Should-follow storylines in The Gamers: Climate, World No. 1 and extra

Sky Sports activities has round the clock protection of the PGA Tour’s Florida major occasion, as Justin Thomas returns because the defending champion and John Ram’s No. 1 standing on this planet is beneath menace – watch it dwell Thursday from 11:30 a.m. on Sky Sports activities The Gamers

How will climate have an effect on the primary occasion of the PGA Tour? Who’re the 5 gamers within the World No. 1 race? Will we see historical past made at TPC Sawgrass? We check out a number of the storylines to observe in The Gamers this week…

Can climate trigger issues in Sawgrass?

The previous couple of releases of The Gamers have gone by way of with none climate delays, however forecasts from this week’s PGA Tour recommend circumstances might be considerably completely different this 12 months.

Heavy rain and the specter of thunderstorms dominate the forecast for the primary two rounds, with rain persevering with into Saturday and bringing winds of as much as 30 mph.

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Check out the highest 10 screenshots of the gamers match within the common TPC Sawgrass.

The winds carry a marked dip in temperatures, dropping as little as 12 levels (54 levels Fahrenheit) within the last run on Sunday — in stark distinction to when the thermometer was flirting with almost 30 levels earlier within the week.

Chilly, moist and windy climate will carry extra challenges to the already demanding TPC Sawgrass, because the match will seemingly see its first climate stoppage because the second spherical crashes in 2016.

Will Ram maintain his first place on this planet?

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Scotty Scheffler explains why so many younger gamers now dominate the lads’s sport.

Jon Ram has topped the golf world’s rankings since claiming third place in a tie at The Open in July, having received the US Open the earlier month, regardless of arriving in Florida together with his world primary beneath critical menace.

Ram has a slim 0.42-point benefit over two-time major champion Colin Morikawa, and is considered one of 4 gamers who may leapfrog the Spaniard this week to the highest.

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World primary John Ram says whoever wins this week’s Gamers Championship is “actually the most effective on this planet” given the standard of the course and the sphere.

All the world’s prime 5 are beneath 30 for the primary time since OWGR was launched in 1986, with Victor Hovland and Patrick Cantlay additionally vying for the cost for world primary.

Schaeffler adopted up a shocking win on the WM Phoenix Open final month with a win on the Arnold Palmer Invitational on Sunday, which lifted him to No. 5 within the profession world, whereas a 3rd success in 4 video games this week could also be sufficient to leap excessive. Rating if different outcomes go his manner.

Can the English lastly beat Sawgrass?

Whereas an Englishman got here near profitable on a number of events – Lee Westwood, Nick Faldo, Ian Poulter and Luke Donald all took second place at TPC Sawgrass – England are nonetheless conspicuously absent from the winners’ circuit.

For a rustic that has had 166 rivals within the area over the previous 46 years, delivering 10 majors and 40 PGA Tour wins, it stays an outlier in an amazing success story.

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Gamers and pundits are learning why an English participant hasn’t received the Gamers Championship and are predicting who might be first.

Even oddly sufficient, the nation thinks of getting extra success in The Gamers than every other competitors exterior the US and Australia, with the English having achieved 23 all-time prime ten finals within the occasion’s historical past.

Westwood completed runner-up after Justin Thomas in final 12 months’s competitors, whereas Poulter completed second after fellow Ryder Cup teammate Henrik Stenson in 2009 and completed second to Se-Woo Kim in 2017.

The duo are amongst eight English gamers within the area this 12 months – will 2023 be the 12 months the Englishman lastly celebrates a win at Sawgrass?

May Thomas take pleasure in defending a historic title?

Six gamers have received The Gamers’ title on a number of events, though there’s nonetheless an anomaly in golf that nobody has been capable of efficiently defend their title within the PGA Tour major occasion.

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The Reigning Gamers champ, Justin Thomas, has mentioned he won’t be on this week’s match to “defend” his title, as an alternative saying he’s “simply making an attempt to win it once more”.

Rory McIlroy turned the eighth defending champion to overlook the reduce when he suffered early exits within the 2023 competitors, with extra champions failing to make it to the weekend than he adopted his top-ten end win the next 12 months.

No defending champion has ever competed critically after 12 months, with Tom Kate in 1990 and Hal Sutton in 2001 ending fifth this season after their gamers received.

Thomas claimed his 14th PGA Tour title in final 12 months’s occasion with a one-time win over Lee Westwood however hasn’t received since, with the World No. 1 seeking to finish that drought and turn out to be the primary participant to win back-to-back editions at TPC Sawgrass.

Will we see a document week on the seventeenth?

TPC Sawgrass’ iconic seventeenth place has taken many casualties over time, and that quantity is simply prone to improve if the dangerous climate continues as anticipated.

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Wealthy Beam of Sky Sports activities Golf explains the challenges of the notorious seventeenth gap at TPC Sawgrass. So, how will the present gamers of The Gamers carry out this week?

Some 66 balls discovered water across the well-known Algeciras throughout the 4 championship rounds of final 12 months’s competitors, the fourth-highest complete since PGA Tour data started in 2003.

The championship document stays at 93 from 2007, together with a staggering 50 throughout that 12 months’s opening spherical, though sturdy winds and chilly circumstances might put that quantity in danger this week.

Watch The Gamers of the week dwell on Sky Sports activities’ Gamers Championship channel. Reside protection of the opening spherical begins Thursday at 11:30 a.m. on Sky Sports activities The Gamers.