THE PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP

A DEEPER LOOK INTO THE TOURNAMENT

Many of our readers have asked how a pro golfer qualifies for entry into the Players Championship, scheduled this year from March 9-15.

Held at the world-class TPC Saw Grass GC in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, The Players Championship (called simply “The Players”) is an annually anticipated event for golfers around the world—and for a number of reasons. Sometimes referred to as “The Fifth Major,” this prestigious occurrence has always had a deep and talented field, the “Best of the Best.” The Players also offers the biggest purse of any PGA Tour event:  $15 million.  The winner gets $2.7 million of that purse, which will be the largest payout in PGA tournament history. When discussing The Players, questions always abound:

• Is the tournament restricted to PGA members only?
• Does a golfer get in by winning a qualifying event (i.e., the Open) during the previous year?

The answer to these questions is both simple and complex.

All major tournament winners automatically qualify for entry into the Players. This would include the:

• Top 125 players, as determined by their PGA Tour earnings the previous full season
• Top 50 players in the current year’s Official World Golf Ranking
• Top 30 players from the previous full season’s PGA Tour FedEx Cup point standings
• Top ten players on the current season’s FedEx Cup points list.

Add to this illustrious group the winners of The Players Championship for the past five years; and the, winners of a WGC event during the past three years.

PGA Tour Membership

With few exceptions, each entrant must be a PGA Tour player to compete in The Players Championship. Any non-PGA Tour players who qualify for the event were likely Tour players in the recent past, or have played well in at least some Tour events. The most likely non-PGA Tour player to compete in The Players Championship is the previous year’s Senior Players Championship winner, who earns an automatic invitation.

Some Historical Facts

Originally called “The Tournament Players Championship,” The Players Championship began in 1974.  Unlike typical PGA Tour events that are run by local organizations, The Players is operated by the PGA Tour and the players themselves.

The Sawgrass  Country Club at Ponte Vedra held the tournament from 1977 to 1981.

The Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass has hosted the tournament since 1982 and features the famous island green par-3 at No. 17.

Other world-class courses that have hosted this event include the Atlanta Country Club (Marietta, GA-1974); the Colonial Country Club (Ft. Worth, TX-1975); and the Inverrary Country  Club (Lauderhill, FLA-1976).

Players Championship Trivia:

• Jack Nicklaus won the first tournament in 1974. He also won in 1976 and 1978 and is the event’s only three-time winner.

  

• Calvin Peete was the first African American to win the Players (1985).

  

• Jerry Pate (1982) was the first winner at TPC Sawgrass.
• Two-time champions are Fred Couples (1984, 1996); Hal Sutton (1983, 2000); Davis Love (1992, 2003); Steve Elkington (1991, 1997); and Tiger Woods (2001, 2013).
• Fuzzy Zoeller posted the second-lowest 72-hole total in tournament history in 1994. Unfortunately for Zoeller, Greg Norman posted the lowest total that same year: Norman shot 264, Zoeller 268.
• Arnold Palmer made the cut in the 1985 Players Championship when he was 55 years, 172 days old, becoming the second-oldest player to do so. Ten years earlier (1975) Julius Boros made the cut at age 55 years, 174 days – two days older than Palmer was in 1985.
• The Players Championship has never had a back-to-back winner.
• Paul Azinger is the only golfer in this tournament’s history to birdie the island-green 17th hole at TPC Sawgrass in all four rounds of the same tourney (1987).

• In 2014, the tournament switched from a sudden-death playoff format to a 3-hole, aggregate-score format. The three holes played are Nos. 16, 17, and 18.

Memorable Moments and Quotes from The Players:

“Be the right stick today” (Hal Sutton, in his victory over Tigers Woods, 2000)

“Better than most”, “Better than most,” Better than most.” Johnny Miller describing Tiger Wood’s miraculous putt on #17 in the third round of the 2001 Players Championship.

The highest score on No. 17 at TPC Sawgrass in the history of The Players Championship is 12, shot by Bob Tway in the third round (2005). Tway went from four shots off the lead to an eventual T-56 finish.

Robert Gamez previously held the record for the highest score at No. 17 with an 11 (1990).