Webb Simpson wins The Players in a blowout at TPC Sawgrass

Webb Simpson won a golf tournament and not enough people cared. Perhaps that’s our fault, perhaps it’s his. A major champion added a Players Championship title to his resume. That major champion is a quality player and still young enough to add a couple more. He’s been a replacement-level tour player since the putter anchoring ban was announced. He’s got a daughter named after a hotel chain. Webb Simpson is a completely fine, deserving Players Champion.

But, again, few cared. No one’s going to care when Simpson sucks the life out of the tournament on Friday afternoon, when he walked off the golf course at 15-under-par — a number no other player would reach for the duration of the event. They’ll care even less when you stretch that lead from five to seven shots heading into Sunday. Less when you don’t flinch or show signs of leaking shots through the opening holes. Webb Simpson won golf’s biggest non-major tournament by some rough number between six and twenty-seven shots. This happens to you when you’re Webb Simpson, and the guy charging up the leaderboard to battle for second is [checks notes] uh, Tiger Woods.

Do not feel bad for Webb Simpson. He’ll make nearly $2 million for his troubles, vault himself into an automatic Ryder Cup spot for the moment, and secure all the other benefits and perks that come with winning the Tour’s flagship event. It comes at the end of a stretch of strong play for Simpson, possibly an indicator that this might be a two or three win season for a guy with a major championship pedigree. Despite the greying beard, he’s still only 32. Add a handful more titles, pick up another major, and then we maybe start thinking about Hall of Fame Webb Simpson.

But the weekend, the TV coverage, the tweets, the attention — that all belonged to Tiger Woods. An absurd, blazing hot Saturday where the course record was approached begat more of the same to start on Sunday. Big Cat ripped off a trio of birdies early on Sunday to quickly jump up the leaderboard, and added a couple early on the back nine to pull at one point within four of Simpson. It set off a buzz through the grounds at Sawgrass, one likely detectable through your TV screen if you spent the afternoon following. We’ll talk more about that through the week, but it looks perhaps that Tiger’s actually back to winning form. Buy your Memorial tickets.

More on Webb, Tiger, and The Players tomorrow. For now, here are your results from TPC Sawgrass: