FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, May 7th, 2018

NOTABLE QUOTES – GOLF CENTRAL LIVE FROM THE PLAYERS (MONDAY PRIMETIME)

Golf Channel Notable Quotes
Golf Central Live From THE PLAYERS (Monday, primetime)
TPC Sawgrass (Stadium Course), Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla.
Monday, May 7

On THE PLAYERS Championship
Brandel Chamblee – “This golf course doesn’t sit on a cliff overlooking the ocean, nor was it built on a piece of links land or what was formerly a nursey. This golf course was built on a drained swamp. But what it lacks in topographical advantages, it more than makes up for with the demands of the design. It is indeed the intimidating nature of this golf course that puts every single player in this field through a psychological gauntlet that is at least in my mind reminiscent of what the U.S. Open used to be. This Championship represents the highest ideals of the game, and this golf course asks the biggest questions of the very best players… This is the most difficult Championship to win in the world of golf.”
Frank Nobilo – “[The 17th hole] which has been critiqued, maligned, everything, gives us as spectators and as players before – and more importantly for this game, the fans – just something always to remember.”
David Duval – “This is for all intents and purposes a major championship. People prep for it that way, they look at it that way. And I think as much as anything, it demands major championship [caliber] golf… I think it’s just an amazing test of golf.”

On consideration given to THE PLAYERS as a major championship
Chamblee – “The number of professional majors has evolved over the years… The Masters did not have the authority to turn their tournament into a major championship, but they had the power to do so their influence with the players and the media. The PGA TOUR conversely has the authority to do so, but they would rather those with the influence seed prestige to their tournament… It is tacitly a major championship already by the power it wields.”
Duval – “I just think that the PGA TOUR and kind of the world of golf just recognize it for what it is… Look, not all majors are created equal. You ask one player from one country which tournament they’d like to win most, you get one answer. You ask someone from another country and get a different answer.”
Nobilo – “Where we get caught up, we’re trying to compare eras or trying to find a metric or a measure for the best players in the world. And I think that’s often where we get confused… Jack Nicklaus won 17 of his 18 majors were held before they even held one PLAYERS on this golf course… What’s wrong if it’s just a standalone championship? I never bought into golf in the Olympics, and then I saw it being played and how important it was, and I realized it’s a really important piece of the landscape.”

On the Woods, Mickelson and Fowler grouping
Nobilo – “This is just a dream pairing… When you see them thrown together, we’re reminded this is arguably the greatest player of all-time playing with the greatest left-hander of all-time, and also the leader of [generation] Z, Rickie Fowler… Golf is in this tremendous place of depth and talent.”
Duval – “As much as anything as golf fans – as we sit here being analysts – we’re getting what we want with [this grouping]… To have the opportunity to watch that unfold over the first couple of days is a really unique thing, and hats off to the PGA TOUR for putting that grouping out there.”

On the strength of the field at THE PLAYERS
Chamblee – “If it is the hardest for the best to win, it is the hardest for the rest to win. And when you consider just how difficult it is to win this Championship because of the depth of the field, and then you add to it the intimidation that is present everywhere here on every single shot… When you put those two together, this is quite objectively the hardest Championship to win in all of golf.”
Duval – “This tournament, especially with the mental fatigue that comes with it and the mental challenges you face on this golf course, I can’t disagree that it’s as hard as any if not the hardest to win.”

On 2016 PLAYERS champion Jason Day
Duval – “To me it’s not surprising at all to see Jason Day playing golf like that again. He’s one hell of a talent… Sometimes there’s a lot of tiredness that comes with being No. 1. There’s a lot of burnout that comes with it. There’s a lot that is asked of that player. And I think having a little bit of time out of that spotlight… You can get rested, get rejuvenated and come back out firing.”
Nobilo – “His putting is really the definitive edge over the field.”

On THE PLAYERS moving to March in 2019
Duval – “I think it’s a perfect move. I’d always been an advocate for this event being played in March… I think that the run of five straight major championships leading into the month of the culmination of the beast that has become the FedExCup Playoffs is a brilliant move.”
Nobilo – “It’s taken a younger generation… Our generation – the idea of the Playoffs was sort of a novelty… This generation – they totally get it.”