Scottie Scheffler already made history at THE PLAYERS Championship in 2024. Now he returns to try and make a little more.
The 144-player field will head to a little beefier of a TPC Sawgrass, with more than 75 yards added to the scorecard this year. All are chasing Scheffler – looking for an unprecedented three-peat at the PGA TOUR’s flagship event.
All the TOUR’s top players are set to tee it up in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, with 750 FedExCup points available to the winner and the life-changing title of THE PLAYERS champion.
Here’s everything else you need to know as the TOUR returns to TPC Sawgrass (THE PLAYERS Stadium Course) for the 51st playing of THE PLAYERS.
FIELD NOTES: Scottie Scheffler is back at TPC Sawgrass to try to win for the third straight year. He was the first to ever go back-to-back at THE PLAYERS and is now looking to become the first player to win a PGA TOUR event three straight years since Steve Stricker won the John Deere Classic from 2009-11. He is also looking to become just the second player, after Jack Nicklaus, to win THE PLAYERS three times. Scheffler has become a quick learner at TPC Sawgrass. He missed the cut at his first PLAYERS in 2021 (the 2020 edition was canceled due to COVID-19) and then finished 55th in 2022 before rattling off two straight victories. … World No. 2 Rory McIlroy is hoping to recreate some magic at THE PLAYERS. McIlroy, winner of this year’s AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, captured the 2019 PLAYERS but has had a bit of a mixed bag at TPC Sawgrass since then. He finished T19 last year, but he also has two missed cuts since the 2020 cancellation. … McIlroy and Scheffler are two of eight past PLAYERS champions in the field along with current world No. 9 Justin Thomas, Presidents Cup International Team stalwarts Si Woo Kim and Jason Day, and veterans Rickie Fowler, Matt Kuchar and Adam Scott.… Kuchar and Justin Rose are both teeing it up at THE PLAYERS for the 20th time while Scott has the most appearances of any player in the field with 23. … The last man to join THE PLAYERS field was Karl Vilips, who in just his fourth TOUR start won the Puerto Rico Open. Vilips, who recently moved to Jacksonville, Florida, notched five top 10s in five starts at the Junior PLAYERS – highlighted by a runner-up in 2020. … Vilips is one of 25 PLAYERS first-timers in the field, six of which are TOUR winners: Vilips, Brian Campbell, Rafael Campos, Chris Gotterup, Joe Highsmith and Matt McCarty … Forty-eight of the world’s top 50 are in the field at TPC Sawgrass.
| HIGHEST-RANKED PLAYERS IN THE FIELD | |
| World Ranking | FedExCup |
| 1. Scottie Scheffler | 1. Sepp Straka |
| 2. Rory McIlroy | 2. Russell Henley |
| 3. Xander Schauffele | 3. Ludvig Åberg |
| 4. Collin Morikawa | 4. Hideki Matsuyama |
| 5. Ludvig Åberg | 5. Collin Morikawa |
| 6. Hideki Matsuyama | 6. Thomas Detry |
| 7. Russell Henley | 7. Rory McIlroy |
| 8. Wyndham Clark | 8. Michael Kim |
| 9. Justin Thomas | 9. Nick Taylor |
| 10. Tommy Fleetwood | 10. Shane Lowry |
COMCAST BUSINESS TOUR TOP 10 UPDATES: With Russell Henley’s win at the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard, Henley jumped from No. 17 to No. 2 in the standings, a mere six points behind Sepp Straka – the new No. 1 – while Ludvig Åberg slipped from No. 1 to No. 3. … Collin Morikawa, with his solo second at Bay Hill Club & Lodge, jumped from No. 13 to No. 5 in the standings. … Kim, who has had a tidy run of T2-T13-T13-T6-4 in his last five starts, moved from No. 16 to No. 8. … Shane Lowry, who finished solo seventh at Bay Hill, jumped from No. 18 to the final spot, No. 10. … On the outside looking in is Corey Conners at No. 11, who, thanks to his solo third at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, moved up from No. 35. … Vilips lept all the way from No. 161 to No. 41 in the standings with his win in Puerto Rico and with some more good golf can keep pushing his way closer to a spot in the Comcast Business TOUR TOP 10.
FEDEXCUP: Winner receives 750 FedExCup points.
COURSE: TPC Sawgrass (THE PLAYERS Stadium Course), 7,352 yards, par 72. Built in 1980, Pete Dye’s masterpiece underwent a renovation in 2016, and new for 2023 was a fresh tee box on the par-5 ninth, pushing the yardage past 600. For this year, a new tournament tee has added 23 yards on the par-5 second hole, the iconic tree at the par-4 sixth was re-planted to restore shot values off the tee, and a new tee complex at the par-5 11th has added 15 yards. The par-4 14th now features stronger, deeper and dramatic moguls with additions of palms, oaks and native grasses to the right rough. A total of 77 yards have been added across Nos. 2, 6, 11, and 16.
Dye’s layout is truly balanced, while the cream always rises to the top: The last five winners, since THE PLAYERS moved back to March, were ranked top 10 in the world.
72-HOLE RECORD: 264, Greg Norman (1994).
18-HOLE RECORD: 62, Tom Hoge (Round 3, 2023)
LAST TIME: Scheffler fired a final-round 64, highlighted by an eagle hole-out from 92 yards on No. 4, to do something no player had done in the history of THE PLAYERS – repeat as champion. Scheffler was 5-under for his first nine holes and added three more birdies on his back nine for an 8-under Sunday effort, winning his second straight TOUR event after capturing the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard the week prior. He matched the biggest comeback and the lowest closing round by a winner in THE PLAYERS history. The tournament came down to the final putt, with Brian Harman, Xander Schauffele and Wyndham Clark all finishing at 19-under, one back of Scheffler. Clark very nearly tied Scheffler on the 72nd hole, but his birdie try horseshoed around the hole and stayed out.
How to follow (all times ET):
Television:- Special programming alerts:
- Wednesday, 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m.: Tune in to "Live: On the Range from THE PLAYERS Championship by ReliaQuest." Get up close and personal with your favorite PGA TOUR stars as they dial in their game at TPC Sawgrass during "Live: On the Range from THE PLAYERS Championship presented by ReliaQuest," on PGA TOUR YouTube, GOLF Channel and FAST network.
- Wednesday, 4:10-7 p.m.: Tune in to the first of three events in the Creator Classic Series, streamed on the PGA TOUR’s YouTube channel.
- ESPN BET on PGA TOUR LIVE: For the first time at THE PLAYERS, ESPN BET brings unprecedented betting coverage and analysis to PGA TOUR Live; learn more about the new streaming partnership and how to watch on ESPN+
- Thursday-Friday: 11 a.m.-1 p.m.
- Saturday: noon-2 p.m.
- Sunday: 11 a.m.-1 p.m.
- Thursday-Friday: 1-7 p.m. (Golf Channel/NBC Sports App)
- Saturday: 2-7 p.m. (NBC/Peacock)
- Sunday: 1-7 p.m. (NBC/Peacock)
| -- | Thursday | Friday | Saturday | Sunday |
| Stream 1 | Main feed: 7:30 a.m.-7 p.m. | Main feed: 7:30 a.m.-7 p.m. | Main feed: 8 a.m.-7 p.m. | Main feed: 7:30 a.m.-6 p.m. |
| Stream 2 | Marquee group: 8:30 a.m.-7 p.m. | Marquee group: 8:30 a.m.-7 p.m. | Marquee group: 9 a.m.-7 p.m. | Marquee group: 8:30 a.m.-6 p.m. |
| Stream 3 | Featured groups/Featured holes: 8:15 a.m.-7 p.m. | Featured groups/Featured holes: 8:15 a.m.-7 p.m. | Featured groups/Featured holes: 8:45 a.m.-7 p.m.. | Featured groups/Featured holes: 8:15 a.m.-6 p.m. |
| Stream 4 | Featured holes: 8 a.m.-7 p.m | Featured holes: 8 a.m.-7 p.m | Featured holes: 8:30 a.m.-7 p.m | Featured holes: 8 a.m.-6 p.m |
| ESPN BET on PGA TOUR LIVE (Stream 4) | ESPN BET: 11 a.m.-1 p.m | ESPN BET: 11 a.m.-1 p.m | ESPN BET: noon-2 p.m | ESPN BET: 11 a.m.-1 p.m |
- Main feed: Primary tournament coverage featuring the best action from across the course
- Marquee group: New “marquee group” showcasing every shot from each player in the group
- Featured groups: Traditional PGA TOUR LIVE coverage of two concurrent featured groups
- Featured holes: Combination of par 3s and iconic or pivotal holes
- Thursday-Friday: noon-7 p.m.
- Saturday: 1-7 p.m.
- Sunday: noon-6 p.m.
Featured groupings
THURSDAYFeatured groups
- Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy, Xander Schauffele (timing TBD)
- Ludvig Åberg, Hideki Matsuyama, Justin Thomas (timing TBD)
- Nos. 3, 12, 16, 17
Featured groups
- Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy, Xander Schauffele (timing TBD)
- Ludvig Åberg, Hideki Matsuyama, Justin Thomas (timing TBD)
- Nos. 3, 12, 16, 17
Congratulations again to last week's winner @seminoleed
Big changes at the top of the leaderboard
With a strong showing @Bill From Tampa takes the top spot with @seminoleed moving into 2nd. @DFSNOLE tumbles down the leaderboard to 3rd place
Good Luck to everyone this week
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