Saturday was indeed moving day at the Players Championship as the field separated itself drastically thanks to high winds that made an already treacherous TPC Sawgrass even more difficult. Emiliano Grillo shot 85. Rickie Fowler and Sami Valimaki both shot 82. Will Zalatoris was nine over par on the last five holes. On the other hand, Bud Cauley, Corey Conners and Danny Walker all shot 66 to vault up the leaderboard. In fact, Walker improved 57 positions.
But it’s J.J. Spaun who leads the way after shooting a third-round 70. He’s one ahead of Cauley and two ahead of Lucas Glover (71) and Alex Smalley (72). Rory McIlroy is in a group another shot behind.
Now the hard part. Trying to find a way to land the PGA Tour’s crown jewel.
It’s going to happen earlier than usual too, as tournament officials announced Saturday that the final-round tee times would be moved up early to make sure they dodge the inclement weather that’s expected in the afternoon. Players will be grouped in threes and are going off the first and 10th tees between 8-10 a.m.
So the 72 players who made the cut will go out early, still with expected high winds, and try to bag the 51st Players Championship.
Below are the tee times for the final round at TPC Sawgrass.
Players Championship Tee Times (all times EDT)
1st tee
8 a.m.: Keegan Bradley, Aaron Rai, Jesper Svensson
8:11 a.m.: Justin Lower, Justin Thomas, Davis Riley
8:22 a.m.: Mac Meissner, Collin Morikawa, Tommy Fleetwood
8:33 a.m.: Taylor Pendrith, Taylor Moore, Tom Hoge
8:44 a.m.: Denny McCarthy, Daniel Berger, Tom Kim
8:55 a.m.: Min Woo Lee, Scottie Scheffler, Sam Ryder
9:06 a.m.: Robert MacIntyre, Davis Thompson, Chris Kirk
9:17 a.m.: Ryan Gerard, J.T. Poston, Jake Knapp
9:28 a.m.: Sepp Straka, Patrick Cantlay, Max McGreevy
9:39 a.m.: Stephan Jaeger, Danny Walker, Akshay Bhatia
9:50 a.m.: Rory McIlroy, Corey Conners, Alex Smalley
10:01 a.m.: Lucas Glover, Bud Cauley, J.J. Spaun
10th tee
8 a.m.: Joe Highsmith, Jordan Spieth, Ryan Fox
8:11 a.m.: Jacob Bridgemen, Harris English, Matt McCarty
8:22 a.m.: Billy Horschel, Matt Kuchar, Will Zalatoris
8:33 a.m.: Austin Eckroat, Joel Dahmen, Russell Henley
8:44 a.m.: Shane Lowry, Beau Hossler, Hayden Springer
8:55 a.m.: Chandler Phillips, Will Chandler, Camilo Villegas
9:06 a.m.: Matthieu Pavon, Sungjae Im, Sahith Theegala
9:17 a.m.: Carson Young, Isaiah Salinda, Byeong Hun An
9:28 a.m.: C.T. Pan, Si Woo Kim, Charley Hoffman
9:39 a.m.: Kurt Kitayama, Rico Hoey, Xander Schauffele
9:50 a.m.: Cameron Young, Trey Mullinax, Jhonattan Vegas
10:01 a.m.: Rickie Fowler, Sami Valimaki, Emiliano Grillo
Main Image: Jared C. Tilton