The Players Championship: Top stats to know

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Jordan Spieth returns to competition for the first time since the Masters and will make his third career start at the Players Championship. He missed the cut last year and is 5 over in his past three rounds at TPC Sawgrass after being 12 under in his first three career rounds there.

After missing the cut in his first three career starts at The Players (12 over combined), Rory McIlroy has posted top-eight finishes in his past three starts there (24 under combined).

History has been tough on defending champions at the Players. None of the past six Players champions have finished in the top 40 the next year.

Here is a look at the course, the tournament and its notable players.

The 17th Hole — Island Green

Since 2003, there have been 598 balls in the water in 5,675 official rounds played on the 17th hole (10.5 percent). The 17th hole’s scoring average during that time of 3.12 is the highest on the PGA Tour among par-3s that measure less than 150 yards on the scorecard.

In 2015, the 17th hole was the site of the highest number of double bogeys (28) and others (four) combined since 2008, when 47 was the combined total (41 doubles, eight others).

Jordan Spieth

In his first three career rounds at the Players Championship, Spieth was a combined 12 under with zero bogeys or worse. In his three rounds since then, Spieth has made 13 bogeys with a combined score of 5 over.

Young winners

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