Matt Kuchar will be trying to beat a curse as well as the world’s best field when he attempts to defend his title this week at The Players Championship.
Kuchar is trying to become the first player in the event’s 40-year history to win it in consecutive years. As curses goes, the The Players Championship’s is comparable to the one at Augusta National, where no player has ever won the Masters and the Par-3 Contest in the same year.
“I don’t think that this is necessarily a curse that nobody’s defended the title here,” Kuchar said. “It’s just kind of one of those stats you pull out and I’d like to be the first guy that is able to repeat.”
Last year Kuchar played a couple of practice rounds before The Players and stayed away from the course until Wednesday, when he played nine holes. He said it helped him stay fresh for the event. He had to arrive on Tuesday this year to take care of some matters reserved for the defending champion, but he stuck with the same plan.
The Georgia Tech grad won the WGC Accenture Match Play Championship in February and was eighth at the Masters. He is fourth in the FedEx Cup standings.
Love in action: This week also marks the return of Davis Love III, who has been out since February following neck surgery. Love will be playing in his 28th consecutive Players Championship.
Love said he delayed the surgery for two or three years because of fear, but changed his mind after seeing how Peyton Manning recovered from similar surgery a year ago. Love was in pain this spring and unable to compete in his favorite tournaments, leading to his decision to have the operation, known as a two-level disc fusion.
“I just went ahead and did it,” Love said. “I literally woke up after surgery and knew I was fine. I felt so much better. The pain was gone.”
Since then he’s been working to get his strength back. Love said he will likely be in physical therapy through the end of the year, but is strong enough to play five or six consecutive days.
On the tours: Gene Sauers, the Savannah native and Georgia Southern grad who became a Champions Tour rookie last year, has put together solid back-to-back weeks. Sauers lost in a playoff at the Insperity Championship and now has three top-three finishes in five starts. … There are five Georgians who will be competing in their first Players Championship: Russell Henley, Scott Brown, Will Claxton, Roberto Castro and Erik Compton.
UGA women go West: The No 18-ranked Georgia women are the sixth seed in the NCAA West Regional, which begins Thursday at Stanford. The top eight teams from three regionals advance to the NCAA women's championship, which will be played May 21-24 at the University of Georgia. Top-ranked Southern Cal is the top seed in the regional.
Georgia finished second in SEC championship, with three of its five players finishing among the top 20: Manuela Carbajo Re, Rocio Sanchez Lobato and Emilie Burger. Kalley Walsh and Amira Alexander will be the other two starters.
Etc.: Peter Williamson, the No. 4 ranked amateur in the world, has committed to play in the Dogwood Invitational next month. The Dartmouth College product won the Southern Amateur and the North and South Amateur in 2012. He is the fifth top-20 amateur to commit, joining Georgia Tech's Richie Werenski, FSU's Daniel Berger, Alabama's Cory Whitsett and LSU's Curtis Thompson, the younger brother of the PGA Tour's Nicholas Thompson and LPGA's Lexi Thompson. …
The Affiniti Tour is a series of events at the courses managed by the company. The formats vary from scramble to best-ball, with an emphasis on teams. Registration is $50 and includes a box lunch and a sleeve of balls. Future tournaments are at the Georgia Club on June 1, Crystal Lake on July 27, Steel Canyon on Aug. 24, Cobblestone on Sept. 21 and St. Marlo on Nov. 2. Registration is conducted at the golf shop of the host club.
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