Welcome to Tuesday's Mirror Sport golf live blog as we bring you all the build-up to The Players at TPC Sawgrass on Thursday.
A star-studded field will compete in the 50th edition of the prestigious tournament, with world number one Scottie Scheffler in imperious form after cruising to victory at the Arnold Palmer Invitational on Sunday.
For world number two Rory McIlroy, however, it is a different story, with the Northern Irishman struggling badly with his irons and wedges, blowing his chances of competing for victory at Bay Hill last time out. Reigning US Open champion Wyndham Clark will also be among the contenders at Sawgrass, although he has angered some of his fellow PGA Tour members with comments about changing the structure of the tour.
LIV Golf, meanwhile, has just started a three-week break, with the next event starting on April 5 in Miami. But the breakaway tour has a habit for making plenty of headlines off the course as well as on it, so stay tuned to our live blog below throughout the day for all the latest updates from the world of golf...
We will have more coverage from what looks to be another busy week of Golf from tomorrow morning up until the late hours of the evening.
Bubba Watson shares details of horror knee injury ahead of LIV Golf debut
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Jay Monahan has confirmed that the PGA Tour did hold discussions with Anthony Kim before the returning golfer decided to join LIV Golf.
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(Getty Images)Jay Monahan was asked about the strength of the PGA Tour after Jon Rahm's shock move to LIV Golf. His response was spiky, to say the least.
LIV Golf snap up PGA Tour winner who bases his game on fellow rebel Mickelson
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Jon Rahm quit the PGA Tour for LIV Golf in December (2024 Getty Images)PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan rarely speaks to the media, but he was grilled at an hour-long press conference at TPC Sawgrass today.
He gave an update on merger talks between the tour and the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund.
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Jay Monahan says negotiations between the PGA Tour and PIF are "accelerating" (Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)Paul Casey has not played on the DP World for more than two years since defecting to LIV Golf, but he will return next week thanks to a Porsche loophole.
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Paul Casey will make his DP World Tour return next week (Lintao Zhang/Getty Images)Wyndham Clark admits the PGA Tour field is in trouble with world number one Scottie Scheffler finding some form with the putter.
Scheffler is the best player in the world from tee to green, but he has cost himself several victories with errant play using the flat stick.
But hours of hard work with renowned putting coach Phil Kenyon have paid off, as well as a change to a mallet-head putter, with Scheffler leading the field in strokes gained on the green on Sunday as he romped to victory in the Arnold Palmer Invitational.
Clark, who finished second in the tournament at Bay Hill, said: "It would be borderline unfair if he starts putting really good.
"I never want to wish ill on anybody, but if he starts putting positive each week it's going to be really hard to beat. But that's good. It's just going to push me to get better in my ball-striking and every part of the game.
"He's kind of the barometer right now and I've got a lot of room to catch up and get better."
Scottie Scheffler was presented with the iconic red cardigan after winning the Arnold Palmer Invitational on Sunday (Keyur Khamar/PGA TOUR via Getty Images)No Tiger Woods in the field this week is a shame, but we'll always have the memories...
McIlroy was straight down to business at Sawgrass on Monday (Cliff Hawkins/Getty Images)
Sky Sports pundit Andrew Coltart has hit back at Wyndham Clark's suggestion that the PGA Tour should reduce the size of its fields and put the bottom 20 players each season at risk of relegation.
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Andrew Coltart is not happy with Wyndham Clark's ideas for the future of the PGA Tour (David Cannon/Getty Images)Here are the selected tee times (GMT) for round one of The Players.
12.35pm - Rory McIlroy, Viktor Hovland, Jordan Spieth*
12.46pm - Ludvig Aberg, Patrick Cantlay, Adam Scott*
13.08pm - Billy Horschel, Sungjae Im, Webb Simpson*
17.29pm - Hideki Matsuyama, Matt Fitzpatrick, Max Homa
17.40pm - Scottie Scheffler, Rickie Fowler, Justin Thomas
17.51pm - Wyndham Clark, Collin Morikawa, Brian Harman
18.02pm - Tony Finau, Will Zalatoris, Shane Lowry
* Starting on 10th tee
Thanks for joining us! Exciting times in the world of golf with The Players just a couple of days away! Stay tuned for all the news coming out of Sawgrass.
