A major highlight of the PGA Tour, the Players Championship is the richest tournament of the year, with the strongest field of pro golfers in the world and a bonus of $1 million-plus prize at Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. Outside of the four golf majors, The Players Championship is considered the most important tournament on tour.
- Location: Ponte Vedra
Beach, Florida, USA - Course: TPC at Sawgrass
- Date: May 12 – 15, 2011
Since its start in 1974, THE PLAYERS Championship has been one of the PGA TOUR’s most coveted titles. Created to challenge the best players in the world, TPCSawgrass also provides avid golfers and fans with anunforgettable experience.
What is considered by the media as the fifth major of the year, the Players Championship is the most illustrious event of the PGA Tour. It offers the richestpurse in world golf and consequently attracts a fieldmade up of the top 50 golfers on the Official World GolfRanking. It will include numerous points which counttowards the year-end Official World Golf Ranking, andinvitations and exemptions to the four Grand Slam eventsheld each year.
The only downside to the Players Championship is that it is not considered an official event on the European Tour, unlike the four Majors. This goes a long way toexplaining why the event has been dominated by Americangolfers through the years. The European Tour has its ownPlayers Championship, the Deutsche Bank PlayersChampionship of Europe.
Bet on this years top golfers, including Sergio Garcia, Phil Mickelson, Adam Scott, Camilo Villegas, Anthony Kim and more at the 2011 THE PLAYERS Championship Golf Odds.
THE PLAYERS History
- First Year: 1974
- Tournament Record: 264
- Course Record : 63
The PLAYERS Championship is a golf tournament heldannually in March and is part of the PGA TOUR. In 1974the inaugural event was held at Atlanta Country Club inMarietta, Georgia and was won by Jack Nicklaus’ victoryover J.C. Snead. Later it was moved to Colonial CountryClub in Fort Worth, Texas in 1975, and then to InverraryCountry Club in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, in 1976.Starting from 1977, the event was moved to Ponte VedraBeach, Florida. Initially, it was played at SawgrassCountry Club’s Oceanside Course. After 1982 it was heldin the neighborhood of Sawgrass Country Club, at theStadium Course at the Tournament Players Club atSawgrass.
The PLAYERS Championship Results
2011 TPC Winner:
The 4th consecutive PGA playoff with both KJ Choi and David Toms finishing at -13, the pair went into a play off, which Choi managed to win after just one hole. They were closely followed in by Paul Goydos, who had a very strong showing, while Luke Donald tied with Nick Watney for joint fourth place. One shot behind them on -9, was a group of 6 which included Jason Day, Hunter Mahan and Alvaro Quiros. Sergio Garcia shot a magnificent final round of -7, to finish at -8 overall having sturggled in earlier rounds.
2010 TPC Winner:
The Players Championship 2010 concluded with a surprise at Sawgrass. Contrary to all indications it was Tim Clark of South Africa, who took the title. Before the final round of the tournament it has looked as though England’s Lee Westwood, would finally win after coming second at the U.S. Masters last month. In the 12 year search for a victory in the U.S. Clark had been runner-up in 8 tournaments. After Lee Westwood’s dream had slipped away from him, the last man who could threaten Clark was Australian Robert Allenby, but it was Clark who eventually gained the coveted first prize with a final round of 67.
2009 TPC Winner:
Henrik Stenson Wins The Players Championship2009, The victory marked the Swede’s 10thprofessional career win and by far the biggest. Atone point in his career, Henrik Stenson struggled sobadly that he walked off the course in mid round.Sunday at Sawgrass, he strolled all the way to a4-shot victory at The Players Championship.
2008 TPC Winner:
Sergio Garcia tapping in for par on the first playoff hole — the intimidating par-317th, to beat Paul Goydos and claim the 35th (TPC)PLAYERS Championship.
