PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. - Jordan Spieth referred to The Players Championship as one of the hardest tournaments to win.
Kyle Reifers had no idea it would be this hard just to play in it.
Reifers was among 25 players who gathered on the lawn Wednesday outside the TPC Sawgrass clubhouse, all of them presented as ''rookies'' because they are taking part in golf's richest tournament for the first time.
The 32-year-old Reifers is not the oldest first-timer in The Players Championship this year. With his pedigree (former No. 1 amateur in the world) and early success out of Wake Forest (he won the first Nationwide Tour event he played), he just never imagined having to wait nine years.