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2008 Players Championship

2008 Players Championship
Tournament information
DatesMay 8–11, 2008
LocationPonte Vedra Beach, Florida
30°11′53″N 81°23′38″W / 30.198°N 81.394°W / 30.198; -81.394
Course(s)TPC at Sawgrass
Tour(s)PGA Tour
Statistics
Par72
Length7,215 yards (6,597 m)
Field144 players, 74 after cut
Cut147 (+3)
Prize fund$9.5 million
Winner's share$1.71 million
Champion
Spain Sergio García
283 (−5), playoff
Location map
TPC Sawgrass is located in the United States
TPC Sawgrass
TPC Sawgrass
Location in the United States
TPC Sawgrass is located in Florida
TPC Sawgrass
TPC Sawgrass
Location in Florida
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The 2008 Players Championship was a golf tournament in Florida on the PGA Tour, held May 8–11 at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, southeast of Jacksonville. It was the 35th Players Championship.

Tournament summary

The event was won by Sergio García in a sudden-death playoff over Paul Goydos.[1][2] Defending champion Phil Mickelson finished nine strokes back, in a tie for 21st place.

Venue

This was the 27th Players Championship held at the TPC at Sawgrass Stadium Course and it remained at 7,215 yards (6,597 m).

Course layout

The 2008 Players Championship
Tee Rating/Slope 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Out 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 In Total
Yards n/a 423 532 177 384 471 393 442 237 583 3,642 424 558 358 181 481 449 523 137 462 3,573 7,215
Par 4 5 3 4 4 4 4 3 5 36 4 5 4 3 4 4 5 3 4 36 72

Eligibility requirements

Winners of PGA Tour co-sponsored or approved tournaments, whose victories are considered official, since the previous year's Players Championship.

Zach Johnson, Rory Sabbatini, K. J. Choi, Woody Austin, Ángel Cabrera, Hunter Mahan, Brian Bateman, Jonathan Byrd, Pádraig Harrington, Joe Ogilvie, Jim Furyk, Steve Flesch, Brandt Snedeker, Steve Stricker, Phil Mickelson, Chad Campbell, Justin Leonard, George McNeill, Mike Weir, Daniel Chopra, Stephen Ames, D. J. Trahan, J. B. Holmes, Steve Lowery, Brian Gay, Ernie Els, Sean O'Hair, Geoff Ogilvy, Greg Kraft, Andrés Romero, Johnson Wagner, Boo Weekley, Adam Scott, Anthony Kim

The top 125 finishers on the 2007 Official PGA Tour Money List.[3]

Vijay Singh, Scott Verplank, Mark Calcavecchia, Charles Howell III, Justin Rose, Tim Clark, John Rollins, Stewart Cink, Robert Allenby, Brett Wetterich, Luke Donald, Heath Slocum, David Toms, Carl Pettersson, Jerry Kelly, Ken Duke, John Senden, Henrik Stenson, Camilo Villegas, Nick Watney, Billy Mayfair, Stuart Appleby, Charley Hoffman, John Mallinger, Pat Perez, Lucas Glover, Bubba Watson, Mark Wilson, Jeff Quinney, Bo Van Pelt, Ryan Moore, Rod Pampling, Freddie Jacobson, Ian Poulter, Ryuji Imada, Nathan Green, Kevin Sutherland, Nick O'Hern, Vaughn Taylor, Brian Davis, José Cóceres, Troy Matteson, Robert Garrigus, Peter Lonard, Dean Wilson, Fred Funk, Paul Goydos, Kenny Perry, Steve Marino, Bart Bryant, Rocco Mediate, Bernhard Langer, Charlie Wi, Jason Gore, J. J. Henry, Jesper Parnevik, Charles Warren, Tim Petrovic, Retief Goosen, Michael Allen, Davis Love III, Stephen Leaney, Jeff Overton, Briny Baird, José María Olazábal, Mark Hensby, Mathew Goggin, Bill Haas, Shigeki Maruyama, Tim Herron, Chris DiMarco, Shaun Micheel, Tom Pernice Jr., Tommy Armour III, Steve Elkington, Cameron Beckman, Cliff Kresge, J. P. Hayes, Matt Kuchar, Tom Lehman, Bob Estes, Rich Beem, Alex Čejka, Ryan Armour, Kevin Na, Jeff Maggert, Kevin Stadler, Mathias Grönberg

Winners of the Players Championship, the Masters, U.S. Open, British Open, and PGA Championship from 2003 to 2007.

Michael Campbell, Ben Curtis, Todd Hamilton

Winners of the Tour Championship the past three years (2005-2007).

Winners of the World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship and World Golf Championships-CA Championship in the last three years (2006-2008).

Winners of the World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational in the last three years (2005-2007).

Any player(s), not otherwise eligible, among the top 50 leaders from the Official World Golf Rankings through the Wachovia Championship. Any player(s), not otherwise eligible, among the top 10 leaders from the 2008 FedExCup Points List through the Wachovia Championship.

Sergio García, Lee Westwood, Niclas Fasth, Paul Casey, Richard Sterne, Miguel Ángel Jiménez, Søren Hansen

The winner of the 2007 Constellation Energy Senior Players Championship. (Such an exemption will be an addition to the field.)

The leading money winner from the 2007 Official Nationwide Tour Money List.

Richard Johnson

If necessary to complete a field of 144 players, PGA Tour members from the 2008 FedExCup Points List below 10th position through the Wachovia Championship, in order of their positions on such list.[3]

Dudley Hart, John Merrick, Nicholas Thompson, Aaron Baddeley, Ben Crane, Brett Quigley, Fred Couples, Jason Bohn, Matt Jones, Tim Wilkinson, Dustin Johnson

Source:[4]

Round summaries

First round

Thursday, May 8, 2008

Place Player Score To par
1 Spain Sergio García 66 −6
T2 United States Paul Goydos 68 −4
United States Kenny Perry
T4 Australia Steve Elkington 69 −3
Sweden Niclas Fasth
United States Todd Hamilton
England Ian Poulter
United States Heath Slocum
T9 Argentina Ángel Cabrera 70 −2
United States Fred Couples
United States Ben Crane
Spain Miguel Ángel Jiménez
United States Anthony Kim
United States Troy Matteson
United States John Merrick
United States Phil Mickelson
Spain José María Olazábal
United States Brett Quigley
United States Kevin Stadler
United States Nicholas Thompson
United States D. J. Trahan
United States Boo Weekley

Source:[5]

Second round

Friday, May 9, 2008

Place Player Score To par
1 United States Kenny Perry 68-70=138 −6
T2 Spain Sergio García 66-73=139 −5
United States Paul Goydos 68-71=139
Germany Bernhard Langer 72-67=139
5 United States Anthony Kim 70-70=140 −4
6 United States Boo Weekley 70-71=141 −3
T7 Canada Stephen Ames 74-68=142 −2
United States Briny Baird 71-71=142
United States Fred Couples 70-72=142
United States Ben Crane 70-72=142
United States John Merrick 70-72=142
United States Kevin Stadler 70-72=142

Source:[6]

Third round

Saturday, May 10, 2008

Place Player Score To par
1 United States Paul Goydos 68-71-70=209 −7
2 United States Kenny Perry 68-70-72=210 −6
3 Spain Sergio García 66-73-73=212 −4
T4 Germany Bernhard Langer 72-67-75=214 −2
United States Phil Mickelson 70-73-71=214
United States Jeff Quinney 71-73-70=214
T7 Australia Stuart Appleby 72-72-71=215 −1
United States Briny Baird 71-71-73=215
United States J. B. Holmes 72-72-71=215
United States Greg Kraft 75-72-68=215
United States Tom Lehman 73-73-69=215
United States Tim Petrovic 73-73-69=215
United States Boo Weekley 70-71-74=215

Source:[7]

Final round

Sunday, May 11, 2008

In windy conditions, the final pairing struggled on the final day; overnight leader Paul Goydos managed a 2-over-par 74, whilst Kenny Perry crashed to an 81 (+9). In the groups ahead, the pairing of Jeff Quinney and Sergio García produced some of the best golf of the day, and García became the clubhouse leader at 5-under-par 283. Goydos still led, but missed a 15-foot (4.6 m) par putt to win on the final hole, forcing a sudden-death playoff.[2]

Champion
(c) = past champion
Place Player Score To par Money ($)
T1 Spain Sergio García 66-73-73-71=283 −5 Playoff
United States Paul Goydos 68-71-70-74=283
3 United States Jeff Quinney 71-73-70-70=284 −4 646,000
4 United States Briny Baird 71-71-73-72=287 −1 456,000
5 Canada Stephen Ames (c) 74-68-74-72=288 E 380,000
T6 United States Ben Crane 70-72-75-72=289 +1 307,562
South Africa Ernie Els 72-71-74-72=289
United States Tom Lehman 73-73-69-74=289
United States Brett Quigley 70-76-72-71=289
T10 United States Chad Campbell 73-72-77-68=290 +2 218,500
United States J. B. Holmes 72-72-71-75=290
United States Greg Kraft 75-72-68-75=290
Sweden Henrik Stenson 73-71-75-71=290
United States Dean Wilson 74-72-75-69=290

Source:[8]

Scorecard

Final round

Hole 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
Par 4 5 3 4 4 4 4 3 5 4 5 4 3 4 4 5 3 4
Spain García −3 −3 −3 −3 −3 −3 −4 −3 −3 −3 −4 −5 −4 −5 −5 −5 −5 −5
United States Goydos −7 −6 −5 −6 −5 −5 −5 −5 −5 −6 −6 −7 −7 −6 −5 −6 −6 −5
United States Quinney −3 −4 −3 −3 −3 −3 −2 −2 −2 −2 −3 −3 −4 −4 −4 −5 −5 −4
United States Baird −1 −1 −2 −2 −2 −2 −3 −3 −3 −3 −3 −3 −3 −3 −2 −2 −1 −1
Canada Ames E E E +2 +2 +2 +1 +1 E −1 −1 −1 −1 −1 −2 −2 −2 E
United States Perry −5 −5 −5 −4 −5 −5 −4 −4 −4 −3 −2 −2 −2 −2 +1 +1 +2 +3

Cumulative tournament scores, relative to par

Birdie Bogey Double bogey Triple bogey+

Source:[9]

Playoff

At the first playoff hole, the infamous par-3 17th, Goydos' went first and his tee shot found water. Garcia stayed dry, stopping 4 feet (1.2 m) from the pin and the playoff was essentially over. Goydos finished the hole with a double bogey to give Garcia three putts to win; he two-putted for par and the title.[1] It was the first playoff at the Players Championship since 1987 and the first to start at the 17th hole.[2]

Place Player Score To par Money ($)
1 Spain Sergio García 3 E 1,710,000
2 United States Paul Goydos 5 +2 1,026,000

References

  1. ^ a b Bamberger, Michael (May 19, 2008). "A Fresh Breeze". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved May 9, 2016.
  2. ^ a b c Ferguson, Doug (May 12, 2008). "Garcia wins Players Championship". Victoria Advocate. Texas. Associated Press. p. C1.
  3. ^ a b "Official Money – 2007". PGA Tour. Retrieved 2023-04-18.
  4. ^ "2008 PGA Tour Media Guide" (PDF). PGA Tour. p. 3-41.
  5. ^ "Golf: Players Championship - First round scores". Tuscaloosa News. Alabama. Associated Press. May 9, 2008. p. 2C.
  6. ^ "Youth gives way at Players". Tuscaloosa News. Alabama. Associated Press. May 10, 2008. p. 5C.
  7. ^ "Goydos takes control at Players". Tuscaloosa News. Alabama. Associated Press. May 11, 2008. p. 5C.
  8. ^ "Past Results 1974 – present". PGA Tour. Archived from the original on September 1, 2020. Retrieved March 1, 2020.
  9. ^ "The Players Championship". ESPN. Retrieved September 14, 2015.