9 Takeaways From The Players Championship - Including The Rollback, Fan Behavior, Lack Of LIV Golfers And Early Masters Picks

'Inside The Ropes' is the chance for Golf Monthly's tour experts to share their honest opinions on the biggest subjects in the game. This week, we're looking back on The Players Championship.

Cameron Young birdied the 17th before parring the last to pip Matt Fitzpatrick by a single stroke and secure his biggest win to date at The Players Championship.

The famous PGA Tour event is regarded as the men's game's unofficial fifth Major due to the strength of field, history and the iconic course, and it once again delivered a thrilling climax in front of huge galleries.

A big week like that always throws up plenty of storylines, so what are our main takeaways from the 2026 Players Championship?

Here, our news team points out their key observations from this year's staging of the PGA Tour's flagship event...and let us know your view in the comments section below.

Elliott Heath

Rollback

When Ludvig Aberg struck his drive 306 yards down the middle of the 11th fairway, it looked like just another striped tee shot from the world class Swede.

Yet the slow-motion replay showed an impact right out of the toe, which fanned open courtesy of some cutting edge MOI tech to stop the ball hooking left into trouble.

It made me, and many others on social media, question why the world's top players are able to benefit from such amazing technology. Yes, it's great for us average Joes who play the game for enjoyment, but should the top 0.01% of the world's golfers be playing with clubs that are so easy to hit?

The golf ball is being rolled back some 5-10% in 2030 - which I now do not think is going far enough after Cameron Young hit the longest drive in shotlink history down 18 (375 yards) to leave a flick of a wedge into the green - but driver heads surely need looking at, too.

The top players are so, so good that seeing them stripe their 460cc drivers 300+ yards down the middle almost every time just doesn't seem right anymore. Let them show off their skill by hitting smaller-headed clubs like some of the best players who came before them.

The Players is all-but a Major...now it needs LIV Golfers

TPC Sawgrass again produced a superb final day and the event as a whole is head and shoulders above anything else the PGA Tour puts on. I'm a big fan of the Genesis Invitational and events like the WM Phoenix Open and Pebble Beach Pro-Am but they're not in the same league as The Players.

The course is just so good for tournament golf, with the final three holes always showcasing drama. Add in the thousands upon thousands of fans along with the huge money and points on the line, and we're already at a place where it's pretty much a Major already.

The Players is undoubtedly the fifth-best in the world and I genuinely think it will be classed as on-par with a Major in the coming years if Bryson DeChambeau, Jon Rahm and some other big name LIV Golfers are allowed back.

The PGA Tour is lacking stars and big characters right now. Cameron Young played so well but did not even manage a smile or fist pump after winning while showing zero emotion throughout. That's fine but it doesn't exactly get you excited the way a DeChambeau or Rahm do.

Trending

We're a good way into the season now and we're starting to see some trending players ahead of Major season.

I'd be inclined to bet on Xander Schauffele and Brooks Koepka for the Masters based on what we've seen so far.

Schauffele, who was so good in his Baycurrent Classic win last year, gained strokes in all departments of the game (including over 7 strokes with his irons to rank 1st in Approach) and finished just two back in 3rd-place despite a 74 on Saturday.

He's got a good Masters record and looks to be trending very nicely.

Koepka also seems to be getting back into the swing of things and would have finished inside the top-10 had it not been for a double-bogey on 18.

He still has some work to do on the greens (losing 1.155 strokes to rank 53rd) but he has now been T9 and T13 in his last two starts. They're very good signs ahead of Augusta, where he has twice finished T2nd.

He has two more events before The Masters so will be heading into Major season very sharp. I would not be surprised to see him as a six-time Major champion by the end of the year.

Matt Cradock

The Players should stand alone as The Players

The big talking point has been around whether The Players Championship should be a Major and, for me, based on what I've seen over last week, it shouldn't.

Personally, I believe men's golf should remain as four Majors, with The Players Championship remaining as a standalone tournament in itself.

The Majors are the Majors and The Players is The Players. TPC Sawgrass is a great canvas, so keep the tournament as it is, we don't need the change and another Major in the US.

A first-time Major winner for The Masters

Looking at The Players Championship leaderboard, just three Major winners appeared in the top 10, with those being Matt Fitzpatrick, Xander Schauffele and Justin Thomas.

For me, there are so many players coming into form (Young, Bridgeman, MacIntyre to name a few), and being consistent, at this point of the year.

Bigger names are also not firing as much as we would imagine, so I think this will be the year where someone slips on the Green Jacket as a first-time Major winner.

'Fans' please start behaving

Speaking of Augusta National, it is one of my favorite tournaments for many reasons, with one being down to the fact that those in attendance are forced to behave themselves. You kick off, or shout something stupid like "mashed potatoes," then you're asked to leave.

Unfortunately, since the Ryder Cup, it seems that those in attendance at most golf events have become more and more boisterous and, with it, more disrespectful.

Yes, US fans will be supporting their American counterpart, but to boo Fitzpatrick in the final stages was just wrong. Players are there to win, but also put on a show for the fans, so don't ruin it by acting unruly.

Paul Higham

Sawgrass shines

Despite being one of the shortest par 72s on the PGA Tour, in many ways TPC Sawgrass is the perfect golf tournament host.

The closing stretch in particular is phenomenal – the gettable par-5 16th ranked as the easiest hole on the course and a chance to pick up shots before hanging on for dear life hitting to 17 and then closing with the brilliant 18th, the hardest hole.

Overall it’s the volatility of Sawgrass that is its brilliance. With five par-4s under 425 yards it shows length isn’t everything as big numbers lurk everywhere. It’s played as the hardest PGA Tour course so far this season overall and the 191 double bogeys and 36 triples or worse was by far the most.

And last season only the US Open at Oakmont saw more of those big numbers. If only more courses were like this.

A different Cam Young

Cam Young took 94 starts to win his first PGA Tour at last year’s Wyndham, he took just 11 more to claims his second, and a huge one at that. He finished 5-11-T4-T9-10 after his Wyndham win last year and went T7-T3 before winning at Sawgrass.

Being one of the few bright spots for Team USA at the Ryder Cup was another huge confidence booster and you only have to look at how Young played 17 and 18 at Sawgrass to see why this new Cam Young is a different man.

He’s got six top 10s in his last 15 Majors and now with a mindset to go with his talent he’ll be a big force in golf’s big ones this year.

Ludvig Aberg can bounce back – and maybe at The Masters

Ludvig Aberg’s Sunday collapse could break some golfers, but he looks to have the mental toughness to get through it – and as he put it himself it was mainly two bad swings that cost him.

His post-round interviews were excellent, showing the right amount of disappointment but also positivity and self-analysis, and sometimes these bitter losses can spark an extra determination to win – think Cam Young, Tommy Fleetwood and even Xander Schauffele.

If Aberg can use this in the right way he certainly has the game to go win a big one, and why not at Augusta where he’s finished second and seventh and where taking the par-5s apart is key to victory.

Aberg had three eagles and was 11 under on the par-5s at Sawgrass.