The Players Championship
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The Players Championship | |
Tournament information | |
---|---|
Location | Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida |
Established | 1974 |
Course(s) | TPC at Sawgrass |
Par | 72 |
Tour | PGA Tour |
Month Played | May |
Defunct | No |
Tournament Record Score | |
Greg Norman -24 | |
Current Champion | |
Stephen Ames | |
Major Championships | |
The Masters Tournament | |
U.S. Open | |
The Open Championship | |
PGA Championship |
The Players Championship (often styled THE PLAYERS Championship) is a prestigious annual golf tournament for professional male golfers which takes place every March on the PGA Tour. The inaugural event in 1974 was played at Atlanta Country Club in Marietta, Georgia before moving to 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).
The Players Championship offers the highest prize fund of any tournament in golf ($8 million in 2004, 2005 and 2006; 2007 purse not yet known), and is sometimes referred to by the media as the "Fifth Major", but it does not have official major status. The field usually includes virtually all of the top few dozen ranked golfers in the world, 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 40 points towards his Official World Golf Ranking, which is the most allocated to any event apart from the majors, in which winners earn 50 points. For comparison, the winners of the three individual World Golf Championships generally receive between 35 and 39 points. Winners of The Players Championship also receives a 5 year exemption on the PGA Tour, 3 year invitation to The Masters, 3 year exemption to The Open Championship, and a PGA Championship and U.S. Open invitation for that year.
The Players Championship is best known for featuring what may be the single most famous hole in professional golf, the Stadium Course's Par 3, 137-yard #17, instantly recognizable to golf fans worldwide as "the Island Green" and what has become TPC Sawgrass' signature hole.
In 2007, The Players Championship will be moved to May, as part of a restructuring of the PGA Tour which also involves the introduction of the FedEx Cup and an earlier Tour Championship. This means that the PGA Tour will have a marquee event in five consecutive months (The Masters in April, the U.S. Open in June, The Open Championship in July and the PGA Championship in August). [1] Also, the course is undergoing major renovation.
[edit] Winners
2006 Stephen Ames | Canada |
2005 Fred Funk | United States |
2004 Adam Scott | Australia |
2003 Davis Love III | United States |
2002 Craig Perks | New Zealand |
2001 Tiger Woods | United States |
2000 Hal Sutton | United States |
1999 David Duval | United States |
1998 Justin Leonard | United States |
1997 Steve Elkington | Australia |
1996 Fred Couples | United States |
1995 Lee Janzen | United States |
1994 Greg Norman | Australia |
1993 Nick Price | Zimbabwe |
1992 Davis Love III | United States |
1991 Steve Elkington | Australia |
1990 Jodie Mudd | United States |
1989 Tom Kite | United States |
1988 Mark McCumber | United States |
1987 Sandy Lyle | Scotland |
1986 John Mahaffey | United States |
1985 Calvin Peete | United States |
1984 Fred Couples | United States |
1983 Hal Sutton | United States |
1982 Jerry Pate | United States |
1981 Raymond Floyd | United States |
1980 Lee Trevino | United States |
1979 Lanny Wadkins | United States |
1978 Jack Nicklaus | United States |
1977 Mark Hayes | United States |
1976 Jack Nicklaus | United States |
1975 Al Geiberger | United States |
1974 Jack Nicklaus | United States |
[edit] Multiple winners
Five men have won The Players Championship more than once through 2006.
- 3 wins
- Jack Nicklaus: 1974, 1976, 1978
- 2 wins
- Fred Couples: 1984, 1996
- Steve Elkington: 1991, 1997
- Davis Love III: 1992, 2003
- Hal Sutton: 1983, 2000