Players ratings on Sunday best showing since 2004

As at this year's Masters, Tiger Woods was not a final-round factor. Unlike at the Masters, the finish was not scintillating. Nevertheless, according to Sports Business Daily,  the overnight Nielsen ratings for NBC's airing of Sunday's final round of the Players Championship handily beat the 2008 numbers. The telecast registered a 4.1 rating and a 10 share for Henrik Stenson's cakewalk, topping by 20.6% the final round of last year's tournament, which an ailing Woods did not enter, but which did feature the sudden-death playoff between Paul Goydos and eventual champion Sergio Garcia. Moreover, the '09 final round achieved the event's best showing since 2004, when Adam Scott won.

Perhaps equally impressive, the Players' final round rating matched the number for ABC's competing telecast of the NBA Western Conference semifinal Game 4, in which the Houston Rockets took a 29-point lead over the Los Angeles Lakers into the fourth quarter and, like Stenson, coasted to victory. 

Live Blog: Final Round of the Players Championship

Michael Walker Jr., senior editor for GOLF Magazine, covered the final round of the Players Championship.

Red numbers return in final round of Players Championship

It looks as if Sunday's final round here at the Players may be more of a shoot-out than a battle of attrition, as Saturday's round was. Many players going off early are piling up birdies.

There is almost no wind. Aaron Baddeley took advantage of the prime conditions to shoot 66. He started birdie-eagle, shot 33 on the front, and finished birdie-birdie-birdie on the Stadium Course's vaunted finishing holes.

Matt Kuchar went out in 33. Nick O'Hern birdied four of his first seven holes. Vijay Singh and Scott Piercy went out in 34. It looks as if scores will be considerably better in the final round.

Of course, disaster still lurks. Pat Perez doubled the seventh and ninth holes, John Merrick and Jeff Quinney bogeyed four straight holes starting at the third and Cameron Beckman just made the turn at 40. 

Should be a good show.

What to Watch For: Sunday at the Players Championship

I'll be watching what everyone else will be watching: the Tiger Woods show. Can the great man pull off another semi-miracle, a la Bay Hill? If any other player was hitting it like Tiger this week they wouldn't be within a mile of the leaderboard, but Woods's resourcefulness and unparalleled scoring ability have been on full display this week, as they were at Bay Hill. If he finds his swing tomorrow he could easily shoot his low round of the tournament, which would be bad news for Alex Cejka, among others.

When Woods is facing a big final round deficit he has a simple game-plan: Cut the other guy's lead in half by the turn. You may recall that at Bay Hill, Tiger whittled Sean O'Hair's five stroke cushion down to one in a mere seven holes. So Sunday's front nine becomes a tournament within a tournament, with Woods hoping to get within two or three of Cejka. If the scrappy Cejka can hold off Woods early then that will allow him to breathe a little easier on the watery back-nine. I was impressed by Cejka's poise throughout a tough third round, but he's never faced a test like he will on Sunday. I can't wait to see how he does.

 

Fewer heat casualties Saturday

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. -- The air-conditioned medical trailer behind the 77,000-square-foot Mediterranean-revival clubhouse has two beds to treat ailing fans, and it's been a busy place this week thanks to stifling heat and humidity at TPC Sawgrass for the 2009 Players Championship.

"Usually there's a bit of breeze after about 3 in the afternoon, but not today," said Kevin P. Murphy M.D., who was on duty beside the island 17th green Saturday, when temperatures hit 94 degrees, keeping medical personnel hopping. "That's good for the golfers, but not for the spectators."

There's no shade on 17, and fans camp out there all day and drink beer.

After 26 spectators were treated for heat-related injuries Friday, Murphy said he'd counted around 15 Saturday. Misters in the stands kept some fans cool, and one fan carried a blue spray bottle with a propeller to mist himself.

"I got it at Disney World for top dollar," he said. "Stuart Allenby wanted it."

Stuart Appleby? Robert Allenby? When it's this hot, who cares? Doctors typically drive overheated patrons from the course to the trailer before treatment, but not always.

"We put an IV in someone right on the grounds just a minute ago," Murphy said.

Heat thins but can't subdue crowd

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. -- Fans made a horseshoe around the 18th tee, giddy with anticipation shortly before the arrival of Tiger Woods and Daniel Chopra at the Players Championship on Saturday.

While the 94-degree heat seemed to keep some people home instead of straining against the gallery ropes at TPC Sawgrass, those who remained showed admirable spunk. They started doing the wave around the 18th tee, and were making so much noise a marshall had to quiet them lest they upset the golfers on 17. This did not go over well, eliciting howls of, "Wave killer!" And, "We can do a Ninja wave!"

When Woods and Chopra finally emerged from the tunnel under the grandstands behind the 17th green, the fans strained against the gallery ropes. Woods fanned his 3-wood right, and had to restrain himself from slamming the club into the turf. Chopra split the fairway, at which point the fans rejoined the fun.

"Go get him, Tiger! Knock him off the fairway!"

Brian Davis played with Boo Weekley on Saturday, which means he heard several inventive and not so inventive exhortations.

"Hey, Boo-Boo, how about a picnic basket?"

"Hey, Boo, ride your horse again!"

Davis, who was called a "tangerine" for the bright orange shirt he wore earlier this week, was at one tournament, not the Players, when a fan hollered, "Your shirt sucks!" Davis wheeled around to face the fan and realized the guy was wearing the exact same shirt.

"I thought that was funny," Davis said.

Still, the Players at Sawgrass would seem to have a long way to go to equal the U.S. Open at Bethpage, N.Y., where in 2002 Phil Mickelson heard a comment that he thought clever enough to remember even now. He was playing with Hidemichi Tanaka, who went over the ninth green and, in order to play his shot, had to move a microphone that had been placed in the grass.

"He picks it up to move it out of the way," Mickelson said, "and a guy yells out, 'Hey, Tanaka, how about a little karaoke?' I just think stuff like that is funny, very quick-witted."  

There was one minor incident at Sawgrass on Saturday. An apparently inebriated fan with a hamburger in his hand wouldn't pipe down as leader Alex Cejka prepared to hit his tee shot on 18. Cejka's playing partner Ian Poulter told the man to cool it, as did the marshals, but as Cejka was about the hit the man coughed and uttered, under his breath, "Bull____!" Cejka didn't seem to notice; his drive split the fairway. 

Cejka caddie Janis seeks 9th W

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. -- Tom Janis, the caddie for 54-hole Players Championship leader Alex Cejka, has won eight times on Tour with Mark O'Meara, Curtis Strange, Jerry Kelly and Scott Hoch.

Janis worked for O'Meara when he was second on the money list in 1984. He hooked up with Cejka the first time at Hilton Head in 2004. Janis had just attended the memorial service for fellow caddie Bruce Edwards, and he drove to South Carolina just hoping to get a bag.

"I'll never forget it, Alex didn't have a caddie, and he said I could work nine holes of a practice round," Janis said. "I guess he didn't want to let on that he didn't have a caddie, but obviously he didn't. So I did that and he said, 'All right, how about the whole week?'"

It was the beginning of a five-year relationship that's been up-and-down even by caddie standards. Janis, who lives in Jacksonville, is such a good caddie that Cejka has hired him three times.

"He and Alex and have been like Billy Martin and George Steinbrenner," said Ron Levin, one of Janis's friends on Tour. Rumor in the caddie shack is that the last time Cejka and Janis split it was over a bet.

"We always worked good together," said Janis, who would not confirm the bet story. "We just always got in fights. Both [break-ups] were mutual. We're a couple of hotheads. He's mellowed."

Earlier this week Cejka compared their relationship to that of an old married couple. He went through a difficult divorce with his real wife, but is past that. "He's very happy in his life right now," Janis said.

Janis, who also has worked for Fredrik Jacobson, hasn't caddied continuously on Tour. He took 12 years off and worked as an assistant club professional and a regional rep for Cobra golf clubs.

Caleigh Furyk reports on her dad at the Players Championship

By Caleigh Furyk

(Caleigh Furyk, 6, is a special correspondent whose assignment was to write about following her father, Jim Furyk, at the Players Championship on Friday. Here is her report.)

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. -- After school, I went to the golf course to see my dad play.  I walked nine holes. My friends Megan, Izzy, Abby and Claire came, too.  Megan, Izzy and Abby are in my class at school. Claire is in my brother Tanner’s class. I go to Bolles School.

When we first got to the course, my friends and I were playing a game where you tell somebody something and they tell the next person. Megan told me, “Shhh!” and then I said, “Shhh!”  and before it could get to everybody and back to Megan, she said, “Shhh!” again. It was just like what the people holding up those signs around the greens do when my dad or one of his friends is putting.

For a snack we had tee pretzels and water.

On the second hole or third hole or fourth hole (Dad thinks it was the second), we saw a bird way up in the tree and it had a fish in his claws.  He was nibbling on it. I saw it. So did Poppa and Nanna (my mother’s parents). My dad thinks it was an osprey.

Over by the eighth hole, I had a hot dog and water. Not at the place by No. 5 or 6, the one by No. 8.

At the end of the round, Mr. Mike gave me some golf balls to give to my friends. Mr. Mike is my dad’s caddie. My dad signed the balls. We played London Bridge is Falling Down while we waited for him to do autographs and sign the balls.  My friends liked them.

Then I came to the press room to write my report. It is a very big room with five TVs. The whole wall on one side of the room is a scoreboard. It was really, really big. My dad’s name was on it. So were his golf scores. My dad showed me another room where the players go to do interviews with the writers. The seats there fold down. It was just like the movie theater.

I might be a sportswriter when I get older. I could ask my dad questions in that room. I think he would like that.

Live Blog: Players Championship Round 3

Connell Barrett, editor-at-large for GOLF Magazine, covered the third round of the Players Championship. Feel free to leave a comment and join the discussion for the final round on Sunday at 2 p.m. EST.

What to Watch For: Saturday at the Players Championship

The obvious thing to keep an eye on is Alex Cejka's score. I'd put the over-under at 75, and recommend you take the over.

There is no one in golf I'd rather watch swing the club than Angel Cabrera. When he gets it going he makes the game look absurdly easy, and even with the humidity I'm not sure Cabrera broke a sweat during his second-round 65. I wouldn't be surprised to see him take it deep on Saturday and wind up with the lead heading into the final round.

All that said, what I'll really be watching on Saturday is Ian Poulter. At the Ryder Cup he summoned one of the gutsiest performances in ages and I thought it would begin his ascension into an elite player. He hasn't done much since but this Players represents a huge opportunity: to win for the first time in the U.S., to win for the first time anywhere in three years, to win for the first time against an elite field. Poulter proved at Valhalla he has the stones to get it done under excrutiating pressure. Now he needs a solid third round to put himself in position for a breakthrough victory.