Dominant Rahm headlines stacked field at Players Championship

Jon Rahm may have come back down to earth after a strong start to the year but he is still the hottest player going into this week's Players Championship where 2022 champion Cameron Smith will be a notable absentee given his decision to join LIV Golf.

Rahm is the first player since Johnny Miller in 1975 to win three times in a calendar year before March and will headline a loaded field at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, which includes 44 of the top 50 players in the world.

The Spaniard, who opened the season with six consecutive top-10 finishes before settling for a share of 39th last week at Bay Hill, has never missed the cut in five starts at The Players and had his best result in 2021 when he finished ninth.

World number one Rahm counts the 2021 US Open among his 10 wins on the PGA Tour, but the Spaniard is very eager to add a Players Championship title to his resume.

"I mean, winning this event is a big step forward to a Hall of Fame career," Rahm told reporters. "You are The Players Champion. Arguably as close as you can get to being a major champion without officially being one."

Among the other contenders at TPC Sawgrass, where the winner will get US$4.5 million from a purse of US$25 million, are reigning PGA Tour Player of the Year Scottie Scheffler and four-times major winner Rory McIlroy.

For Scheffler and McIlroy, who have both spent time atop the world rankings this year, a win this week is one of the many scenarios in which they can return to top spot in the rankings.

McIlroy arrives full of confidence after finishing runner-up at Bay Hill where during the final round the Northern Irishman carded successive bogeys from the 14th before a two-putt birdie at the par-five 16th kept his hopes alive.

"As much