Wyndham Clark, Scottie Scheffler lead Players participants with First Coast golf experiences
PONTE VEDRA BEACH — Wyndham Clark has played good golf on the First Coast before this week at the 50th Players Championship.
So have Scottie Scheffler, Collin Morikawa, Sam Burns, Beau Hossler, Jordan Spieth, Emiliano Grillo and other participants in the 2024 Players Championship, who know their way up and down A1A after having played in junior and college tournaments at both TPC Sawgrass courses and the Sawgrass Country Club.
Clark, the 36-hole leader of the 50th Players Championship, experienced the Players Stadium Course both as a junior golfer and later with Oklahoma State. Clark tied for 11th in the 2010 Junior Players Championship, and tied for sixth in the 2014 Hayt, the University of North Florida’s invitational tournament at the Sawgrass CC, one of three stops he made with the Cowboys at The Hayt.
Two Players Championship participants this year were winners on the First Coast. Beau Hossler captured the individual Hayt title in 2015 and Robby Shelton won the Junior Players in 2012.
Spieth and Grillo were almost set for a playoff in the 2010 Junior Players that would have started at the par-3 17th hole. They were tied for first in the clubhouse but two shots behind Doug Johnson — who hit his second shot in the water at No. 18 of the Stadium Course and faced a 30-foot putt for bogey.
Johnson drained the putt to win by one.
Here are other examples of 2024 Players participants in amateur and college events on the First Coast.
Junior Players Championship
The peak year for the Junior Players, which began in 2007, was the 2010 tournament. In addition to Spieth and Grillo tying for second, Grayson Murray finished sixth and Patrick Rodgers seventh, with the four leading 13 juniors in the field who would eventually compete in the 50th Players.
Speaking of tough weeks, there was Murray in the 2011 Players. He dropped into a tie for 68th, 62 spots below his performance the year before, with rounds of 90-68-80.
Defending Players champion Scottie Scheffler finished solo fifth that year, with Hossler and Echavarria tying for seventh and Shelton tying for 20th.
Other future Players entrants in the 2011 Junior Players were Matthew Nesmith and Thomas Detry (tie for 22nd), Doug Ghim (tie for 27th), Jake Knapp (tie for 32nd) and Matthew Fitzpatrick (tie for 43rd).
Burns also played in three Junior Players, with a top finish of a tie for fifth in 2012.
Other Junior Players alumni in this year’s Players field: 2021 Players champion Justin Thomas, two-time major champion Collin Morikawa, defending FedEx Cup champion Viktor Hovland, Davis Riley, Carl Yuan, Austin Eckroat, Cameron Young, Ben Griffin, Jimmy Stanger, Dylan Wu and Greyson Sigg.
The Hayt stamps out PGA Tour winners
The Hayt has been a staple on the First Coast golf schedule for 32 years and commands deep fields almost every year.
As such, there are numerous PGA Tour stars who have competed in the tournament. Entering this season, 25 players who have combined for 106 victories played in The Hayt, led by Scheffler, two-time major champion Dustin Johnson (Coastal Carolina), FedEx Cup champions Billy Horschel (Florida), Bill Haas (Wake Forest) and Brandt Snedeker (Vanderbilt) and 2010 Players champion Tim Clark (N.C. State).
The 2015 Hayt may turn out to be the deepest for future PGA Tour stars. After Hossler in first place, Scheffler and Shelton (Alabama) tied for 10th and Clark, Knapp (UCLA) and Ghim finished inside the top-25. Also in the field that year who eventually made to the 2024 Players were Lee Hodges (UAB) and Sam Stevens (Oklahoma State).
Sea Best Invitational
Past participants in Jacksonville University’s invitational at the TPC Sawgrass Dye’s Valley who are in the 2024 Players field are Griffin, Echavarria, Taylor Moore, Alex Smalley and Harry Hall.
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Players Championship participants had prior starts in First Coast events
