want it um you know the the greens can play small they can be firm and fast the fairways are tight rough is up and the firmer and faster it gets the harder it is to hit in the fairwa
ys and get it close to the hole so um I do feel like it it kind of asks pretty much every aspect of your game and it all needs to be sharp and that's what you want for for a tournament like this well thanks for your time play well this week yeah thank you he has played well this season JT Poston runner up out in Mau at the century Tournament of Champions back out to Fitzpatrick now you see that Stato speed quick off the ball ball quick into transition he doesn't look that comfortable right now b
ut you spoke of finding an edge the one way he learned to find an edge was a huge speed protocol he went through and picked up a bunch of speed off the tea and he is now long off the tea for someone back in his career early was not the most powerful guy in the world and all the scores he made were sort of blue color good chipping good putting some good iron player but now he can move it out there I've always found this golf swing really interesting to look into a love the outliers when it comes
to this sort of stuff we're going to take a little look underneath the hood right now so first off the thing I want to Circle here before we go anywhere is that grip it almost looks like it's butterflied a little but you see that area where the left hand's turned way over and the right hand turned over two he mitigates that strong grip position in the closed Club face with a lot of forward shaft lean you can say it's pushed forwards they're at a dress where it's almost like he got the handle of
the club out in front of where the arms are now to me that causes a t tendency in the back swing when the club goes in behind him some or more than some golf instructors would like but I love the way at the top there how he organizes everything and you can see there's a beautiful line there between the shaft and the forearm now a lot of folks too if we can keep it right there will be critical of this cuz everyone's looking for a bow left wrist all mty's doing there is he's focusing on the fact t
hat he's trying to retain that wrist angle that started at a dress one more more little thing too that my cohort just pointing out is look at that right foot how he turns onto the outside of it that's also a little idiosyncratic but you can see how the low body is already almost into transition there as he's moving forward now on the way down watch how he plays around that very strong grip low body leads come slightly over it then just drops the arms right down and I absolutely love this see the
right elbow underneath the left see the right elbow there in the side that allows him then to get the handle of the club out in front of the head you see it's blurred but that left hand is very similar to what it was at a dress so there's a lot of stuff going on as we take him through to the Finish he sort of goes in and over and down but as he swings through there was a prolific champion whose name was Sam Sneed who had some of this leg action and the handle went behind him and then over and h
e was pretty good you stole my thought that's exactly what I was going to say I looked at your notes brother no sometimes I love these guys that work it in and over you know the tendency with guys 15 handicappers at home potentially they go out and drop it under right but I love love the shift out on the downswing I like how his hips turn to me those uh remind me a little bit of Hogan that that right cheek going towards the Target on the back swing and I think that some of that um biomechanics a
nd the kinematic uh sequencing has helped with the speed for sure that right Bic move that gets closer to the Target in the back swing that's something you used to do quite nice did yeah I I used to be a Drifter off the golf ball and uh really like that hip the right cheek going towards the taret on want be a Drifter no it is a stacked field this week major Champions like Matt Fitzpatrick and one that's standing by with Mark Carnaval swanie I got the champion golfer of the year with me does that
ever get old Brian no easy easiest answer to any question no it does not get old you've had some success here at the Players Championship and on this golf course from your perspective what's important for you this week uh it's it's all about putting the ball in the Fairway here um you Pete D I love his golf courses it's you know it's visually challenging but if you can you know stay aggressive off the te and and execute the shots you can end up with a lot of Birdie putts so that's why you've se
en some low scores here in the past but if you get it going sideways you know you make a lot of bogeys too so I I like that in a course where you feel like if you go out and you really play well you can set at yourself you know you can make birdies where other guys are are trying to make you know struggling to make par what's a Wednesday look like for Brian Harmon here prior to the players uh slept till probably 8:30 which was nice my wife sweet wife got up with the baby uh come out breakfast uh
light workout uh putted for a little while probably hit balls for 30 45 minutes I'll go play the front nine and get some rest well thanks for your time good luck this week you got it thanks a man gets his nose in the fight he usually hang in there appreciate well featured groups all over the golf course on our Players Championship coverage here this week close to 150 hours of action for you that we'll be bringing you on ESPN plus starting at 7:30 a.m. eastern time on Thursday a live look at the
17th people getting situated along the hillside there for all the theatrical drama of the island green the penultimate hole here on the Stadium [Music] Course for back with you on the Range on Wednesday afternoon here at the stadium course at TPC Saw Grass in advance of the 50th edition of The Players tomorrow that is one of the men who has secured a signature event this season for my money 62 on Sunday Riviera Mark emman to take it down that was the round of the year for hii well uh yours trul
y was fortunate enough to be alongside to watch a portion of that round and it truly was incredible the way he played and I I laughed at him afterwards when I was like Well Done Hideki nice playing I mean that was Sensational and he he sort of goes didn't hit the ball very well and I'm like you flushed two iron shots with a six sign in an a to collectively about 2T there on 15 and 16 but it's just like he was in the mix and in the mix and in the mix and all of a sudden he buries this bomb on the
12th hole final round and then he just switched it to a different level which is something that all of these winners of Signature Events major championships events like this they have that ability Craig to do where they just keep themselves in the game and then all of a sudden when the Finish Line starts to near they just find a gear and they get busy yeah but again that day six back could be the the best round ever at Riviera certainly on Sunday final round six yes yeah cuz the course was boun
cing in firm and fast and I mean the ball rolls everywhere there so it was pretty precise and his prior top 10 on tour came at the Players Championship the previous year he's played well here remember he had that 63 the co year he was 55th in the world going to that the the week at Rivier so had been struggling more physically than anything else but when he's at the top of his game which he might be he's a striker that could be absolutely considered to win this Championship well you I'm so on bo
ard with I'm I'm here for that statement cuz I tell you why if you look at footage of oldi there was that characteristic pause at top the swing but if you meet him or you stand next to him he's strong underneath I mean he's got tree trunks for legs and those legs would almost run out from underneath him when he had that pause and I felt like it sort of dece quenced the whole thing and that's why you saw those one arm releases after the time and the follow through now he's got the whole thing a l
ot more timed the pause is there it's just not as lengthy and so I feel like as a golfer you guys always want to do this he's able to get the arms back in front of him into contact a whole lot better so he's able to hit both shots the draw on the fade and when he's on he's he's he's impeccable you know who else had a powerful set leg KJ Choy which hii eclipse is now the the most prolific agent player winning nine times on tour but I think the glutes are the the king of the golf swing they suppor
t all the motion you can generate the speed from those ground forces and uh yeah I I again uh the retinue is getting larger and larger with with mat there's always people uh surrounding him and protecting him but I I again uh we may look at sheffler as the favorite this week the world number one no one's ever won this championship in backtack years but if you wanted to go the next 11a I think it'd be matuyama I'm kind of with you I mean he's coming in on good form played well last week at Bay Hi
ll was a part of the storyline there and there's the record you speak of yeah and again that's 63 in 2020 when they they called up the whole world shut down for to leave on Friday morning that was crazy was oh man it was just there was Soul crushing for sure but uh no I I think with the you come to a venue where you've had some success and you're coming in with form I think it's one we should keep it on for sure you mentioned KJ Choy of course former players champion back in 2011 so Hideki looki
ng to become perhaps the next Asian born players champion and is a really strong Trend over the the years here in North Florida I know this might sound a little ethereal but it looks to me too as I watch him play where he doesn't look like he's playing with this burden of expectation on his shoulders anymore because all the players will tell you that when you come up and you're talented and you're young then you do very well early and you have this expectation heaped on you from all the fans and
the media and most importantly than yourself it's really tough to manage I would think uh there was a burden of expectation for Nick Dunlap after shooting 60 on the way to winning the American Express and of course turning professional the next year and wedging himself right into a signature event at Pebble Beach he's had a lot on his late perksy over the last several weeks just kind of getting settled into things here made the easiest hardest decision in his life to change turn pro why not jus
t go back to tuscala and hang out for another couple ST Math at 8:30 in the morning yeah yeah I I don't know it's uh yeah it's it has been a burden of expectations you know the first am one in 33 years and I think he's getting a raw deal getting uh getting shared a little bit with the tea time last week as as a single man he's deserved to go out to rookie ha what are we doing what are we doing here but uh no I I think if you if you look at the way that Nick Dunlap goes about his business he's he
's got all the tools and uh the to me what's amazing and we've we see it more and more ludic uh oberg and these guys coming out um Gordon sants coming and the these guys are so well prepared to come out and had success I I I remember talking to some young guys um probably five or six years ago or maybe even 10 years ago when they used to show up on a range and it was you had the elite of the elite these guys looked at these players like they were mythical figures like his Ernie his tiger VJ VJ o
kay Davis love retif gusen you just throw them all out there these were mythical figures these were people you looked up and go man at one point I would love to be alongside and compete when Nick Dunlap shows up he goes I'm going to beat them all I don't care I'm ready I'm prepared he's one one of the US am he he has the the affinity for the the spotlight and man he he didn't take down some mules on Sunday at the American Express that was Sam Burns and JT and he was uh he overshadowed them both
in the same group with both Sam and JT both tournament winners hey your point to me is great because those day those back in the day when you were the youngster on tour and you walk out there and those guys were Larger than Life VJ and Ernie and tiger and that crowd where the youngsters nowadays and we have this on the show and you can see basically every single one of the players as one at the disposal so they have a launch monitor and they have these apps that teach them about course managemen
t and stuff which is a lot of the stuff that when you guys came out here you were sort of learning that on the job a little bit then you got to go learn the golf course and then you got to summon up the courage to compete with the best where they've played these courses they understand the Nuance of the game these guys have learned it all in college and so they come out here and they're AR afraid I like what Nick Sav said during that broadcast at the American Express Nick dap has the right dispo
sition and then you go with those physical tools that's a great combination that's a great combination of players right there and their Best debut finishes at the Players man he was handsome back in the day that's a lot of makeup that's a lot of makeup right there so we've heard from one rookie of the year on the PGA tour Mark arnal part of our announced team this week we have another recipient of the Arnold Palmer award Eric Cole who is very proficient at hitting the golf ball off the center on
the club face time and again and apparently as you see in the 17th camera Tower here he's got some skills as a camera operator Eric it's John and Craig and Mark in the in the studio how's your week going my man oh it's going great yeah um not sure how I ended up doing this but I think it just kind of uh grew to the point where I'm out here doing this today so it's pretty cool never done it before so this is my first time well listen you got one of the best inur boring looking right over your sh
oulder there ER so let's not miss balls in the air okay yeah I'm trying it's it's kind of cool it's almost like playing a video game so it's kind of fun but uh yeah we got my caddy and uh Reed and Nick Hardy's caddy Jeff out there on the te that they're going to hit a shot sometime soon so I'm getting a couple practice in and then we're going to film them Eric what do you think it's more difficult trying to hit it on this island green or actually capture the ball in flight landing on the green w
ell I'd say hitting it on the green is probably although it's it's only a wedge and it's a little bit downwind today so today today it might be easier to uh hit it on the green then do this but I've only filmed two shots so I don't really know how difficult this is to tell you the TR well we're about to find out this is Eric's work on the left your screen and this is the work of Cody Alexander who's a real good one he's one of the NBC uh production team he's got it framed up perfectly yeah keep
that camera still Eric yeah I'm I'm shaking I'm a little nervous I think nervous the stabiliz is working nice move Buy had it in there a little bit I was I was zoomed out pretty far I think I think I was zoomed out a little too much but got most of it it's tough with the caddies too you don't really know where to go with they're when they're hitting always going to blame the Cades exactly always blame the C it's the C that one I lost that one I completely lost yeah maybe that's why that one I ha
d no clue that was that was understandable that was way Offline that time but yeah no it's it's cool to be up here I've never uh been in one of these towers so it's kind of cool to see what these guys are doing behind the scenes and see how good they are at their jobs cuz this is not not as easy as I thought it would be you you should try broadcasting yeah I think I think I might leave that one to you guys that one's probably even tougher so well the truth is the truth is the better they are at
the edge of the Le we have to say and that's when we do our best work I like that but this is a cool scene here at 17 caddy tournament and all these people out here to watch them hit I know Reed is pretty nervous right now so he's checking his phone so he's probably just waiting he's he's like in the on Deck Circle he was a baseball player so he's in the on Deck Circle just waiting to come out so you should zoom in there so we can see the facial expression that's Jeff Nick Hardy's caddy who we p
layed a practice round today I don't think he's quite as nervous as Reed is I think Reed's bouncing around a little bit doesn't know where to go doesn't know what club to hit my mom's out there giving him some tips it looks like so that's Eric's mom Laura ball of course she's referring to Reed Cochran who is his caddy and is the son of Russ Cochran who played the PJ tour for many years and has played the champions tour as well Eric did I hear that you and Russ are going to team up to play the zu
ro classic in New Orleans this year yeah that's the plan it was kind of uh something that uh since I'm known Russ he's had 599 starts on tour so uh this will be a 600th so it's kind of a cool milestone for him and obviously Reed cat's for me and I think one of his other Sons will caddy for him so it' be a cool kind of family thing for them and I play a lot of golf with Russ at home so it'll be a fun week for us for sure all right my man is locked in for the next sequence of action here on 17t he
's looking pretty comfortable I'd say right now I thought he'd be a little more nervous a little more bouncing around but he's looking all right well I was about to say you mentioned to me the stabilizing influence your mom is and how positive she is it looks like she's worn off on Reed there a little bit yeah she's probably giv him a couple tips look she's even saying yeah good job way to go good swings staying loose Eric I think you actually need to call your mom or text her and say get let he
r have a shot and see if you can uh capture her ball landing on the green oh she would she would definitely hit it on the green that's that's a fact we had a uh thing for pxg last week in Orlando we had a straightest drive contest and she hit it 3et 10 in from the line so wasn't to to it made it pretty easy cuz it wasn't much of a contest cuz that's uh tough Mark for me to hit so she definitely won that one and we're talking about the Rookie of the Year on the LPGA in 1973 and mom's still doing
a fair amount of teaching and instruction uh in the poner Beach area in fact right Eric yeah she uh she actually teaches at a course in St Augustine now um Palencia but she lives here still in Pon ofra so I'm staying at her house this week and it's kind of a cool uh cool uh thing for me to you know hang out with her and be around her there's Reed thrown up some kind a sign I don't know what that means but um but yeah no it's kind of cool for me to have her for most of the floor to swing and then
this week staying at her house is awesome hey how was your first experience here last year by the way Eric and you finished 27th that's a that's pretty impressive showing sometimes it takes players a year or two to figure this course out yeah thanks I uh I enjoyed it I thought it was a lot of fun um it's a it's a great course where it doesn't really suit one type of player um and I think we have a few courses on tour where you kind of got to either be a long hitter or a really straight hitter o
r whatever it is and I think uh this course is cool because you see guys that are long win you see guys that are straight uh play well here so uh I I really enjoy the course and I think it's a great test it seems like whatever type of game you have is just the person that actually plays the best that wins which is which is I think all you could ask for in a big tournament like this hey Eric can you tilt down and zoom in a little bit on the green let's see if we can we can uh take a peek at what'
s happening down there yeah sure there you go yeah hey what whole location are you expecting for the opening round tomorrow Eric uh last year it was uh front right I think uh kind of like uh just right on Matthew pavan's head there and then uh it's pretty soft greens last year and they're almost softer this year so you'll probably see a lot of balls spinning back towards the hole I don't like to hear that firm these greens up they they're actually Eric looks to me like they're changing color as
we as we watch and uh to me this golf course has played soft with the overseed uh so when you get that little grayish Hue to the the greens I think it really challenges you guys and brings up the great shot makers Eric is just becoming a gr old man don't wor about him is like oh back in the day when we walked uphill in the snow to the golf course you know well I will say this uh back in the early 2000s late 1990s the these greens had a white color to them certainly by Saturday afternoon and Sund
ay uh I think this place is perfectly manicured and with the overseed I think it plays a little easier with it being with the soft nature of it for sure yeah I think uh this course also changes quite a bit from uh you know Wednesday to let's say the weekend Saturday or Sunday so while it's soft now I think there's definitely a opportunity let's say for it to get a lot firmer as the week goes on so I think that's definitely something all of us players and Cat's got to keep an eye on and just kind
of make sure we know what the conditions are as they start to change 142 birdies converted by Eric Cole this season this is not a bad place to make a two here and send the crowd to do a frenzy up on the hillside huh yeah I know it's a cool environment I uh I think I birdied it at least once maybe two rounds last year and just with the stadium feel around it when you when you make a putt or you know do make a birdie they definitely uh support you and are allowed which is a cool environment to be
in all right so we got one group on the green exiting making way over to 18 and soon enough Eric Cole's caddy Reed Cochran will take on the 17th here yeah I'm uh I'm a little nervous doing this but I'm comforted by the fact that he's definitely more nervous than I am so that's a nice thing now this competition has been taking place for more than 25 years in fact following the the passing of Tom Watson's great longtime caddy Bruce Edwards in 2004 from L Garrick's disease the players caddy compet
ition here has been honoring Bruce every year and they make an annual donation to The Bruce Edwards Foundation which is really cool it really is cool it's a cool feature one of the Traditions here but this year pery I see they got the caddies way off the championship tea where in years past they've had them off to the left some and it was basically just about 105 110 yard wedge or so you've actually got a caddy this year that has made a whole of one and uh on this Hall in competition will wil ye
ah cting for sun JM Philip Rey is the caddy for Harry Hall he staked one to 5 and 1/2 ft a little bit earlier in fact Eric will be opening the players in a group with Harry Hall in Ben Martin looks like you got an afternoon tea time and then early on Friday Eric yeah that's right uh late early which I kind of I kind of prefer if you're playing well you can kind of keep the momentum going so uh and I got a good group Harry Hall and Ben Martin both friends of mine so we'll have a good time out the
re next couple days so we're getting a Peak at at the te is Reed a lefty like his dad he is yeah he uh like I said he's a little more of a baseball player than a golfer but he's he's probably like a he's probably a five handicap I'd say is so uh you know he knows what he's doing he hit the green last year he hit it to 28 ft last year so I got high expectations for him closest B saw last year by the way Luke hopped who's the caddy for Ben Martin stuffed went in there about 4 and 1/2 ft during the
caddy competition last year yeah Luke's a good player I think he played at Clemson maybe with Ben so uh not a huge surprise to see him hit went in there close it's Andrew putam on the way lost that one hey nice job Eric it's easy to lose the flight of a golf ball in the sky you can always widen out that's your safety net it's a good thing you didn't hold that you would have lost it yeah I would have been in trouble I think if I missed a hole in one you're going I got to get ready this is JT pos
ton's caddy hitting now good guy don't know much about his golf game but he's a good guy well he doesn't swing it as well as what he sings it he can really sing Hit the that's Aaron Fleer and it goes rocketing over the back of the green a little on the skinny side look at the ball Mark right next to the hole yeah you should have done it in sacks underwear cleaner there's Nick Hardy off to the right hand side in the other television Tower getting the High View It's a Wonderful spot to watch a lit
tle golf from up there yeah I feel like you could sell this ticket for decent amount of money cuz this is a great spot to view this hole from this side of the [Music] T okay another Southpaw here Jordan Guilford he's the caddy for Andrew putam this week cut in there cut in there lost that one too what a shot shot oh sure [Applause] was you could sell that one a little bit later on this week look at PX is breathing deeply with a soft balls leaving P how does a ball stay up on top there never nor
take huge bounce and they'd be walking to the drop zone is that the lon I don't know still Wednesday though as Eric mentioned this golf course does change dramatically all right here's your man Eric this is the one we've all been waiting for that sounded good bad Club Eric you gave him a bad Club yeah wrong Club there for him so let's get his reaction to that Reed's pretty competitive so he's not going to be happy about that but he did hit a very good shot which was cool to see very good shot an
d outstanding work from you Mr Cole we appreciate some of your time it was fun hanging with you have a great week Eric awesome thank you guys for having me this has been fun for me you got it that's Eric Cole rookie of the year on the PJ tour last season he's got an afternoon tea time tomorrow off at 2:35 alongside Harry Hall and Ben Martin in the opening round of the players Eric is relieved of his duties in the camera Tower [Music] as Roy maroy hits the property and is one of the past players
champions in the [Music] field e well certainly the players is about competition but it's also about family and now we're joined by Aaron badley and part of his clan we've got Jeremiah and Josiah with them out here today and I'm thinking swanie they may have gone to tacos at 12 just based on the hats they're wearing what do you think Aon you've been at this event a bunch I now you bring your family to share it uh it's an important event but it's a it's a family event how how do you guys uh sort
of celebrate this week yeah this is a great week for the family I mean the kids love coming down the whole crew comes and uh um me it's such a great event the tour does such a great job with this event with uh making it great for the players the caddies but also the families and um you know having dinner in the clubhouse at night is great cuz a lot of families go and the the boys get to see a bunch of their friends that they see um that's good time Jeremiah what's your favorite Taco um steak ste
ak Josiah um probably the chicken chicken chicken so what are you guys going to do I know you guys follow your dad when he plays uh how do you cheer them on out there um we cheer really loud yeah is that you um yeah same thing same thing won thanks for joining us obviously the family is very important to everybody out here and we know that how important it is to you thanks play well this week thanks so much should be a great week how about Jeremiah and Josiah with the flow like Dad yeah you thou
ght dad looks like Fabio they Fabio L there on the along side it's good stuff 8:35 Eastern Time start for Rory mroy to begin the week on Thursday morning here yeah he said he found some Joy last week in the last three days on the putting green uh it was well documented with Faxon out there he talked about a p he said when he putts better he's actually hitting down on the putt a little bit and the putter not coming up but uh to me if you if you study maroy I mentioned three miscuts to begin the j
ourney here and then he for four years span he finished in the top 12 and then the last five starts he's at three miscuts and a win so he hasn't had a lot of Joy he's felt handcuffed around this golf course because sometimes Sor grass takes away his weapon which is his driver but uh right now he's struggling with the golf swing because he's hitting it as well as he has in his career off the T but the iron game he's missing a lot of irons left so he feels like he has two golf swings which is real
ly problematic Mark yeah certainly you don't want to come in your doubt full especially with some of these targets and and in the past couple players he's come in here with a golf swing in a little bit of a mess and it's been strange because earlier the season he was almost unbeatable out there on the DP World Tour but it's been inauspicious the last few weeks especially on the west coast and I thought at the cognizant classic we had him on PGA Tour live he looked a lot more comfortable as drivi
ng the ball he's got this flighted Drive shot that he was working on that he hits it a ton still but the ball's flighted lower and almost to me Craig he says he stands uncomfortably close to it and then uh this straightens off the swing path on the way in and he hits the ball with very little curvature in the air and then when he gets the big t- shot and he sort of tilts back some it gets a little inconsistent and I just want the sense that that feeling that he has for the driver where he stands
closer and covers the ball a bit more if he had to do some of that with the iron game that might iron itself out because it's currently almost a game of whack-a-mole you know he drove the ball great at cognizant didn't didn't putt very well then he comes to Bay Hill fixes up the putting doesn't strike the irons very well so maybe he can put it all together but to me it's very much on the heels of the iron game right now because last week it did appear like he made number of putts well go back t
o if you go back to the driver Riviera he led the field 36 and approach PJ National to your point led the field in driving 31st and then last week first and driving 55th out of only 58 guys so there is inconsistency and if you and then if you expand and extrapolate that to here he's said 40 rounds at sass 19 underpass 17 overpass so we are looking for some consistent not only this year but here at Sor grass yeah that uh that flighted driver he mentioned to me that it was at Riviera that he built
that one into the repertoire so yeah I see where you're going um he was on the range for a while yesterday with the tailor made folks sort of working on some irons working on some distance control and such but the key really is not to hit that hard fast left one because that's going to trip you up around this golf course yeah you can't you can't think of two having two different golf swings you just want to be out there um just free flowing and I think when you're thinking of making a different
goal swing from the Fairway than you do from the te that that's pretty difficult he was one of the guys that suggested to Scotty Sheffer to switch to that Mallet style of putter that you just saw Rory using on the putting green he was asked about it yesterday he goes yeah I'm not giving him any more advice well he was also the guy at Riviera who said uh to the media he goes look if Scotty starts putting well it's contest yeah no exactly it's been a terrific start to the floor to swing for the I
rishman who lives down Jupiter way Shane Lowry with a couple of top five finishes at the cognizant classic and the Arnold Palmer Invitational huddling up down on the Range for on the Range here at the player Stadium Course at TPC song grass until the bottom of the hour about 1:30 we'll hit you with some in-depth swing analysis from Craig perks and Mark imman the help of the latest and tracing technology we begin to break it down some of the best players in the world including Shane Lowry beautif
ul look at 17 and some may be interested on how many balls might be in the water there this week I don't I mean there was uh I'm sure you have dug into the numbers 58 in the water there last year 64 66 I'm thinking it's got to be in the 60s somewhere I'm going under 58 and off I'm under all day where you sit on this on SW I would probably lean under I think did you see the color of that green heard it's pretty firm on a wi State I saw balls digging in there Eric say quite soft right now he did d
idn't he 96 in ball striking this season Shane Lowry you need a good short game around here and he's got wonderful hand wonderful hands and I think he's coming in here with confidence you talked about the two top fives uh it wasn't a fair fight on Sunday when he was p alongside Scotty Sheffer at Bay Hill but uh if he can drive it in a few more Fairways there is a penalty for for hitting in the rough this week uh drive it in the Fairway and just take advantage of the his incredible short game I I
think he's a guy that potentially could contend I love the approach of Shane Larry to the game you know we live in this era of data and information and all this sort of stuff but he's just gloriously unencumbered by technique he sets up to it he sees the shot he pulls the trigger as a Young Man used to hit like a tumbly draw now he hits this rotational sort of a fade shot and he's very very reliable and and to those hands just watch he sort of sees shot hit shot kind of thing and responds to to
the Target to the conditions at hand my only question this week given that he's been in the final group over the last two weeks on two demanding golf courses in PGA National and of course Bay Hill is is where's the energy level because that is emotionally and mentally taxing and you're coming to another event this week that's all you want in terms of just being mentally and emotionally rested yeah stamina is important no question and and having Clarity so you need to be fresh with the mind you
heard Brian Haron talk about it get some rest this afternoon he's probably lumbered up here just going to have a a very quiet easy practice session and then just get ready for tomorrow I think that's the best way to approach things watch the Rhythm this oiliness to the golf swing speed through the bottom the man has a clar jug in his collection World Golf Championship is well he is up for the big moment and he's playing at a very high level to start the Florida swing this is the third of four le
gs across the Sunshine State Shane Lowry gets loose Mark Carnival part of our coverage here this week on the Range had a chance to catch up with young Nick dun a little earlier well nick uh so you now you got a you got a manager time because of uh autographs and stuff uh that goes along with that win and now playing here at the Players uh been a bit of a whirl one for you since you're winning out at the American Express yeah just a little um there's you know problems that I didn't think I'd have
to have to deal with but um really good problems and obviously I'm here um got to watch my my teammates um to Monday um play over at the hay just across the road so that was pretty cool and then they got to come out and support me yesterday so it was uh um cool to have them around and you know a lot of fun for me to go watch them what's it like like what kind of questions did you get from them obviously they were your teammates but now you you've separated yourself a little bit in the sense tha
t you're out here in the PJ tour what you mentioned liking hanging around what what was the conversations like um n it's it's no different I mean they still see me as the as the dude that runs around trying to get into trouble and um but uh but no I mean they're they they treat me the exact same and um you know they're still my teammates even if I don't play with them and um and you know I see them as brothers of mine and it's was cool to see them you've played here at TPC saw grass in the stadi
um course in the junior players this week is a much different week a little bit of a different golf course but what will you take from the experiences that you had during the junior players to use actually during the players yeah it's it's one of the first events uh Hunters played a couple of these golf courses on the on the tour circuit or schedule so far it's one of the only courses that I've played I've played Heritage a couple times but I've got some some comfortable um some comfortable Vibe
s out here I've played it you know a dozen two dozen times so I know what to kind of hit what to expect now it's you know different conditions I'm sure the greens are going to firm up get pretty quick rough rough thick but for the most part I kind of know what I'm going to hit off each te which is which is nice well thanks for your time get some risk curls in there for your autograph Sig I appreciate it good luck this week I appreciate it thank you so much thanks Carney chatting with Nick Dunlap
a little bit earlier and that's sah fala 213 is the start of his competition tomorrow afternoon and longtime Coach Rick Hunter they are always alongside they've been together since uh seah was s years old and I love the way that Seth goes about thing he loves to curve shots and big curves and I think that works works World round here uh it's this well what is he 26 27 years old it's this youthful enthusiasm that which he plays the game of golf and I love the joy really I I think that works well
here well you mentioned Rick Hunter I got to meet him a couple years ago and he was watching siah I think it was at Tory Pines for the Farmers Insurance open and so I just quizzed him you know I'm a golf teacher deep down and so I said to him how do you guide a young man like this and he said when he was a Youngster he came to me and he obviously didn't hit the ball very long and there was this part three on the golf course that they played that there was a tree right in the middle of the Fairw
ay and it blocked the view of the green and he said sah wasn't strong enough or powerful enough to hit the ball over the tree so he came to me and he goes Coach Rick I've got to learn to bend the golf ball so I can get around that tree and that was basically the impetus for how he plays golf because he hasn't changed an ounce since then he had draws and Fades and highs and lows and there's there's near a straight shot when he stands over it yeah I I think of going back to his days at pepperine w
here he was heading intentional Shanks to throw off the the competition he had zoomed a few past some players and they're like well he's not going to break 80 today and he got and shoot 65 so the ability to hit a shank actually on purpose you got to have some hellaciously good hands that that is really impressive let's be real um I've done one or two of those in a warmup and mine weren't intentional so but but you act like it is though you're like I meant to do that it's the next one after that
to try and find the square the center of the face is no I just he he loves to curve the ball he's got you got to have the imagination to see that and uh he's got great finesse around the greens again I don't want to say everyone's has a chance here but these are all worldclass players but the ability to to see that and to maneuver away around the golf course with your mind and then have a good short game it's a good combination well he was all world the Pepperdine wasn't he sweeping all the Men'
s National Collegiate Player of the Year Awards on the way to Leading the waves to the national championship he's a fun dude easy to root for so we've had four Signature Events under our belt the most recent was last week at beill when Scotty Sheffer took down the Arnold Palmer Invitational congratulations to Chris Kirk who won the first event of 2024 the century out in Maui got that very distinctive trophy in his hands 54 holes all we could squeeze in because of Mother Nature's intervention at
Pebble Beach but Windam Clark was the winner and then down the California coast outside of Los Angeles hii matama with a 62 on Sunday Riviera to win the Genesis Invitational and Scotty got the hardware big fat check and a very handsome cardigan sweater to slip on the 18th green at the Bay Hill Club in Lodge in Orlando on Sunday securing his status as number one in the world number one in the FedEx Cup standings as well on the eve of his title defense here well Swan you reference will zalatoris a
nd he's a guy I know he's on your mind this week as one of your choices and a lot of folks are paying close attention to will just because of what a great golfer he is and what he's done with the technique Craig because he was out for a while with herniated discs in the lower back and ordinarily that's kind of rest re be for no more golf but he's come back almost stronger than ever yeah and I think it all starts at a dress he had that s posture right he worked with Greg Rose and Dave Phillips at
TPI they do that uh complete uh analogy of the body and where it is and and basically the posture which you're going to get into that little s posture at the base of the spine that's where it created all those problems well let's take a closer look as Craig references so we're going to have it on the screen here and you can see there's 2022 prior to to the procedure and the injury and here recently at Bay Hill and you talk of the posture I want you to talk about the value and the importance the
reof because I feel like as a fundamental people sort of Overlook it a little a little too much yeah I think if you see this here it puts an abnormally amount of stress on the on the lower spine and the back there and so you can see he's he's straightened that out and then you to your point uh you can look at the difference in the width for the hands from the body here and here so I think this start those start positions there so you get the club in a better position from a fundamental standpoin
t it's going to allow the golf swing to be better as well so you saw the S posture there you saw the arms hanging more underneath the shoulders which I think is crucial look at how the handles underneath the chest allows him to cover it and you can see a lot of sit towards the heels too now this has far-reaching effects as the club begins to move away from the golf ball the key to as Craig said was in transition or the change of Direction there was a lot of right hip or Trail hip rais and you'd
have to side Bend too much off that but just watch how the posture and how the hip Works differently can affect where the top of the golf swing is so there's old style wheel and as we take new style wheel back handle perhaps a touch deeper Club more over the hands now as he approaches the top much will be made about where the club's pointing little less laid off a little more neutral but you can see how this Trail hip in 24 Craig is a lot more deep a lot more behind I also say look how different
with the hand position the hands were so high there in 2022 and then they have to flatten then that starts to put the pressure on the lower part of the spine as well here's the area to pay attention to old will that would really pop up that trail hip and he'd have to side Bend too much now with new will if you just watch kind of where the yardage book is no more lifting up no more putting pressure and lighting up that lower right portion of the back which was creating all the issues impact kind
of looks the same he's just way more turned out and out of the way there on 22 2024 is more underneath himself yeah he talked about being more rotary more horizontal instead of that huge reverse C on the follow through again that's going to put excessive uh stress on the back well you can see now there's 2022 there is that big reverse C now watch as he posts up into the follow through a lot less stress the hips aren't that far out from underneath him clubs more across the back of his neck look
how his middle was pointing way off to the left hand side there there was just a whole lot of stress that was been put on that lower back Craig and you talk about joint injuries in golf when the lower back starts going man that is just not a happy place to be I was really surprised he talked about uh there was an article by Kevin price on pga.com when he came back at Sony he's an incredibly good striker of the golf ball but he talked about with prior to the the micro disectomy surgery how much h
e had to use his hands to square the face up and generally that creates inconsistent he was never inconsistent but to now he's more rotary going to use the big muscles a little bit more and I think again I don't want to keep reiterating this but that's going to take the the stress off the back and the way he's played the last couple of weeks it's good to see him back in form he's going to be a factor and extra points by the way for micro disectomy and saying it properly SW well done thank you ge
ntlemen though the caddy competition continues down there at the island green at 17 Philip Rey Harry Halls man Stak one 5 and A2 ft Jordan Guilford inside 10 feet Julian Trudeau around 10 ft as well and Carl Smith is the cadd for saw theala who we saw loosening up on the Range a little bit earlier and this was Carl Smith a little bit ear there let's check out this action tell me what you think oh it's lovely and he was the assistant coach at pepperon when SE played there how's that a little flig
hted feathery one in the back location o wow look out s that greting you can't you can't land it back there and keep it on the green that has one big bounce it's 20 yards in the water he actually recruited said to papad Julian Trudeau is McKenzie Hughes is caddy beautiful grip got to keep moving before the swing keep that thing fluid and silky you've been lugging a bag for eighto or seven holes you stand up here and hit a make a swing like that it was gorgeous at least they don't wear those big
caddy overalls like at certain events at least you can swing a bit more freely in this uh with this gar and the best of the day Harry Halls caddy Phil REI there's Harry hand grip and yeah getting it recorded [Music] so the problem is when you hit one that good that's a lot of pressure on Harry to step up and hit some good ones throughout the week and on Instagram in 3 2 1 well we've seen some magic through the years at 17 haven't we Freddy of course made a ho in three one year remember that one
in three this was just a routine too 96 for boom boom on the way to the title he made celebrations just look cool didn't he oh this was it great work by our team in the truck getting this point he had hit one in the water and then said I'm just going to r instead of walking up to the Drop Zone which can be a really a difficult shot so why not just Peg it again same Club same yardage different [Music] result naago now just D it that was pretty special but nothing like we saw in 2001 Johnny that's
better than most how about him that is better than most better than most the great G Koke on the call who will be on the call this week with Roger Maly which is just Sensational to have them both back for the 50th players uh speaking of Sensational this was in 2002 this is pre-shot link era so we don't really know how long this SP was this was on VHS tape actually look at that clothing huh glorious fo Choy classics Le Soul wow and then 2015 I think Ricky birdied 17 like nine times that week yea
h three times on Sunday I believe he birdied it tell me how Brave you're going to be let look at the color of the greens this is what we want to see this is exactly what we want to see tell me how Brave you have to be to aim at that right yeah I'm not sure you want to be r at this flag but at some point you just going to take it on second hole of what was the aggregate playoff back in 2015 and just kept better and that was on top of Kevin kizna who was on the green already and watch this one and
then back to 17 for sudden death and this one was Saucy just just a wedge but to take this flag on in that moment [Music] incredible riie Fowler owns the island green was the call from Dan Hicks on the NBC telecast that year he did indeed how about three last year that was incredible and uh that the Jah de that Shane Larry showed with that whole one in 2022 was incredible so Willie Willcox has made it EAS year as a competitor he is the caddy for seaw Kim and uh he would be the chalk I guess to
the caddy competition wouldn't he absolutely and that was to the hard hole occas the one on that back exactly Craig has been complaining about today I'm not complaining just uh being observed all right Rory Ma has certainly had his cracks at the 17 through the years let's hear Rory's take on the island green I think it's very memorable um I think because of where it comes in the golf course you know it's just you know the penultimate Hall uh and I think it's an it's an iconic Hall you know peopl
e think about this championship and and this golf course they you know automatically think about the 17th here in the island green and um you know it has it's become one of the most iconic halls in golf because of that and yeah I mean it's uh you know you're standing there tied for the lead or you have a One-Shot lead on Sunday it's a you know you got to stand up and make a good swing and and you know try to get it over and done with so it's it's uh it's right up there over and done [Laughter] w
ith tell you what he always gives great thought and care and consideration to every question he is asked well if you watch him I mean listening to him is one thing because he's cerebral he thinks about the game and life and essentially everything on just a a deeper plane but if you watch him when he speaks you can actually see the thought that's going into every answer that he gives they're not trite packaged answers he honestly considers the question and then the cander that he speaks with is e
nviable truth be told given his stature in the game he's a voracious reader and I think his command of the vocabulary is pretty impressive and uh he talked about coming into the season he he'd read a book by Adam Grant the hidden potential he's always looking for ways to motivate himself what else are we trying to accomplish here you know he's got the 20 what are we at 24 wins now the three you know everything he you could ever imagine um winning the three times of FedEx Cup he's done everything
out here but you've got to continue to to be motivated and uh try and keep it keep it present right now Craig we were talking about the long left with the irons and the pulls with the irons right you can see him there there is a replica of the 17th green on The Practice Facility here and you can see him gesturing the little fade the little drip fade he's been aiming at the left hole location trying to make sure the ball does not miss left and there's that softer look in the arm swing on the way
through that I feel like is almost crucial to him not hitting that left ball see that look there that little soft almost undercut look when he's in between clubs he goes to a harder like driven arm swing where the left arm stays quite firm to me it looks like he pushes the path to the right if you swing to the right of the face the balls are always going to turn to the left that's the more hard arm look there there three different release patterns right there I like the previous one it reminded
me a little bit of Shane Larry just the flow with the arms just the release it wasn't anything forced but again if you got to if you have a consistent mess here then you've got to work on some things that are trying to eliminate that and I think changing the rotation through the the shot is really important because it's all about the face control there that's the high elevated one again going to the left whole location trying not to miss to the left and you say all about face control you have f
our elements that influence a golf shot face alignment swing path angle of attack and speed and of all of those the face is King wherever the face goes where the ball's going to go and then you're going to shape the ball by by the relationship ship to that face position so as you watch roro want to draw one line as we look at him down the line here and that's the line right up the shaft of the club otherwise he's beautiful at a dress there just looks natural sort of athletically ready so as we t
ake him back watch the line which is the plane of the shaft the angle of it some and as he moves back it's a beautiful start see the club hugs that then stands up and gets over the top of the swing and where he is right now that's almost a throwback to where he is as a young man and I saw a video of him the other day where he walked past a picture of himself at the US Open wi at Congressional and he said I want to be that guy again so you see a little cupping in the wrist but can you see the han
dle of the club here is very much over KNE over the insteps of the feet so now watch how you Transitions and changes down if he does a good job the club will stay on top of that diagonal line just like that when he does a bad job he starts to get the club a little bit too much underneath this red plane which forces the path of the swing off to the right hand side too much and again if you swing to the right you're going to have to shut the face as you shut the face the ball's going to go left th
at is a whole lot better there into that soft arm look that lets that club swing left after contact and so you can keep the face more neutral that sha looks pretty steep to me if I it's a wedge no I understand that but if you I liked the way that sh uh the club came down but to me when it's that steep there has to be some manipulation I know it's a wedge and you're going to that is going to be accentuated through a longer swing to me that's why uh the ball is going left potentially but I mean um
certainly there are a lot of good things to admire there from Rory so Rory we get a little visual confirmation there from Harry and we'll check back in with cardi who had a chance to to catch up with one of the winners last fall on the PJ tours in the field this week Eric golf scene's pretty fun obviously win in last fall and then lot the good solid play continues uh is it as fun as it looks yeah I mean I get to do this for a living man if I'm not having fun I'm doing the wrong thing you're her
e at the Players this week biggest event uh you know on our tour it's our event as PJ tour players what's your prepar preparation like for a week like this ah it doesn't change much from week to week um this place is in incredible shape so um biggest things probably get used to the green speeds they're a bit faster um than normal it's funny it's a funny combination cuz they're soft but they're really fast um you know get used to the thick rough uh and that's about it really what's a Wednesday lo
ok like for Eric from R right before the players uh did nine holes this morning with Cam jagas which was fantastic uh a little bit of lunch a little bit of short game and then I'm in the ocean with my kids well thanks a lot play well thank you cheers Eric vanroy winner of the worldwide Technologies Championship uh last fall on the pj2 that is the smooth sweet swinging action of 25-year-old swed lug goerg it's my favorite swing in the game right now oh it's a textbook it's Flawless uh I to me wha
t's really impressive that there's we talked about the Simplicity with which Scotty Sheffer plays this golf swing has a lot of the Simplicity just the motion itself there's no it's not uh incumbered with any mechanical thoughts it's it's delightful well I'm glad you say that because as a young man he went to high school in Sweden was a soccer player and the high school was for lead athletes and he got into golf or was playing golf then and in the first year of the for there all they learn are ba
ll flight laws and how you create shots and he knows what his neutral is and you talk about the Simplicity and the Elegance of it to me it's about where you accelerate and where you slow down and every golf swing has an acceleration phase and then a slow down phase he creates a lot of Club head speed through the ball but he slows it down into that balanced finish perfectly every single time which is a skill that really Elite golfers have but certain folks just do it very well like watch the Spee
d through the ball and you see it's slows down perfectly that club hits him in the back of the head it doesn't move and whether it's driver or wedge it'ss the same spot every time and John I mean this guy stamps out shots like you cannot believe you talk about ballf flight laws one of the best quotes we've heard Matt Avery these kids are coming out of the womb with a track man this is true you know I mean ballf flight laws were we were trying to get them under Limbs and trying to create but I yo
u're right I I think more than anything I I I like what he does and this was Luke Donald's description he is um just incredibly uh uh excuse me decisive plays quickly decisively without emotion and I think that is so key with the golf swing as Flawless as this is you don't you don't want to impede anything LC Texas long way from esav Sweden where ludvig grew up played his college golf at Texas Tech University he was a consumate All America during his four years there stayed in school all four ye
ars which made him eligible for an immediate Ascent to the PJ Tour by way of the PJ tour University rankings he was the first guy that went right to the top from college yeah and he's still on his way to the top he's currently ranked 10 in the world and uh and Rising I mean if he's a stock you should have bought a few months ago but you may as well get stock now because he's going in One Direction this time last year uh actually the week of Bay Hill again he hadn't turned prior he was 1980th in
the world and now as you mentioned 10 the the ascent has been rapid for sure it's time though for the signature Victory and I think he's primed he's got an old head on young shoulders as well he's gloriously unassuming he's thankful for everything um he's just a wonderful man with an incredible golf game ESPN plus coverage of the 50th Players Championship pranks up Thursday morning at 7:30 a.m. a.m. eastern time it'll be my pleasure to be alongside former players champion Craig perks on the Main
feed Andy North Billy ketzer part of our coverage as well Mark emman and the rest of the crew here for the 50th players I'm on board I'm on record with Will zores that's my winner for the week pery let's go to you never happened before in 50 years at the Players Championship we're going to have a back-to- back winner Scotty Sheffer coming in here as world number one I just think he managed the heck out of this golf course last year the way he plays this this golf course is he's reasonably conse
rvative in his approach but very aggressive off the tea I think that's a great combination here at sass hey I need you to Mark the time we actually agreeing on something first time ever Scotty Sheffer for everything Craig said and I'll add to that the TPC sass The Stadium Course makes players play approach shots from kind of the same area currently he's second on the PGA to Strokes gained approach he plays with a real smarts about him he hits the ball on the right side of the target so he's not
going to beat himself and the way he's playing right now yeah he's got to be the the favorite I'm picking him and let's not forget that putter cuz he's he's making putts now hoping he's on the mark not just with the podcast but with his selection here this week how about you K what you got you know I've always enjoyed working with everybody and uh I I've got to go with Scotty Sheffer followed him last last week he talk about someone who's humble and very talented uh I think we're going to have a
n experience the first time in history where there's backto back winners and uh I'm along with Craig he would know he's a winner it would be upsetting a deep historical Trend we've had here thank you K we look forward to your coverage all week long carne has never misre a putt on the stadium that is true in our commentary my goodness it's pretty special all right best defending Champion finishes since 1983 that's it no one's done better than fif Hal Sutton in 1990 Tom Kite in 2001 it is a singul
arly Democratic test that brings everyone into 144 guys are going to show up this week thinking if they have their games in order they can win the PLAYERS Championship it's possible R Craig yeah Davis Love shot 64 that day I just couldn't couldn't beat him but uh yeah no I think that uh the more and more it's talked about the more difficult it becomes but I think Scotty Sheffer is up to the task weather forecast looks pretty favorable for the week might have a little activity coming in here on S
unday morning but nothing too serious that will disrupt the 50th playing of The Players Championship cannot wait to bring it to you it all starts Thursday morning on ESPN plus starting at 7:30 a.m. eastern time for Craig perks Mark imman Mark Carnaval and Eric Cole who did some fine camera operation at 17 as well I'm John santek there's our man we'll see you here Thursday morning for the start of the [Music] players
Comments
My *No1 Fav Player @Rory McIlroy 🙌🏼🕊️
Absolutely the new face of golf.
Stepping it up!
It’s not a real championship unless all the best players in the world are playing.
Can’t wait to see Scottie be the first to win The Players 2 years in a row! Jake Knapp going to do great to i feel like and hope! Maybe 1st and 2nd?
Love it 👍
I can't wait to see who will win
This tournament should be called Best half Players Championship 👏
this has nothing on the Open "at the range" - get some tracers and trackman stats on screen
Where’s the range?
Sorry, it’s not ‘The Players’ It’s ‘Some Players we like ‘ Not watching
👏👏👏 pga tour - media team actually doing some work .. instead of just nodding their heads and cashing their checks #facts 👩💼 👨💼
PGA tour has gone down hill so bad this year. Where are the dominant players. Some of this year's winners I never even hear of. The 3 tours need to come together or it will be like tennis only time people will attend is the majors. I for see a dramatic drop in attendance. Which means sponsorships
Weak field