Players 2025: Everything you need to know about the PGA Tour’s flagship event at TPC Sawgrass

It may not be a major, but it’s also not just another PGA Tour event. However you care to label the Players Championship, the tour’s flagship event is back once again with a loaded field, an opportunity for a first-of-its-kind three-peat and a fabled island-green par 3 ready to provide maximum chaos.

It’s somehow already been 12 months since Scottie Scheffler shot a 20 under at TPC Sawgrass to win by one stroke and so … here are some frequently asked questions (and answers!) regarding this year’s Players Championship.

When is the Players Championship played?

The Players Championship will be played March 13-16. The event was played in March for its first 30 years, moved to May in 2007 and returned to March in 2019 after the PGA Tour revamped its schedule.

Who conducts the Players?

Unlike the four men’s majors, the PGA Tour owns the Players, holding it at the course that lies within a mile of PGA Tour headquarters. With that said, the winner will receive a three-year invitation to the Masters Tournament, and three-year exemptions for the U.S. Open, The Open Championship, and the PGA Championship. All good things to have.

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Where is the 2025 Players Championship being played?

When it was originally started in 1974, the Players Championship jumped around between Atlanta Country Club, Colonial Country Club, Inverrary Country Club and Sawgrass Country Club before eventually settling into a permanent home at TPC Sawgrass. It has been played at the appropriately named Players Stadium Course every year since 1982. Sawgrass went through a major renovation in 2007, which featured a beautiful $32 million, 77,000-square-foot Mediterranean revival-style clubhouse, a state-of-art underground drainage system and resurfaced greens.

The Players Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass is currently ranked 41st in Golf Digest’s America’s 100 Greatest Golf Course ranking, and we had this to say, “Pete Dye’s ultimate target hole is the heart-pounding sink-or-swim island green 17th, which offers no bailout, perhaps unfairly in windy Atlantic coast conditions. The 17th has spawned more than a hundred imitation island greens in the past 40 years. To make the layout even more exciting during tournament play, Steve Wenzloff of PGA Tour Design Services recently remodeled several holes, most significantly the 12th, which is now a drivable par 4.”

When and where was the first Players? And who won?

The first Players took place in 1974 in which Jack Nicklaus beat J. C. Snead by two shots at Atlanta Country Club. The Golden Bear took home $50,000 behind a 16-under 272.

What is the format of the Players? How many players are in the field and how does one qualify?

The self-proclaimed “strongest field in golf” is set to feature 144 players from two-time defending champ Scottie Scheffler to runners-up Xander Schauffele, Wyndham Clark and Brian Harman to former LIV golfer Laurie Canter, who played his way into the field at the last minute. The tournament is a 72-hole stroke-play event that sends invites to all of the top 50 of the Official World Golf Ranking, any PGA Tour winners over the past year and the top 125 from the previous season’s FedEx Cup points list.

If players are tied after 72 holes, how is the winner determined?

The playoff format used to be sudden death, but that switched in 2014 to a three-hole aggregate over the final three holes. If still tied, we then go to sudden death, which just so happens to start at the world-famous 17th.

There have been four playoffs since moving over to the Stadium Course in 1982: 1987, 2008, 2011, 2015. The most recent used the three-hole aggregate format with Rickie Fowler making a birdie on No. 17 in sudden death to edge out Sergio Garcia and Kevin Kisner.

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What type of course is TPC Sawgrass?

The Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass is designed with fans in mind, attempting to give galleries unobstructed views and provide fans in certain areas the ability to watch multiple holes at once. It’s of course well-known for its famous island-green 17th hole, which is one of the most intimidating par 3s in the sport. The rest of the course is known for its test of mixing a demand on distance with accuracy. Pete Dye labeled it “grenade attack architecture” with random lumps, bumps and hollows across the Stadium Course. It’s 7,275 yards with a 155 slope. Also, it’s public. Speaking of …

Can you play TPC Sawgrass?

Yes! It’s going to cost a pretty penny—$750 per player from September through May or $550 per player from June through August. TPC Sawgrass is also home to Dye’s Valley, which is a good deal cheaper. Don’t expect to play February 17 through March 18, however, as that’s the lead-up to the Players and then the actual event.

Is Tiger Woods playing in the Players Championship?

That’s a great question and the answer is … maybe? Six month removed from back surgery, Woods played in the Seminole Pro-Member on March 3 in lieu of playing in the Arnold Palmer Invitational, and he competed March 4 in the final regular-season match for the TGL (his Jupiter Links Golf Club missed the playoffs). However, after the match, Woods didn’t sound like somebody set to play at Sawgrass.

“My heart is not really into practicing right now. I’ve had so many other things to do with the tour and trying to do other things,” Woods said. “Once I start probably feeling a little bit better and start getting into it, I’ll start looking at the schedule.”

Woods, who hasn’t played an official PGA Tour event since last July when he missed the cut at the Open Championship, noted that Tuesday was just the third time he’d touched his clubs since the death of his mother, Tida, last month. Woods was expected to come back at the Genesis Invitational but dropped out after his mom’s passing.

This is the last year Woods is exempt into the Players based off his victory at the 2019 Masters, but Tiger hasn’t competed in this event since 2019. He has until Friday at 5 p.m. to officially enter the event. We’ll be sure to update you when more news breaks.

How many Players Championships has Tiger Woods won?

Tiger Woods has two Players Championship wins, one in 2001 over Vijay Singh and another in 2013 over David Lingmerth, Jeff Maggert and Kevin Streelman. He also finished runner-up to Hal Sutton in 2000. (Interesting, Woods also won the first of his three U.S. Amateur titles at TPC Sawgrass back in 1994.)

Woods is also one of just six golfers to win both the Players and a major in the same year, as he won the Masters in 2001 just a few weeks after his TPC Sawgrass victory. The other five players include Jack Nicklaus (1978), Hal Sutton (1983), Martin Kaymer (2014), Cameron Smith (2022) and Scottie Scheffler (2024).

Woods is also one of just six golfers to win both the Players and a major in the same year, as he won the Masters in 2001 just a few weeks after his TPC Sawgrass victory. The other five players include Jack Nicklaus (1978), Hal Sutton (1983), Martin Kaymer (2014), Cameron Smith (2022) and Scottie Scheffler (2024).

Who has won the most Players Championships?

Jack Nicklaus has the most victories at the Players Championship with three, all in the first five years of the event’s existence. The wins were in alternating years starting in 1974 and were each at a different course.

Scottie Scheffler has a chance for his third Players Championship victory and third in a row if he can beat the field yet again at TPC Sawgrass. He’s won $9 million over his last two showings at the Players with a 17 under and 20 under in back-to-back years.

Can LIV golfers play in the Players Championship?

Current LIV golfers cannot play in this event as there remains a ban on any competing in PGA Tour run tournaments. However, one former LIV member will make a little bit of history at this year’s Players. Laurie Canter, a 35-year-old Englishman, jumped into the top 50 in the Official World Golf Ranking after a second-place finish last week at the DP World Tour’s Investec South African Open, which qualified him to play this year. It’s been more than a year since Canter has teed off on LIV after starting there as a founding member of Cleeks GC, so Canter is cleared to compete.

What site has hosted the most Players?

The Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass is the runaway winner here, hosting 43 of the 51 iterations of the event. Sawgrass Country Club has hosted five times, and Inverrary Country Club, Colonial Country Club and Atlanta Country Club have all hosted once.

What is the Players Championship scoring record?

The lowest tournament score at the Players belongs to Greg Norman who shot a 24-under 264 in 1994 to best Fuzzy Zoeller by four strokes. The biggest margin of victory goes to Steve Elkington who shot a 16 under and won by seven strokes in 1997.

What is the lowest round in Players history?

The lowest round in Players history was pretty recent as Tom Hoge went off in 2023, shooting a 10-under-par 62, eeking by the nine under rounds set by Fred Couples in 1992 and Dustin Johnson in 2022. Hoge made the cut on the number in 2023 after rounds of 78 and 68 and then set a flamethrower to the course, nothing 10 birdies in a bogey-less Saturday round.

Who are the oldest and youngest winner of the Players?

The oldest winner of the Players is Fred Funk who 48 years, 9 months, 14 days old when he won in 2005. The youngest winner is Si-Woo Kim, who was 21 years old when he won in 2017. He then joined Tiger Woods, Jordan Spieth and Sergio Garcia as the only golfers with multiple PGA Tour wins before the age of 22.

When was the last time an international player won the Players?

The last international golfer to win at the Players was Cameron Smith in 2022 over fellow international pro Anirban Lahiri. The Aussie one-putted eight of his last nine holes and needed every single one of those shots, winning by only one stroke.

How much is the purse of the Players, and how much does the winner receive?

The Players Championship has a mighty fine purse of $25 million with $4.5 million going to the winner. That’s a far cry from the inaugural event which had a $250,000 purse and $50,000 winner’s check.

How many World Ranking points does the Players winner get?

The Players Championship winner will get 80 OWGR points. To put that into context, all majors give out 100 points to their respective winners and all other PGA Tour events give out between 24 and 80 points.

How many FedEx Cup points does the Players winner get?

This year’s winner will get 750 FedEx Cup points.

Main Image: Jared C. Tilton