| Appointment: March 9-12 Place: TPC Sawgrass, Florida |
| Blanket: Live radio and text commentary on the Radio 5 Sports Extra website and app, BBC Sounds and BBC Sport for the final two rounds |
The top three players in the world have been grouped together for the first two rounds of this week’s Players Championship in Sawgrass, Florida.
Spaniard Jon Rahm, who has won five of his last 10 tournaments, is world number one, but second-placed Scottie Scheffler and third-placed Rory McIlroy can take the top spot with a win.
Australian Open champion Cameron Smith, who won the PGA Tour’s showpiece event last year, will not be defending his title as he opted to join the LIV Golf Tour last year.
Also missing are India’s Anirban Lahiri and England’s Paul Casey, who finished second and third in 2022, as they too opted to play in the Saudi-funded setup.
McIlroy of Northern Ireland, who won this event in 2019, enters the tournament in good shape, having finished second in last week’s Arnold Palmer Invitational.
American Scheffler was fourth at Bay Hill, while Rahm, who led after the first round, had 76 successive points in his last two rounds as he recorded his worst result since July’s Scottish Open, finishing 39th.
The marquee band will play Thursday’s first round kick off on the 10th hole at 12:56 GMT.
English US Open champion Matt Fitzpatrick begins his challenge at 17:34 alongside Norway’s Viktor Hovland and Ireland’s Shane Lowry.
American friends Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth will also play together on the first two rounds of the course, famous for its green island on the par-three 17th hole. They started with their compatriot Max Homa at 5:56 p.m.
This year’s winner will take home $4.5m (£3.75m), out of a $25m prize pool – Smith won $3.6m out of a $20m pot in 2022 .
