The Players Championship (often styled as
THE PLAYERS Championship) is an annual golf
tournament on the
PGA Tour.
Originally
known as the Tournament Players Championship, the
inaugural event in 1974 was played at Atlanta Country Club in
Marietta,
Georgia
before moving to the Colonial Country Club in
Fort Worth,
Texas
in 1975 and Inverrary Country Club in Ft.
Lauderdale, Florida in 1976. Beginning in 1977, the event relocated to
Ponte Vedra
Beach, Florida
, first being played at Sawgrass Country Club's
Oceanside Course (a combination of the "East" and "West" 9-hole
courses). Since 1982 it has been played across the road
from Sawgrass Country Club, on the Stadium Course at the
"Tournament Players Club at Sawgrass" (usually referred to as the
TPC at
Sawgrass
). It
is not uncommon for "TPC" in this context to be conflated with "The
Players Championship" because they happen to have the same initials
- in fact, this confusion was the reason why the tournament's
original name was shortened to just "Players Championship" prior to
the 1988 event, although some confusion between the two still
persists occasionally.
The Players Championship offers the highest prize fund of any
tournament in golf ($8 million 2004–06, $9 million in 2007, $9.5
million in 2008), and is sometimes referred to as the "Fifth
Major", but it does
not have official major status. The field usually includes the top
50 golfers in the
world
rankings, but unlike the three majors which are staged in the
[[United States], it does not count as an official event on the
European Tour, which has the
Deutsche Bank
Players Championship of Europe, although it is an imperfect
parallel. The winner receives a fixed allocation of 80 points
towards his
Official World
Golf Ranking, which is the most allocated to any event apart
from the majors, in which winners earn 100 points. For comparison,
the winners of the three individual
World Golf Championships generally
receive between 70 and 78 points.
The winner of The Players Championship
also receives a 5 year exemption on the PGA
Tour, a 3 year invitation to the Masters Tournament
, a three-year exemption for the British Open, and an exemption to the
U.S. Open and the
PGA Championship for that year.
The Players Championship can be further distinguished from the
"
Majors" in that it
is owned and administered by the
PGA Tour.
In
contrast, The Masters is owned by the Augusta National
Golf Club
,the U.S.
Open by the United States Golf
Association (USGA), the British Open by the The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St
Andrews
(R&A), and the PGA
Championship by the Professional
Golfers' Association of America (PGA of America).
The Players Championship is best known for what may be the single
most recognizable par 3 in professional golf, the Stadium Course's
17th hole, known to golf fans worldwide as "the Island Green" and
what has become TPC Sawgrass' signature hole. The final three holes
are considered one of the toughest finishes in golf. They are also
sometimes referred to as 'running the gauntlet'.
The Players Championship had been played in late March for most of
its existence, two weeks before The Masters. In 2007 it was moved
to mid-May, as part of a restructuring of the PGA Tour. This
restructuring involved the introduction of the lucrative
FedEx Cup, which concludes with the
Tour Championship, now played six weeks
earlier, in mid-September. This gives the PGA Tour a marquee event
in six consecutive months (The Masters in April, The Players in
May, the U.S. Open in June, the
British Open in July, the
PGA Championship in August, and the Tour
Championship in September).
[115119]
Following the 2006 event, the course underwent a major renovation,
which received very positive reviews from the players in 2007.
Included in the renovation was a new 77,000 square-foot (7153 m²)
Mediterranean
Revival-style clubhouse.
With the rearrangement of 2007, the final round of The Players
Championship is scheduled for the second Sunday of May,
Mother's Day. This parallels the U.S. Open,
which concludes on the third Sunday of June,
Father's Day.
Winners
| Year |
Player |
Country |
Score |
To par |
1st Prize ($) |
Purse ($) |
| The Players Championship |
| 2009 |
Henrik Stenson |
|
276 |
-12 |
1,710,000 |
9,500,000 |
| 2008 |
Sergio García |
|
283 |
-5* |
1,710,000 |
9,500,000 |
| 2007 |
Phil Mickelson |
|
277 |
-11 |
1,620,000 |
9,000,000 |
| 2006 |
Stephen Ames |
|
274 |
-14 |
1,440,000 |
8,000,000 |
| 2005 |
Fred Funk |
|
279 |
-9 |
1,440,000 |
8,000,000 |
| 2004 |
Adam Scott |
|
276 |
-12 |
1,440,000 |
8,000,000 |
| 2003 |
Davis Love III (2) |
|
271 |
-17 |
1,170,000 |
6,500,000 |
| 2002 |
Craig Perks |
|
280 |
-8 |
1,080,000 |
6,000,000 |
| 2001 |
Tiger Woods |
|
274 |
-14 |
1,080,000 |
6,000,000 |
| 2000 |
Hal Sutton (2) |
|
278 |
-10 |
1,080,000 |
6,000,000 |
| 1999 |
David Duval |
|
285 |
-3 |
900,000 |
5,000,000 |
| 1998 |
Justin Leonard |
|
278 |
-10 |
720,000 |
4,000,000 |
| 1997 |
Steve Elkington (2) |
|
272 |
-16 |
630,000 |
3,500,000 |
| 1996 |
Fred Couples (2) |
|
270 |
-18 |
630,000 |
3,500,000 |
| 1995 |
Lee Janzen |
|
283 |
-5 |
540,000 |
3,000,000 |
| 1994 |
Greg Norman |
|
264 |
-24 |
450,000 |
2,500,000 |
| 1993 |
Nick Price |
|
270 |
-18 |
450,000 |
2,500,000 |
| 1992 |
Davis Love III (1) |
|
273 |
-15 |
324,000 |
1,800,000 |
| 1991 |
Steve Elkington (1) |
|
276 |
-12 |
288,000 |
1,600,000 |
| 1990 |
Jodie Mudd |
|
278 |
-10 |
270,000 |
1,500,000 |
| 1989 |
Tom Kite |
|
279 |
-9 |
243,000 |
1,350,000 |
| 1988 |
Mark McCumber |
|
273 |
-15 |
225,000 |
1,250,000 |
| Tournament Players Championship |
| 1987 |
Sandy Lyle |
|
274 |
-14* |
180,000 |
1,000,000 |
| 1986 |
John Mahaffey |
|
275 |
-13 |
162,000 |
900,000 |
| 1985 |
Calvin Peete |
|
274 |
-14 |
162,000 |
900,000 |
| 1984 |
Fred Couples (1) |
|
277 |
-11 |
144,000 |
800,000 |
| 1983 |
Hal Sutton (1) |
|
283 |
-5 |
126,000 |
700,000 |
| 1982 |
Jerry Pate |
|
280 |
-8 |
90,000 |
500,000 |
| 1981 |
Raymond Floyd |
|
285 |
-3* |
72,000 |
400,000 |
| 1980 |
Lee Trevino |
|
278 |
-10 |
72,000 |
400,000 |
| 1979 |
Lanny Wadkins |
|
283 |
-5 |
72,000 |
400,000 |
| 1978 |
Jack Nicklaus (3) |
|
289 |
+1 |
60,000 |
300,000 |
| 1977 |
Mark Hayes |
|
289 |
+1 |
60,000 |
300,000 |
| 1976 |
Jack Nicklaus (2) |
|
269 |
-19 |
60,000 |
300,000 |
| 1975 |
Al Geiberger |
|
270 |
-10 |
50,000 |
250,000 |
| 1974 |
Jack Nicklaus (1) |
|
272 |
-16 |
50,000 |
250,000 |
* Indicates a win in a playoff
Note: Green highlight indicates scoring records.
Sources
Multiple winners
Five men have won The Players Championship more than once through
2009.
References
- The Players Championship - Winners - at
www.pgatour.com
- The Players Championship - Winners - at
golfobserver.com
External links
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