A Major Payday for The Players Championship Winner
It’s not a major, but it sure pays better than any of them!
The 50th anniversary Players Championship entices an incredibly elite field with the largest purse of any regular-season PGA TOUR event, including all four of last year’s majors – a staggering $25 Million, with a winner’s share of $4.5 Million.
I first made the drive from Orlando to Ponte Vedra right out of high school for the 10th anniversary of this event when 24 year old Fred Couples held off Lee Trevino by a shot.
At the time, the tournament was more than happy to be considered “the fifth major,” and the debate rages on year after year.
This week mark’s the 20th anniversary of Adam Scott finishing atop the leaderboard at the PGA TOUR’s flagship event.
“The players feel a real ownership and pride in the event. I think the venue has held up over the years too despite all the developments in the game, said Scott.
It’s a great test and a great venue. “I think The Players is an event every player wants to win.”
Fresh off his $4 Million paycheck and a five-stroke victory at Arnold Palmer’s Bay Hill Club Sunday, World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler and his red hot putter arrived poised for a title defense.
The formidable field is missing some recent Major winners who defected to the rival LIV Golf League including reigning Masters Champion Jon Rahm, Brooks Koepka, Cameron Smith, Dustin Johnson and Bryson DeChambeau.
And if fans don’t like that, there’s little the 2022 Masters Champion can do about it.
“If the fans are upset, then look at the guys that left,” Scheffler said. “We had a tour; we were all together and the people that left are no longer here. At the end of the day, that’s where the splintering comes from. If guys want to go take the money and leave, then that’s their decision.”
Four hours earlier, PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan revealed that negotiations with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund had “accelerated.” The sides are discussing a potential $3 billion investment from the sovereign wealth fund, which has bankrolled LIV since its inception three years ago.
Monahan stated he understands that fans are “tired of hearing about conflict, money and who is getting what.”
The commissioner and Strategic Sports Group, comprised of billionaire sports team owners committed to invest as much as $3 billion into the PGA TOUR, met in Saudi Arabia with PIF governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan about two months ago.
A likely next step would be for a select group of players who serve on the PGA TOUR policy board to meet with Al-Rumayyan. Those player directors include Tiger Woods and Jordan Spieth who took Rory McIlroy’s seat when the World No. 2 stepped down. They also serve on the board of the newly created PGA TOUR Enterprises, the for-profit organization created in partnership between SSG and the TOUR.
As many as Eighty world ranking points go to the Players Champion and that is the most of any non-major. Christmas comes early as a victory also awards a three-year invitation to The Masters and exemptions to the PGA, U.S. Open and (British) Open Championships over that same time frame.
THE PLAYERS Championship Field
Åberg, Ludvig
Alexander, Tyson
An, Byeong Hun
Baddeley, Aaron
Bezuidenhout, Christiaan
Bhatia, Akshay
Björk, Alexander
Blair, Zac
Bradley, Keegan
Bramlett, Joseph
Buckley, Hayden
Burns, Sam
Cantlay, Patrick
Clark, Wyndham
Cole, Eric
Conners, Corey
Dahmen, Joel
Davis, Cam
Day, Jason
Detry, Thomas
Duncan, Tyler
Dunlap, Nick
Echavarria, Nico
Eckroat, Austin
English, Harris
Finau, Tony
Fitzpatrick, Matt
Fleetwood, Tommy
Fowler, Rickie
Fox, Ryan
Ghim, Doug
Glover, Lucas
Griffin, Ben
Grillo, Emiliano
Hadley, Chesson
Hadwin, Adam
Hall, Harry
Hardy, Nick
Harman, Brian
Henley, Russell
Higgo, Garrick
Hisatsune, Ryo
Hodges, Lee
Hoffman, Charley
Hoge, Tom
Højgaard, Nicolai
Homa, Max
Horschel, Billy
Hossler, Beau
Hovland, Viktor
Hubbard, Mark
Hughes, Mackenzie
Im, Sungjae
Jaeger, Stephan
Kim, Chan
Kim, Michael
Kim, S.H.
Kim, Si Woo
Kim, Tom
Kirk, Chris
Kitayama, Kurt
Knapp, Jake
Kohles, Ben
Kuchar, Matt
Laird, Martin
Lashley, Nate
Lee, K.H.
Lee, Min Woo
Lipsky, David
List, Luke
Lower, Justin
Lowry, Shane
MacIntyre, Robert
Malnati, Peter
Martin, Ben
Matsuyama, Hideki
McCarthy, Denny
McIlroy, Rory
McNealy, Maverick
Merritt, Troy
Mitchell, Keith
Molinari, Francesco
Montgomery, Taylor
Moore, Ryan
Moore, Taylor
Morikawa, Collin
Murray, Grayson
NeSmith, Matt
Noren, Alex
Norrman, Vincent
Novak, Andrew
Pan, C.T.
Pavon, Matthieu
Pendrith, Taylor
Poston, J.T.
Power, Seamus
Putnam, Andrew
Rai, Aaron
Ramey, Chad
Reavie, Chez
Riley, Davis
Rodgers, Patrick
Rose, Justin
Ryder, Sam
Schauffele, Xander
Scheffler, Scottie
Schenk, Adam
Schmid, Matti
Scott, Adam
Shelton, Robby
Sigg, Greyson
Silverman, Ben
Simpson, Webb
Skinns, David
Smalley, Alex
Spaun, J.J.
Spieth, Jordan
Stallings, Scott
Stanger, Jimmy
Stevens, Sam
Straka, Sepp
Streelman, Kevin
Stricker, Steve
Suh, Justin
Svensson, Adam
Tarren, Callum
Taylor, Ben
Taylor, Nick
Theegala, Sahith
Thomas, Justin
Thompson, Davis
Todd, Brendon
Valimaki, Sami
van Rooyen, Erik
Villegas, Camilo
Wallace, Matt
Woodland, Gary
Wu, Brandon
Wu, Dylan
Young, Cameron
Young, Carson
Yu, Kevin
Yuan, Carl
Zalatoris, Will
Television Schedule for The PLAYERS Championship
Round | Date | Time (ET) | TV |
1 | Thursday Mar. 14 | 1:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. | Golf Channel |
2 | Friday Mar. 15 | 1:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. | Golf Channel |
3 | Saturday Mar. 16 | 2:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. | NBC |
4 | Sunday Mar. 17 | 1:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m. | NBC |