The Players Championship is set to
deliver major excitement at the TPC Sawgrass
[March 12, 2026]
By DOUG FERGUSON
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Major or not, The Players
Championship rarely lacks for entertainment.
Still fresh is Rory McIlroy going from a four-shot deficit to a
three-shot lead only to wind up in a playoff that he won last year
when J.J. Spaun failed to find land on the island green.
That kind of drama has been more rule than exception over the years
on the ever daunting, never dull Stadium Course at the TPC Sawgrass.
“Exciting” was the one word Adam Scott chose to describe The Players
Championship, the premier tournament on the PGA Tour that has all
the trappings of a major except the label.
“I grew up watching this, seeing a lot of birdies and a lot of
dramatic stuff happening,” Scott said. “I think that's exciting, and
I think that's why people like watching this tournament. You go out
there with the dream that you can shoot 10 under somehow and spin
balls back off slopes. And it's not that easy once you're out
there.”
Scott won The Players in 2004, and he recalled being at the bar of a
restaurant with his girlfriend after opening with a 65. Some fans
were talking about the day's action when one asked who was leading
the tournament.
“The guy looked at him and said, ‘Some expletive no-name.’ And it
was me,” Scott said. “My wife, or girlfriend at the time, was ready
to jump in there and let him have it. So it was good to go on and
win and maybe get out of the no-name category.”
The Players has had plenty of surprise winners. Craig Perks won his
only PGA Tour title at Sawgrass, memorable for his three-hole finish
when he chipped in for eagle, made a 30-foot birdie putt and then
chipped in for par.
The Players has rewarded everything from the power of Tiger Woods to
the precision of Fred Funk.
“You see a variety of winners, and you also don't see one style of
player winning this tournament a bunch of times,” said Scottie
Scheffler, the only player to win back-to-back at the TPC Sawgrass.
His win in 2024 required a rally from five shots behind, holing out
with a full wedge for eagle on the fourth hole and a 64 to post the
lowest final round by a winner. This was after he nearly withdrew
because of a neck injury. There's always drama.
“The way modern golf is trending, I think this place you kind of
take some steps back where the areas to hit into are small,”
Scheffler said. “And there’s certain holes where you can definitely
take advantage of your length if you’re a longer hitter. But there’s
also some holes where you've got to get the ball in play, and you
have to be able to curve the ball both directions.”
He then took everyone on a tour — a fade off the first tee, a draw
for the approach. Next hole, a draw off the tee and a fade for the
long shot into the par 5. Fade, fade, draw, draw. On he goes.
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Rory McIlroy, of Northern Ireland, reacts while hitting practice
shots during a practice round for The Players Championship golf
tournament Wednesday, March 11, 2026, in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla. (AP
Photo/Gerald Herbert)
Scheffler does both well — everything well, really
— which explains his position in the game. He won his 2026 debut in
the California desert. His last two tournaments haven't been quite
up to his standard — two straight finishes out of the top 10 for the
first time in a year — though Scheffler seems to be the only one not
overly concerned about it.
“Your expectations of me are living week by week,”
Scheffler said. “My expectations of myself is almost more shot by
shot.”
The biggest question on the eve of the $25 million championship —
the richest in golf, with $4.5 million going to winner — is the
defending champion.
McIlroy withdrew before the third round at Bay Hill last week
because of muscle spasms in his lower back. He arrived Wednesday,
about 24 hours before his tee time, hit balls on the range and took
his wedge and putter out on the back nine.
“It's better than it was,” he said. “I couldn’t stand to address the
ball on Saturday morning on the range at Bay Hill, and it’s
obviously better than that. So, yeah, probably a game-time decision,
but all indications are pointing in the right direction.”
The 123-man field is as deep as can be, with 46 of the top 50 in the
world, missing four players from LIV Golf. It includes Brooks Koepka
— an addition to the field — and two other players to make sure each
group is threesomes on the weekdays.
Koepka is playing at the TPC Sawgrass for the first time since 2022,
before he joined LIV Golf. He once made an albatross on the par-5
16th on his way to what was then a course-record 63 (Justin Thomas
beat that last year with a 62) but he has yet to finish in the top
10 in his six appearances. He has a simple explanation for his
pedestrian showing.
“The 17th hole,” he said of the island green, which is actually a
peninsula but is the signature hole at Sawgrass, terrifying to play
and fun to watch. “One year I made an 8 and a 7. Yeah, that wasn’t
very good. But that 17th hole has gotten me over the years. I’ve
played good rounds here. That’s just kind of the one bugaboo that
always gets me.”
The PGA Tour raised eyebrows with a subtle nudge toward elevating
the status of The Players with a promotional campaign that ended
with, “March is going to be major.”
Major excitement, anyway.
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