The Pros And Cons Of Moving The Players Championship To March

Bermuda versus overseed rye. As the PGA Tour and PGA of America tweak their big event schedules, here’s a good pro and con by GolfWorld’s Brian Wacker on if moving the Players Championship from May to March is a good idea. Personally, once the PGA decided to move their major to May, I think it makes sense for the Players to go back to their original March date after 12 years.

“I like the overseeded rye [in March],” said Adam Scott, who won the tournament in its “pre-Masters” era in 2004. “Not that you have to get stuck with tradition, but they’ve never set it up the way it was supposed to be in May. They didn’t take a big enough chance to make it different. They should’ve done more.”

“The greens are not really designed for run-up shots,” Phil Mickelson added. “There’s a lot of holes where we’ve got to fly it on and stop it. I think the way it played in March, I kind of preferred over the firm, fast. I don’t think when it was designed, it was designed to be firm, fast the way it has played the last few years.”

“Personally, I like this grass type better,” said Jordan Spieth, who has only played the tournament in May. “I grew up on this, Bermuda, not the overseed, having to judge firmer, faster greens, and then the biggest change will be within the rough. Around the greens, overseed becomes an easier grass to chip off of than this grainy Bermuda. But out of the rough, judging fliers and shots around the green, explosion shots, having that kind of feel, that goes away a little bit when overseed comes in. It becomes a little bit easier. I think the scores will potentially go lower with a change in grass type.”

It’s not only about how the course plays, though. It will look better, too.

“There will be more defined fairways, more defined rough lines, more defined green areas,” said Brandt Snedeker. “Right now, it all blends together as this greenish brown Bermuda. Once you get that fairway bright green [and dormant rough], it’ll be different.”

“[In March] it signaled the start of big tournament golf for the year, Scott said”. “It was often two weeks before the Masters and the world media gathered here and stayed over for the Masters. It was really this event that was the sign of big golf starting for the year and I think that’ll happen when it goes back to March.”