This Week in Golf -- May 7-10
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Philadelphia, PA (SportsNetwork.com) - PGA TOUR - THE PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP, TPC Sawgrass (Stadium Course), Ponte Vedra Beach, FL - The PGA Tour is back at TPC Sawgrass this week for the always electric Players Championship, featuring some of the most daunting finishing holes in the game of golf.
Last year, Martin Kaymer stared down those finishing holes and ended with three straight difficult pars to hang on and beat out Jim Furyk by one shot. Kaymer shot a 1-under 71 in the final round to finish the week at 13-under-par 275.
Kaymer, who went on to win the U.S. Open at Pinehurst No. 2 a little over a month later, held a 4-shot lead through 12 holes, but he made a mess of No. 15 and had to settle for double-bogey.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Still up by one shot at the 16th, Kaymer 2-putted for par and headed to the famous par-3 island green 17th. After finding the rough with his tee shot and hitting a poor chip, Kaymer made an improbable, bending 29-foot par putt, which he followed up with a fist pump.
Kaymer was able to get up and down for par from four feet at the last to seal his victory.
There will be plenty of firepower in this week's field, which is set to feature all of the top-50 players in the world and 56 of the top 60. Kaymer will be back to defend his title.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Coming off his win at last week's WGC-Cadillac Match Play, world No. 1 Rory McIlroy will look to make it two straight victories.
Masters champion and world No. 2 Jordan Spieth hopes to have something to say about that following his early exit in last week's event. Spieth shared the third-round lead with Kaymer last year before struggling to a 2-over 74. He finished tied for fourth.
Two-time champion Tiger Woods, who picked up his fourth of five victories during the 2013 season at Sawgrass, will be making his first start since finishing tied for 17th at the Masters. Woods also won here in 2001.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Golf Channel will have coverage of all four rounds and will hand things off to NBC in the afternoon on the weekend.
The PGA Tour will be in North Carolina next week for the Wells Fargo Championship, where J.B. Holmes beat out Furyk by a shot to win last year.
EUROPEAN TOUR
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}AFRASIA BANK MAURITIUS OPEN, Heritage Golf Club, Domaine de Bel Ombre, Mauritius - The European Tour travels to Mauritius this week for the inaugural AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open, which is the first official event to be tri- sanctioned alongside the Asian and Sunshine Tours.
Three winners on the European Tour this season will be in action this week: Andrew Dodt, George Coetzee and Kiradech Aphibarnrat.
Dodt was the first of the three to win this season at the inaugural True Thailand Classic in February, which was his second career victory. Coetzee took home his second title as well at the Tshwane Open in March, while Aphibarnrat won for the second time in a playoff over Hao Tong Li at the Shenzhen International.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Fifteen-time tour winner Thomas Bjorn will also be playing this week as he looks for his first victory since the Nedbank Golf Challenge last year.
Golf Channel will have early morning coverage of all four rounds.
The European Tour returns to Europe next week for just the second time this season for the Open de Espana. Miguel Angel Jimenez topped Richard Green and Thomas Pieters with a par on the first playoff hole to win last year.