PONTE VEDRA—For many years, 144 players have teed it up on the PGA TOUR’s own monsterpiece, TPC Sawgrass, to determine who is the toughest of the tough guys.

But starting this year, the field at THE PLAYERS will now be smaller. There will only be 120 golfers contending. That’s two dozen less.

The change caused cheers in some corners and consternation in others.

Hopefully, if nothing else, it will speed up play for everyone and allow the first two days to be completed before dark, something that has become a frequent problem on the PGA TOUR. Before screaming about the change, maybe it’s important to look at how a tournament typically unfolds.

The first two days, the field is split into four equal-sized groups. Let’s call them A, B, C and D.

On the first day, Group A will tee off in the morning on No. 1 tee while Group B tees off in the morning on No. 10 tee. The tricky part comes when they are halfway through the round and they crisscross to the other nine, meaning Group A goes to No. 10 tee and Group B goes to No. 1 tee.

Often, with 144 players in a field, there is a backup at the crisscross. That’s because neither all of Group A nor all of Group B has finished teeing off. That’s in addition to any backups during play while players are on par 3s or drivable par 4s or par 5s that can be reached in two shots by some of the players. In other words, congestion ensues. Backups happen. Play slows. Frustration grows. And that’s only the morning.

Then Groups C and D play in the afternoon, and sometimes they have to wait because all of morning players, Groups A and B, have not finished teeing off on No. 1 and No. 10. That slows down Groups C and D.

Once they start, Groups C and D follow the same plan, with one letter teeing off No. 1 and the other letter going off No. 10. And they, too, make the crisscross after nine holes. If there have been backups in the morning tee times, the afternoon players are really slowed. On a hard golf course, like TPC Sawgrass, where balls can get lost or where penalty shots are played, where water is everywhere, things get even slower.

On the second day of a tournament, Groups C and D play in the morning and Groups A and B play in the afternoon. If Group A started on No. 1 on the first day, then it will start on No. 10 the second day and Group B will start on No. 1. Groups C and D will also switch the tees where they started the first day. Doing this supposedly evens out the conditions and makes it as “fair” as possible for everyone.

You can see this system has a lot of moving parts, and if there’s a gigantic slowdown someplace on the course it can affect more than the threesome having the problem. If there’s a rain delay, it becomes a mess.

While there are going to be golfers complaining because the field is smaller and they didn’t make the 120-player cutoff, those who gained entry to THE PLAYERS will be happy that the slowdowns are kept to a minimum.

Having a 120-player cutoff is where people learn that golf is actually a brutal sport. Guys have to earn enough FedEx points to qualify for the top 100 on the points list or be in in one of the categories that allows them to be in THE PLAYERS even if they aren’t in the top 100.

This top 100 is a big change for the PGA TOUR. Since 1983, the TOUR has had a top 125 rule, protecting those players’ rights to enter events. It’s lasted more than 40 years.

Now, many tournaments allow more players than 120 to enter, depending on daylight. In the summer there were and may still be tournaments that have 144 or 156 players. We just don’t know yet because this is a new season with some new rules.

But at least, going forward at THE PLAYERS, the only way the tournament should be halted for darkness is if there is some kind of weather interruption during the day. It shouldn’t be for slow play.

The PLAYERS will continue through March 15.

Those participating for the first time include: Jacob Bridgeman, Will Chandler, Joe Highsmith, Chandler Phillips, Jackson Suber, Brian Campbell, Patrick Fishburn, Rico Hoey, Aldrich Potgieter, Jesper Svensson, Rafael Campos, Ryan Gerard, Rasmus Højgaard, Kevin Roy, Alejandro Tosti, Laurie Canter, Chris Gotterup, Mac Meissner, Isaiah Salinda, Karl Vilips, Frankie Capan III, Max Greyserman, Matt McCarty, Hayden Springer and Vince Whaley.