They arrived at the famed island green — No. 17 at TPC Sawgrass — at 10:30 a.m. ET, the Nos. 1, 2 and 3 ranked players in the world staging a head-to-head-to-head showdown at the so-called “fifth major.” It was a rare must-see moment for a divided sport that has spent the last few years with its best players spread around the world, rarely getting together to stage what professional sports are really about — the best facing the best to see who’s actually the best.
But there was Scottie Scheffler (No. 1), Rory McIlroy (No. 2) and Xander Schauffele (No. 3) standing on a tee box together in the second round of The Players Championship, giving the thousands of fans surrounding them at 17 a glimpse of what golf should be on a week-in-week-out basis.
First up was McIlroy, then Schauffele and then Scheffler. They would all leave with par, but not before McIlroy nearly holed his tee shot.
On the micro level, the three were battling in the biggest tournament outside of the four majors. McIlroy would take the solo lead one hole later — part of a five-birdie, no-bogey first nine that bested Scheffler and Schauffele by three strokes.
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On the macro, it was the one millionth reminder that golf needs to get its you-know-what together. Because while Scheffler, McIlroy and Schauffele are ranked 1-2-3, respectively, are they really the best three golfers in the world? Bryson DeChambeau or Jon Rahm might have something to say about that, were they a part of the 144-player field in Ponte Vedre, Fla., this weekend. But they’re not because they’re in Singapore about to tee it up in LIV Golf’s fourth tournament of the season.
Whose fault is that? Well, DeChambeau and Rahm did take the bag to leave, but they took it for a reason, and that reason prompted the PGA Tour to make some long overdue changes — namely increase its purses, particularly for “elevated” events. So they weren’t all wrong. But the reality now is a sport that doesn’t have its best players playing against one another outside of four times a year, and that’s got to change, lest golf creep more and more into the “enduring but increasingly irrelevant” tier of sports.
It’s clear golf fans will tune in when the best players play together. This year’s ratings for signature events are up dramatically year over year, per Nielsen. The Pro-Am at Pebble Beach was up 47%, the Genesis 6% and the Arnold Palmer 22%.
The TPC should see a similar increase, especially if the current leaderboard holds.
Sitting at the top with the clubhouse lead is Min Woo Lee, along with Akshay Bhatia, at 11-under. Lee represents golf’s new-age, a 26-year-old who’s grown up in the age of social media, an arena where golf is actually thriving, maybe more than any other sport in the world. Lee may not be on the popularity level of McIlory, but if you were betting on the futures market of golf, that’s where the smart money would go.
McIlroy, despite two bogeys in his final four holes, is just two back. He won Friday’s three-player showdown, carding a 68 to Scheffler’s 70 and Schauffele’s 71.
Scheffler, as always, is lurking at 5-under. Schaueffele, at 2-under, looks like he’ll make the cut by a stroke.
If you’re a golf fan, this is what you want, though it would be even better if everyone were there.
Maybe next year, though at the glacial pace reunification talks are moving, don’t hold your breath.
This story will be updated.
