Anyone fancy a rematch? Lee Westwood certainly does. The Sunday after being denied by Bryson DeChambeau, the veteran will once again venture out into the final group alongside the player who is supposedly revolutionising the game.
Yet this time, a few hundred miles up the Florida coast, the status and the prize is rather bigger and the old gunslinger has the two-shot advantage. The conclusion of The Players Championship could be a classic.
Westwood, 47, is on 13-under, after a 68, and DeChambeau, 27, on 11-under, after a 67 and the Stadium Course may as well have Eddie Hearn as the promoter.
“I love it,” said DeChambeau. “Westy is a fierce competitor and I welcome the challenge to play with him again.”
Westwood concurred: “It is like ‘Round Two, The Rematch’. I’m going to really enjoy tomorrow. I enjoyed last Sunday, and I’m going to enjoy this Sunday. I suppose if you sat Bryson down here and you asked him which course would suit him more, he’d probably say Bay Hill.
“You can open your shoulders a little bit more around Bay Hill than you can around here. This place is a little bit more strategic. But credit to Bryson; you wouldn’t associate this course with his style of play, and he’s up there. It shows he can adapt his game.”
If the cheers that greeted Westwood’s 25-feet birdie on the “island-green” 17th are any gauge then there will be only one crowd favourite, as the former world No 1 attempts to add to his creaking CV.
So much drama occurred on moving day at Sawgrass, but it was the quiet ploddings of the tee-to-green master which eventually grabbed full billing. He posted four birdies, 14 pars and is plainly allergic to bogeys on the grass of the PGA Tour HQ.
Westwood has not dropped a shot since the 10th in the first round – that is a remarkable 44 holes. With his fiancee, Helen Storey, on the bag, he is in ridiculous form and has put himself in prime position not only to become the first from England to win the The Players, but also the oldest UK player ever to prevail on the PGA Tour.
These might seem heavy burdens to carry on his broad shoulders, but he seems utterly impervious.
In a tie for third on 10-under are another two Americans in Justin Thomas and Doug Ghim. Thomas’s 64 was the best of the week and he must be feared. But then England has another contender in Paul Casey on nine-under.
Casey has enjoyed/endured a remarkable week. He quadrupled the 17th on Thursday and has missed three putts under four-feet since. But courtesy of six birdies and an eagle in his 67, Casey has given himself a remarkable shot at the $2.7m (£1.94m) first prize. But he could be counting the cost of those dollars on Sunday evening.
Rory McIlroy is already back at home, three hours south in Florida, and trying to rid himself of the swing problems he blamed on trying to emulate DeChambeau.
In a remarkable mea culpa on Friday night after missing the cut, MclIroy confessed that he has ruined his renowned rhythm by trying to add more speed and power to his already beautiful motion after watching De Chambeau blitz the field at the US Open last September.
Paul McGinley, his fellow Irishman and sometime confidante who captained him at the 2014 Ryder Cup, was flabbergasted at the brutal honesty.
“I couldn’t believe it when I heard Rory say that,” McGinley, the Sky Sports analyst, said. “Professional golfers are like sheep, we are going to follow somebody who is having some success. What’s incredible is that one of the best drivers of the ball that we’ve ever seen in the game thinks that he might need to find another 10 or 15 yards.
“That was not necessary. We all know where Rory’s weaknesses are, his approach play particularly, over the last 12-14 months, has really fallen off the planet, especially with his short-irons. If you look at his statistics from 50 to 150 yards in, he’s ranked around 200th on the PGA Tour, which is not far from last.
“And with the addition nowadays of all the monitoring devices, it’s about hard work, application and dialling in the numbers. Look at Dustin Johnson; he’s had a phenomenal run over the last six or seven months, and he spends three-quarters of every practice session working on shots from 50 yards to 150 yards.
“He hits very few drivers and very few long-irons. His work with coach Claude Harmon has been mostly about dialling in the scoring clubs.”
With rumours swirling that McIlroy might be about to change coach, McGinley made an impassioned plea. “He’s had Michael Bannon as his coach since a very young age, nobody knows Rory’s swing better than Michael,” he said. “Rory, you should not overreact.”
Players Championship third round
203 Lee Westwood (Eng) 69 66 68
205 Bryson DeChambeau 69 69 67
206 Doug Ghim 71 67 68, Justin Thomas 71 71 64
207 Paul Casey (Eng) 73 67 67, Brian Harman 67 71 69, Jon Rahm (Spa) 72 68 67
208 Matthew Fitzpatrick (Eng) 68 68 72, Sergio Garcia (Spa) 65 72 71, Chris Kirk 72 65 71
209 Si Woo Kim (Kor) 72 70 67, Cameron Smith (Aus) 71 73 65
210 Abraham Ancer (Mex) 72 70 68, Talor Gooch 71 68 71, Ryan Palmer 70 72 68
Tee times for final round
Starting at hole 1:
11:50 Scott Harrington (USA)
11:55 Collin Morikawa (USA), Martin Laird (Sco)
12:05 Rory Sabbatini (Svk), Nate Lashley (USA)
12:15 Patrick Rodgers (USA), James Hahn (USA)
12:25 Cameron Percy (Aus), Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa)
12:35 Dustin Johnson (USA), Adam Scott (Aus)
12:45 Jhonattan Vegas (Ven), Aaron Wise (USA)
12:55 Michael Thompson (USA), Lucas Glover (USA)
13:05 Nick Taylor (Can), Russell Knox (Sco)
13:15 Dylan Frittelli (Rsa), Sungjae Im (Kor)
13:30 Zach Johnson (USA), Keegan Bradley (USA)
13:40 Ryan Moore (USA), Brendan Steele (USA)
13:50 Charley Hoffman (USA), Billy Horschel (USA)
14:00 Brian Stuard (USA), Kramer Hickok (USA)
14:10 Scott Piercy (USA), Kyoung-Hoon Lee (Kor)
14:20 Adam Hadwin (Can), Harold Varner (USA)
14:30 Phil Mickelson (USA), Charles Howell (USA)
14:40 Joaquin Niemann (Chi), Brendon Todd (USA)
14:50 Denny McCarthy (USA), Matt Jones (Aus)
15:05 Scott Brown (USA), Tyler McCumber (USA)
15:15 Daniel Berger (USA), Ryan Armour (USA)
15:25 Christiaan Bezuidenhout (Rsa), Jason Kokrak (USA)
15:35 Victor Perez (Fra), J. T. Poston (USA)
15:45 Corey Conners (Can), Jason Day (Aus)
15:55 Jordan Spieth (USA), Patrick Reed (USA)
16:05 Patton Kizzire (USA), Lanto Griffin (USA)
16:15 Will Zalatoris (USA), Tom Hoge (USA)
16:25 Adam Long (USA), Shane Lowry (Irl)
16:40 Talor Gooch (USA), Harry Higgs (USA)
16:50 Ryan Palmer (USA), Abraham Ancer (Mex)
17:00 Cameron Smith (Aus), Si Woo Kim (Kor)
17:10 Sergio Garcia (Spa), Matthew Fitzpatrick (Eng)
17:20 Brian Harman (USA), Chris Kirk (USA)
17:30 Paul Casey (Eng), Jon Rahm (Spa)
17:40 Justin Thomas (USA), Doug Ghim (USA)
17:50 Lee Westwood (Eng), Bryson DeChambeau (USA)