Players Championship 2015 Leaderboard: Live Look at Sunday Scores, Predictions
Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Jordan Spieth. Chris Kirk, Kevin Kisner and Ben Martin. One threesome has exactly zero players in the top 60. The other will be playing for the 2015 Players Championship.
As you may have guessed, it's Kirk, Kisner and Martin who join Bill Haas atop the leaderboard at Sawgrass heading into Sunday's final round. It's been a largely miserable week for the game's elite. Spieth and Mickelson didn't make it to the weekend. Woods probably wishes he didn't. Adam Scott, Rory McIlroy and Rickie Fowler are on the fringes of contention a few shots out but will need big fourth rounds to have a shot.
.jpg?w=256 "Colts Jaguars Football")
Sergio Garcia is the only well-known star with a legitimate shot at pulling off the comeback.
Instead, the week has been defined by players most casual fans had to look up on Wikipedia. Kirk currently holds a one-shot lead heading into the final 18 holes after three solid under-par rounds. Kisner's been the best player of the last two days, turning in consecutive 67s. Haas is by far the best-known of the leaders due to his 2011 FedEx Cup championship but is typically a fringe contender.
All told, it should be interesting to see which of these guys can handle the spotlight.
Final Groups Preview
Ben Martin, Bill Haas (2:25 p.m. ET)
Haas knows a little bit about being underappreciated on the national level. In fact, his career has in some ways become defined by it. A recent Sports Illustrated poll of Tour players named him the most underrated golfer, something he heard for the first time this week.
"I think I just need to prove to myself that just getting into this situation is not OK, it's not enough," Haas said, per Alex Myers of Golf Digest. "I want to get into this position and go forward. I've gotten into this position before and I've seemed to fall backwards. Whether it's mental, physical or both...I would love to figure out how to get over that hump."
Haas has posted his nine-under score over the last two days, turning in a 67 on Friday and a 68 on Saturday. He's been the rare player who has been consistently solid in every aspect of his game. He's been above-average in drive length, accuracy, greens in regulation and putts, all while doing well to recover on the few mistakes he has made.
After bogeying three times in Round 1, Haas has gone backward only once in his last 36 holes.
Martin, meanwhile, was one critical bogey away from playing in the final group. The 27-year-old dropped a stroke on No. 18 on Saturday, which took him from a tie for the lead at 10-under down to a three-way tie for second. Martin has managed 14 birdies against five bogeys for the week, as he looks for his second career win on Tour.
"I really have been treating every day kind of as a fresh start, not looking at it as compounding, but going out each day trying to play the best round that I can," Martin told reporters. "I think that's what I'll do going into Sunday, tomorrow, is another fresh start, put another good 18 holes together, and add them up at the end."
Martin's lone victory on the PGA Tour came last October at the Shriners Open. He'll need a fourth straight under-par round to have a chance at pulling off the unthinkable Sunday.
Chris Kirk, Kevin Kisner (2:35 p.m. ET)
Martin and everyone else in the field is chasing Kirk, who has managed to battle back every time it appeared he was falling out of contention. After bogeying No. 13 and No. 14 on Saturday, the shoe looked like it was starting to drop. He'd had a good run, but Sawgrass was finally coming back and rearing its head, right?
Nah.
Kirk overcame those back-to-back bogeys with three straight birdies, capping off a round of 68 to enter Sunday with a one-stroke lead. He has managed to stay ahead of the pack despite missing more fairways than he's hit, using solid iron play to recover and put himself in a position to go low.
"This is a very stressful golf course," Kirk told reporters. "You know, I definitely enjoy it, but it's—you're enjoying the work. It definitely can feel like work a little bit out there at times, just because there's so much penalty for misses on this golf course, and you know, with it playing difficult like it is right now, yeah, it takes a lot out of you for sure to play a good round."
A three-time winner on Tour, Kirk had only two top-10s during the 2015 season coming into the Players Championship. He'd missed nearly as many cuts (three) as he made (four) over his last seven events. If he doesn't fix his driver, look for a regression back to his previous mean on Sunday.
Kisner, who opened his Friday round looking just to make the cut, has been marvelous over his last 36 holes. He's carded 13 birdies against three bogeys, including a stretch where he hit 12 under-par scores without a bad number. His two ugly double-bogeys on Thursday are the only things keeping him from holding a sizable lead.
"But I think that's the cool thing about this course and the way they set it up, best field of the year and everybody is playing pretty well," Kirk told reporters. "Who knows what's going to happen tomorrow, and you'd better get off to a hot start and start making some birdies or you'll get lapped."
With 25 players within four strokes of the lead, that's certainly the attitude to have heading into what could be a career-making round.
| 1 | Bill Haas | -13 |
| T-2 | Sergio Garcia | -12 |
| T-2 | Justin Thomas | -12 |
| 4 | David Hearn | -11 |
| T-5 | Rory McIlroy | -9 |
| T-5 | Bubba Watson | -9 |
| T-5 | Chris Kirk | -9 |
| T-5 | Ben Martin | -9 |
Follow Tyler Conway (@tylerconway22) on Twitter
.jpg?w=480 "Colts Jaguars Football")
