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The 2008 PLAYERS does not have the feel of a Championship that the players themselves call their own. With over a $9 million purse and $1.7 first place prize, the top of the leaderboard is more reminiscent of a ‘blast from the past’ than one reflective of the top players in the world. With 47-year old Kenny Perry (-6) leading at the halfway point and 50-year old Bernhard Langer (-5) just a shot behind, I’m thinking the Saturday TV ratings could prove to be a ‘bogey’ for the networks. After all, without Tiger Woods in the field this week, the interest level is ‘sub-par’ and the (lack of) financial gain to the networks, local merchants and other media outlets has to be a concern. In fact, the numbers for national media in attendance speak for themselves. None of the papers from Los Angeles or Chicago are covering the PLAYERS Championship. Even the Miami Herald, located just six hours down Interstate 95, took a pass. So did St. Petersburg, the state’s biggest newspaper. Sports strongholds like Charlotte, Dallas, Houston and Philadelphia also failed to ‘step to the tee’. And media members from San Diego, set to host the U.S. Open in a month, decided not to make the trip to Florida.

Back to the tournament, first round leader Sergio Garcia (-5) and Paul Goydos are also just a shot back as the player’s tee-off Saturday. Garcia is leading the field in both fairway’s hit and greens in regulation through two rounds, as his tee-to-green game has been terrific; even while playing in the windy and blustery conditions Friday afternoon. I continue to read the players comments and listen to interviews to gather additional information and insight on how the players themselves are playing and adapting to the conditions. Sergio Garcia is in very good control of his game and golf ball and staying committed to his shots as the wind gusts make distance control more difficult. Solid ball striking is essential for success at Sawgrass, and Sergio has been stellar while his putting shows signs of improvement with the help of short-game instructor and putting guru Stan Utley.

I like Garcia over Kenny Perry as a short favorite in a single-day match-up Saturday. The weather will be hot (90 degrees) and windy (up to 20mph) Saturday, and worse on Sunday. Garcia has proven he can handle adverse weather and wind conditions in the past, although his mental makeup and putting have proven questionable. Garcia should hold steady and be in the hunt come Sunday. Big moves were made during last year’s third round from players farther off the pace, however the conditions were nearly ideal. With high heat and gusty winds combined with faster and firmer greens and fairway’s this year, it’s going to be ‘rough’ for a player too far back in the pack to make up ground. And the players that position themselves near the top for Sunday’s final round will have to battle not only the wind, but likely scattered showers and thunderstorms on Sunday.

Some big names and top-rated players missed the cut and will not be playing this weekend. Gone are Vijay Singh, Geoff Ogilvy, Sean O’Hair, Steve Stricker, Justin Leonard, K.J. Choi, Padraig Harrington, Brandt Snedeker and Andres Romero among others. Plenty of match-up betting on many of these players, and fortunately we avoided the ‘rough’ and even ‘faded’ a few like Ogivly and Singh. In fact, we have our top-play 20* Big Drive in the bag before the weekend, as Stewart Cink has beaten Geoff Ogivly, who struggled while shooting 77-75. We ‘chipped-in’ an additional recommendation winner on Furyk over Singh, and have three others in the balance over the weekend. Those extra ‘chip-in’ recommended plays have now gone 8-1 and have produced plenty of profit while supporting the official ‘Fairway Forecast’ plays this PGA season. Now 2-0 on our rare 20* Big Drive plays this year and 20-6 the past four years on those ‘Big Bertha’ bombers, I encourage you to take a ‘shot’ with my PGA match-up plays that have produced over 55 units of profit the past four years. Plenty of ‘green’ to be made betting the PGA if you take the right ‘approach’ and stay on ‘course, and we’ll continue to take our ‘shots’ and try to ‘chip-in’ more winners and helpful information and insight.