Previewing storylines ahead of the 50th Players Championship - ESPN

Just when it seemed the narrative surrounding men's professional golf might return to the course with the arrival of the 50th Players Championship (the «fifth major»), the PGA Tour's potential deal with Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund and commissioner Jay Monahan's future became hot topics again Tuesday.

Much of the discussion leading up to the PGA Tour's flagship event has focused on golfers who aren't here — reigning Masters champion Jon Rahm and other stars who are competing in the rival LIV Golf League and two-time Players Championship winner Tiger Woods, who is skipping this week's tournament for undisclosed reasons.

But there are some great potential storylines heading into the Players Championship, which tees off Thursday at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida.

Mark Schlabach: Obviously, there are the high-profile featured groups — reigning FedEx Cup champion Viktor Hovland/Rory McIlroy/Jordan Spieth and Scottie Scheffler/Rickie Fowler/Justin Thomas are probably the best.

I'm curious to see how Sweden's Ludvig Åberg performs in his first Players Championship. He'll be playing with Patrick Cantlay and Adam Scott in the first two rounds. There's a reason there has been only one golfer that's won the Players in his debut since the tournament moved to TPC Sawgrass in 1982 (New Zealand's Craig Perks in 2002).

Åberg, 24, is exceptionally talented and handled pressure well while competing for the European team in last year's Ryder Cup in Italy. The former Texas Tech star already has four top-25 and two top-10 finishes this season. He just moved into the top 10 of the Official World Golf Ranking for the first time in his career.

Paolo Uggetti: I'm going to go slightly off the board here. Since the season so