Relive 50 defining moments in THE PLAYERS history

1. 1982 – The Tournament Players Championship moves to its new, permanent home: TPC Sawgrass – THE PLAYERS Stadium Course. The course is unique, beautiful, challenging and fan-friendly. On the 72nd hole, Jerry Pate hit a fabulous 5-iron (with an orange ball) to within 3 feet to seal the victory. Then Pate enjoyed an extraordinary celebration: He threw then-PGA TOUR Commissioner Deane Beman and course designer Pete Dye into the pond near the 18th green during the awards ceremony, and dove into the pond himself for an unprecedented victory lap.

2. 2001 – Tiger Woods climbed into THE PLAYERS lead with an eagle and five birdies during the third round, but he faced a seemingly impossible birdie try at the 17th green. Woods stalked his triple-breaking, downhill, lightning-fast putt that no other player had come close to making. As soon as he hit it, Gary Koch told the NBC audience around the world that Woods’ effort was “better than most.” Koch kept repeating the phrase…until the ball dropped in the hole and the crowd exploded. That one stroke – which turned out to be Woods’ margin of victory – was indeed “better than most!”

3. 2015 – The 17th hole has sunk many players’ dreams of victory. One player was so spectacular one year on the par 3 that it inspired NBC host Dan Hicks to shout, “Rickie Fowler owns the island green!” Fowler played the world’s most famous hole six times that week – twice in a playoff – and remarkably made birdie five times. Fowler got hot when it mattered most: He played the final six holes on Sunday in 6-under par to get into a playoff with Kevin Kisner and Sergio Garcia. It forced THE PLAYERS’ first three-hole aggregate playoff. Kisner was eliminated after they played holes 16-17-18, and Fowler was the last man standing when he finished off the 2008 champion with his final birdie at 17. Fowler’s third birdie at the 17th that day earned Rickie the most important victory in his career.

4. 2000 – Paired together for a Monday finish, Tiger Woods eagled the 16th hole to pull within one shot of Hal Sutton. Sutton held onto that slim margin as they headed to the demanding 18th hole. After a perfect drive, Sutton hit a 5-iron toward the final green, and implored: “Be the right club… be the right club today! YES!!” Woods acknowledged Sutton’s clutch shot with a thumbs-up. Sutton held off Woods to win his second PLAYERS.

5. 2002 – Not too many golf fans had heard of Craig Perks before the 2002 PLAYERS. Now, nobody will ever forget how Perks finished the tournament: Looking for his first TOUR title, he chipped in for eagle at 16, sank a long birdie putt at 17 and then chipped in for a par at 18. Traditionally, the previous year’s PLAYERS winner hands the trophy to the next champion. An impressed Tiger Woods handed the trophy to Perks and said, “You’re unbelievable.”

6. 1996 – Fred Couples was making a late charge to his second PLAYERS Championship. He went for the par-5 16th green in two, but his 3-iron faded toward the pond fronting the right side of the green. Instead of bouncing forward into the water, the ball gently kicked left onto the green. Couples took advantage of the break and made an eagle at 16 followed by a long birdie at 17 for one of the best closing rounds (64) by a winner in tournament history.

7. 2003 – The final round of the '03 PLAYERS was played in wicked cold and windy conditions. Davis Love III responded with the round of his life. After hitting his tee shot into the trees on the 16th hole, Love capped off his brilliant play by hooking his approach shot onto the par 5 in two shots for an unlikely eagle en route to his second PLAYERS triumph.

8. 1987 – Jeff Sluman sank a long birdie at the final hole to force the first sudden-death playoff at TPC Sawgrass. On the second extra hole (the par-3 17th), Sluman faced a short birdie putt to beat Sandy Lyle. But out of nowhere, a fan dove into the water surrounding the island green. A shaken Sluman backed away from the putt and then missed. Lyle won the championship one hole later.

9. 1999 – Jacksonville’s own David Duval had a golden opportunity to win the biggest championship of his career, but his ball was bunkered near the ninth green and his lead was in jeopardy. Instead of losing the lead and perhaps the tournament, Duval holed the bunker shot, won THE PLAYERS and ascended to No. 1 in the world. And he was cheered on by his father Bob from his own winner’s press conference on the PGA TOUR Champions in Pensacola, Florida. Today, they remain the only father-son duo to win on the Champions Tour and PGA TOUR in the same week.

10. 1974 – For its first three years, the tournament traveled and elevated different, pre-existing events already on the PGA TOUR schedule. Fittingly, the greatest major champion to ever live – Jack Nicklaus – carded the lowest final round (67) at Atlanta Country Club to win the inaugural Tournament Players Championship on a rain-delayed Monday finish.

11. 2013 – No spot on the course represents the concept of Stadium golf more than the bowl that includes the last 150 yards of the par-5 16th hole and the entire par-3 17th. Thousands of fans can see and hear all the dramatic action going on across the closing holes. So can the players. After making birdie on the 16th to take a one-shot lead over rival Sergio Garcia, Tiger Woods stepped to the 17th tee, and hit his tee shot safely to the fat part of the green. Woods watched Garcia make his own birdie at No. 16 to tie him, and then two-putted for par. Walking to the 18th tee, Woods couldn’t help but hear the crowd react to Garcia hitting two balls in the water. Knowing what he had to do to win, Woods ripped a fairway metal down the middle on the 18th hole and secured his second PLAYERS Championship.

12. 1980 – After its first three years at various prestigious courses, Sawgrass Country Club hosted The Tournament Players Championship for five consecutive seasons. Perhaps the most dramatic finish featured a wedge shot Lee Trevino hit stiff on the final hole to set up a birdie and a one-shot victory over Ben Crenshaw. Tom Watson and Seve Ballesteros finished tied for third on the Hall of Fame-themed leaderboard.

13. 1985 – Nobody ever hit the ball straighter than Calvin Peete; he led the TOUR in driving accuracy for eight consecutive seasons. At the height of his powers, he used his precision to deliver five birdies over the final 10 holes, including a tap-in at No. 17 that opened a three-shot lead. When he walked up the fairway at No. 18, the first African-American to win THE PLAYERS doffed his cap to the cheering crowd. Later, he shared, “I have reached the mountain top.”

14. 1977 – During its first year at Sawgrass Country Club, Mark Hayes was faced with a difficult up-and-down from an awkward lie in a greenside bunker at the final hole. Hayes elected to try a risky shot, running a 5-iron up through the sand, which he executed perfectly. His Tournament Players Championship remains his only PGA TOUR victory.

15. 1981 – After journeyman Barry Jaeckel missed a makeable putt for victory on the 72nd hole, two future Hall of Fame members, Raymond Floyd and Curtis Strange, joined Jaeckel in the first sudden-death playoff in Tournament Players Championship history. Floyd survived with a par on the first extra hole at Sawgrass Country Club. Floyd also won a $250,000 bonus for having won at Doral the week before.

16. 1991 – Australian Steve Elkington started the final-round four strokes off the lead and was charging up the leaderboard until his tee shot on the final hole found an old divot in the fairway. He boldly played a brilliant 3-iron out of the divot onto the green and holed an unlikely birdie to win by one.

17. 2021 – Justin Thomas has always played golf like an old soul with old-school skills. He likes to “work” the ball both ways; i.e., shape each shot as each hole requires. Thanks to a hot run in the middle of the final round – when he played holes 9-12 in 5-under par – Thomas was poised to take home his first PLAYERS when he stood on the 16th tee. The par 5 asks a player to hit a draw off the tee to maximize his opportunity to hit the green in two. Thomas hit a low hook with a fairway metal right down the middle of the fairway, and then hit a high fade into the center of the green to set up an easy birdie to take a one-shot lead. On the 18th tee, he went for the low hook again. The shot tracer made everyone hold their breath – especially Thomas – as it showed the ball hooking toward the water on the left. The drive stopped just short of the penalty area, and Thomas had his one-shot victory.

18. 1988 – Jacksonville’s hometown hero Mark McCumber enjoyed an uneventful walk to the victory circle at the Stadium Course. He posted rounds of 67-69 on the weekend for a nonchalant four-shot victory. The only time he got emotional was when he spotted a local fan with a sign that read “Jacksonville’s own.” From that moment, McCumber battled tears as he made his way to the final green to claim the biggest triumph of his impressive career.

19. 1983 – In its second edition at the Stadium Course, the closing three holes produced an exciting climax… just as they were designed. Hal Sutton, making his first start in the event, birdied holes 16 and 17 to offset a bogey at 18 for a one-stroke victory. In just his second full season on TOUR, Sutton impressively claimed both a PLAYERS title and a PGA Championship.

20. 1978 – Cold, windy weather battered the competitors at Sawgrass Country Club. Only one player broke 70 on the weekend. The great Jack Nicklaus survived with a final-round 75 to win by one stroke and claim his third Tournament Players Championship. The Golden Bear remains the only three-time winner in tournament history.

21. 2004 – Adam Scott seemed destined for greatness. At only 23 years of age, the Australian stood in the 18th fairway with a two-shot lead about to become THE PLAYERS’ youngest champion. But when he pulled a 3-iron into the pond left of the green and left his chip shot 10 feet short of the hole, he faced the most dramatic moment of his young career. And he delivered by pouring in his bogey putt to secure a one-shot victory.

22. 2005 – Just one year removed from seeing the youngest champion in PLAYERS history, Fred Funk became the oldest. With winds of 35 mph whipping the Stadium Course during a Monday finish, Funk used his local knowledge to get up and down at 18 from the greenside bunker and preserve a one-shot victory.

23. 2023 – During a season when his ball-striking was historically impressive, Scottie Scheffler used his short game to win by five strokes. On Saturday, he started his round birdie-eagle – thanks to a hole out from the deep rough on the par-five second hole – to take the lead. On Sunday, he chipped in from just off the green at the par-3 eighth hole to start a string of five consecutive birdies. The victory moved Scheffler back to No. 1 in the Official World Golf Ranking.

24. 1993 – Nick Price was on the cusp of becoming the No. 1 player in the world. A win at THE PLAYERS would go a long way to help that cause; however, on the short-but-demanding par-4 fourth hole, Price’s tee shot came to rest on the lip of a grass bunker in the rough. With one foot in the deep bunker, Price took a baseball swing and hit a spectacular shot to within a foot for a tap-in birdie. He later described it as “the greatest shot of my life.” He won by five strokes.

25. 1975 – Famed Colonial Country Club in Ft. Worth, Texas, hosts the second Tournament Players Championship. Al Geiberger is the only player to shoot four rounds in the 60s at “Hogan’s Alley” to become the first wire-to-wire champion in tournament history.

26. 1984 – Fred Couples cards a then-course-record 64 in the second round and holds on to win by one stroke. THE PLAYERS delivers on its reputation that it boasts the strongest field in golf. Remarkably, seven major championship winners – Lee Trevino, Seve Ballesteros, Craig Stadler, Lanny Wadkins, Mark O’Meara, Nick Price and Tom Watson – finish behind Couples on the leaderboard.

27. 1979 – Across the street from the Atlantic Ocean, Sawgrass Country Club could be a beast when the March winds were really blowing. Third-round leader Lanny Wadkins shot an even-par 72 in steady winds of 25 mph with gusts reaching 50 mph. Par proved to be an excellent score that only extended his lead. Conditions were so difficult on Sunday, only one player broke par (Tom Watson with a 71), 24 players didn’t break 80 and one shot 92. Afterward, Wadkins said it he hit it so low, he “felt like the ball was going underground.”

28. 2012 – The difficult par-4 14th hole provides even the best players in the world with several challenges. Matt Kuchar hit his tee shot into the fairway bunker that hugs the entire left side of the fairway. Now he faced a shot that needed to be long enough to reach the hole but high enough to carry the trees between him and the green. If his contact was a little thin or a little fat, and his tournament chances could be doomed. His strike was perfect. The routine par led to the biggest victory of his career, and the club he used for this great save is now on display in the TPC Sawgrass Clubhouse among the other clubs donated from past champions.

29. 1992 – As he was about to hit a chip shot back onto the eigth green in the final round, Davis Love III overheard a couple of spectators betting on whether he could get up and down. Love promptly chipped in and told the guys in the gallery who bet against him, “I hope all of you lost.” Love didn’t lose on Sunday; he won by four shots for his first PLAYERS title.

30. 1995 – After getting up and down from the pot bunker at the 17th hole to protect a one-shot lead, Lee Janzen faced another do-or-die moment on the final hole: a 5-foot putt to win the championship. The two-time U.S. Open winner buried it for the win.

31. 2019 – THE PLAYERS moved back to March, and, sure enough, the players “enjoyed” a final round of cool temperatures and challenging winds. Rory McIlroy was even-par in the final round, and his tee shot on 15 was blown into the right fairway bunker. With his chances of claiming his first PLAYERS slipping away, McIlroy hit a remarkable 5-iron out of the sand and around a stand of trees to 14 feet. McIlroy sank the putt for birdie, made an easy birdie at the 16th and never looked back. McIlroy was the first player to win the new “Gold Man” trophy, and in the winner’s photos, he showed off his gold-soled golf shoes made specifically for the championship.

32. 2018 – Webb Simpson was on his way to obliterating the course record of 63 during the second round of THE PLAYERS. He was 11-under through 16 holes before overshooting the island green. Despite the double bogey, he’d still opened up a five-stroke lead through 36 holes. In the third round, his steady golf thwarted his challengers. Then lightning struck on the par-5 11th to seal the championship. Long bunker shots are regarded as the most challenging shots in golf. From the back greenside bunker to a front pin, Simpson holed out for a surprising eagle and ended any doubt who was going to win.

33. 1986 – Larry Mize blew a four-shot lead heading into the final round with four bogeys in the last five holes. A determined John Mahaffey made a clutch par putt on the final hole, and then the former PGA Championship winner fired his visor into the pond to celebrate the win.

34. 1998 – Len Mattiace pulled into contention in the final round, yet he knew that he needed another birdie or two coming in for any chance to achieve his first TOUR victory. He grew up in Jacksonville, and his mother cheered him on from a wheelchair just outside the ropes as he approached the 17th tee. Mattiace was posing as he hit his 9-iron right at the flag, but it flew too long and into the water. Things spiraled downhill from there. He suffered a heartbreaking eight on the par 3 and finished T5.

35. 2019 – THE PLAYERS introduces a new “Gold Man” trophy. Using 24-carat gold plate, the new trophy was designed to stand out from the silver trophies of all the other significant golf championship. The “swinging golfer” icon in the PGA TOUR logo served as the body, and the gold man face is an amalgamation of the championship winner’s faces in PLAYERS history. The base of the trophy is a replica of the 17th hole's island green.

36. 2017 – Given the strategy that every hole offers at the Stadium Course, players often hit clubs other than driver off the tee. It’s a particularly rare sight to see a player hit a driver for his second shot on a hole – especially on a par 4 – from the rough. But after leader Si Woo Kim’s tee shot on the difficult par-4 14th hole hit a tree, he was facing a second shot in the rough a long way to the green. He showed some youthful confidence and nerves by delivering the shot of the tournament: driver off the deck to the middle of the green and a “routine” two-putt par. After two more rounds in the 60s on the weekend, Kim became the youngest winner in PLAYER Championship history.

37. 2010 – David Toms looked like he was going to rejuvenate his career with a victory at THE PLAYERS, right up until the second shot at the par-5 16th. The safe play would be to lay up and try to make birdie using the strength of his game: precise wedge play. Instead, he went for the green in two shots and blocked it into the water. He rebounded with a clutch 20-foot birdie putt at the final hole to force a playoff with K.J. Choi, but at the first extra hole, Toms missed a short par putt and Choi became THE PLAYERS’ first Asian champion. (Toms won the next week at Colonial.)

38. 1997 – With his second PLAYERS already in the bag, Steve Elkington chipped in for a final birdie to set the all-time tournament record for the largest margin of victory at seven shots.

39. 2016 – There’s an old adage in golf that “you can’t win a tournament on Thursday or Friday, but you sure can lose it.” They never saw Jason Day at the 2016 PLAYERS. Day opened with a then-course-record-tying 63 and followed it up with a 66. After 36 holes, he posted 15 birdies… and no bogeys. He cruised to a four-shot victory. It was tough to tell who was more excited when Day walked off the final green in triumph: Day or his young son Dash, who sprinted onto the final green to give his father a congratulatory hug.

40. 1989 – Despite being among the game’s all-time money leaders, Tom Kite was somehow always underestimated. Standing on the 16th fairway, Kite was up by two shots. Rather than lay up, Kite tried to close out the tournament. He boldly hit a four wood into the middle of the green, but it bounded toward the water at the other side. Rather than finding the penalty area, the ball hung onto a narrow patch of turf. And that one stroke turned out to be the difference in his victory – and a significant step in his World Golf Hall of Fame career.

41. 1990 – Mark Calcavecchia mounted a final-round charge to pull within one shot of leader Jodie Mudd as they both stood on the 17th tee. “Calc” hit safely into the middle of the green, while Mudd fired right at the flagstick. Calcavecchia looked right at Mudd and said, “Tell me you pushed that.” “I mean he’s good, but he ain’t that good,” he added later. Mudd admitted he had pushed it a little bit, then made the birdie putt and claimed the biggest victory of his career.

42. 2006 – Stephen Ames was in trouble. His lead in the final round was almost gone after a double-bogey at the 10th. He responded like a true champion: Birdies at Nos. 11, 13 and 15 were followed by a clutch 25-foot putt for eagle at 16 to romp toward a six-shot victory… easily the biggest win in his career.

43. 1986 – There have been 13 holes-in-one at the most famous hole in golf – the par-3 17th island green – including three in 2023. But someone had to be the first. Brad Fabel broke the ice with an ace at No. 17 during the first round in 1986. It was in the morning prior to when television came on the air and years before every shot was streamed live, so there is no footage of the historic moment… which somehow makes it that much sweeter.

44. 1999 – There have been exactly 11,645 pars on the island 17th green since the tournament moved to TPC Sawgrass. Two-time PLAYERS champion Fred Couples – who made the third ace at 17 in 1997 – combined the best of both worlds when, after dumping his tee shot in the water, he re-teed and holed his third shot on the fly for a hole-in-three! Just another par.

45. 2023 – It sure didn’t look like Tom Hoge would make history at THE PLAYERS when he opened with a 78. He bounced back with a 68 to make the cut on the number. On Saturday, Hoge simply shot the lowest score ever at the Stadium Course… a 62. Due to weather, the field was split for the third round so Hoge started on No. 10. He went out with five birdies and no bogeys for 31. He came in with five birdies and no bogeys for a 31. His final birdie putt from 10 feet produced the lowest round in PLAYERS record books.

46. 2007 – Sean O’Hair had only won once on TOUR when he stood on the 17th tee, two shots behind Phil Mickelson with two holes to play. O’Hair went for the win and went for the pin, but his ball flew over the flagstick and over the green into the water. He posted a deflating quadruple-bogey seven but gained fans for his gutsy play and grace in defeat.

47. 2001 – Vijay Singh was making a final-round charge to catch Tiger Woods when his second shot at the par-5 16th came to rest against the collar of the green. He decided he couldn’t really putt it nor chip it. So he flipped his putter on its side and used the toe to nudge the ball toward the hole – and in – for a remarkable eagle. However, it wasn’t enough to ultimately catch Woods; he finished in second place, just one shot back.

48. 2001 – There have been only a total of 34 eagles on the short, par-4 fourth hole in the 40 editions of THE PLAYERS at TPC Sawgrass… or less than one each year. During the second round, two-time PLAYERS champion Hal Sutton holed out from the fairway. Two days later in the final round, he holed out for eagle again to become the only player in tournament history to make two eagles on the same par 4 in one week.

49. 2007 – Birdies and eagles have flown all over the Stadium Course since it hosted THE PLAYERS for the first time in 1982. A seagull once tried to escape with Brad Fabel’s ball on the 17th green before it was dropped into the water. And fans can see ospreys, herons, egrets and many more species inhabiting the property. But nobody had ever spotted an albatross… until Hunter Mahan holed his second shot on the par-5 11th hole for an unlikely two. Since then, Peter Lonard (No. 2), Rafa Cabera Bello (No. 16), Brooks Keopka (No. 16), Harris English (No. 11) and Russell Henley (No. 11) have also scored a double-eagle or albatross.

50. 2007 – With much fanfare, THE PLAYERS moved into a 77,000 square-foot, Mediterranean-revival style clubhouse that reflects the architectural style of nearby St. Augustine, Florida. The old clubhouse was razed and remarkably rebuilt within one calendar year.