The Players Championship is widely considered as golf's "fifth major" due to the talented fields that play in the event year after year, and it will be no different this year as the PGA Tour moves down to Florida for the event this week. What follows are the top three storylines heading into the event.
K.J. Choi looks to Defend Title
Choi defeated David Toms in a playoff to win the event last year for his eighth career PGA Tour victory, and will be looking to defend his title this week. Choi has had a solid year in 2012 to this point, with eight cuts made in ten starts to go with one top 10 finish. However, he doesn't drive the ball as far as he used to, and has been struggling with the putter of late, ranking 98th on Tour in total putting. Also considering that no one has ever won the event back to back since it first began in 1974, it seems unlikely that Choi will be able to win, but anything could happen.
Which Tiger Woods will we see this week?
After Woods won the Arnold Palmer Invitational at the end of May, many thought hi to be the favorite to win the Masters and get back on track to his winning ways. However, since that time his golf game has completely fallen apart, as he has yet to break 71 since the win and missed the cut at the Wells Fargo Championship last week. A lot of it has to do with his driver more than anything else, as Tiger has become very inconsistent with it over the past two weeks.
The resurgence of Ben Curtis
After winning twice in 2006, Ben Curtis practically fell off the map and couldn't get any sort of consistency going with his game at all for the next half-decade. However, 2012 has marked resurgence for Curtis, as he won the Valero Texas Open in late April and has failed to finish out of the top 25 in his previous three starts. He is riding a lot of momentum into this week, and I wouldn't be surprised if he was in contention come the weekend.
Ryan Kekoufski is a scratch golfer who has both played and watched the sport for well over a decade. He covers sports for the Yahoo! Contributor Network, and currently resides in Virginia. Follow him on Twitter @RyanKekoufski
