50 Years of THE PLAYERS Championship | PGA TOUR Originals

Experience 50 Years of THE PLAYERS Championship and its rise to the PGA TOUR’s Gold Standard. Dive into the event’s inception and eventual move through Northeast Florida to its eventual home – The Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass – and relive the performances from marquee names who are now synonymous with the event. THE GOLDEN ERA commemorates half a century of THE PLAYERS Championship.

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The PGA tour’s gold standard reaches a momentous milestone for half a century this Championship has not only lived up to the esteem of the players in name but in [Applause] essence the Striking Stadium Course at TPC sress is primed for the most significant contest yet for those competing for the grand

Statue coveted by all and commemorate 50 years of The Players Championship coming to Sor Grass Is Always a Good Feeling for me it has been for nearly 20 years since winning here yeah and Scott survives this place Rises to the level of the competition and brings out the best in the best names in the sport he’s remarkable tournament Players Champion

It’s just the best field in golf period my favorite course architect is Pete Dy and I think he designed an absolute gem Pete Dy will go for a swim today every time I come back I’m like wow such a beautiful piece of land the history of this event and what it means

To PJ to players it is our championship and it really feels special Rory Moy is a players champion there are very few events in sports that you know when you go into it you’re guarante drama be the right club today yes just the place like it a cheers reverberate throughout TPC at

All that is better than most that than most this is our Championship doesn’t favor anyone that’s why you have a great list of Champions Ricky fer owns the island green just honored to be a part of it it’s a golf tour if you win your legacy is sealed you’ll be known is one

Of the best that’s played in your era wire to wire Champion Jason day the names on the trophy are some of the best to ever play the game it’s always been a dream of M to hold that trophy at the end of the week walk up 18 in the celebration

Immediately after was something I’ll remember for a long time when the heat was on it was sheer who handled it the best I can’t say how thankful I am to be the player Champion celebrating 50 years of The Players Championship the Golden Era throughout its history DPC sass has

Proven a worthy test for the event but it was another revered layout with a PJ a tour history of its own that set everything in motion Atlanta Country Club has a long and story history in the game of golf underscored with our partnership with PJ tour for really 30 years from 1966

Through 1996 when we hosted the wildly popular Atlanta Classic in the early years of the classic I remember it was sort of a growing tournament and it felt more more like a regional tournament commissioner Dy felt like the one thing that was missing with the tour for the

Touring players was that there was not a significant tournament so he wanted to create a tournament that would be just for the players there was a quote from Johnny Miller when the tour announced that they were going to play Atlanta Country Club for the new tournament he

Really liked the idea cuz he really liked the golf course and he was not in the minority I think it was a very popular golf course for the guys who had been playing that tournament the tournament Players champ I ship is the strongest field in golf I think that’s what commissioner Bean had

In mind when he set up the PLAYERS Championship I thought it was a great concept to have have a Players Championship and uh the first trophy was uh the Joe D trophy that was a good start to a tournament that’s become a very significant tournament in the game

Of golf and then all of a sudden the TPC showed up and the whole world was focused on the Atlanta Country Club from the Atlanta Country Club in Atlanta Georgia it’s the tournament Players Golf Championship this is the tournament Players Championship it’s not for the club Pros it’s not for the amateurs it

Is only for the top 144 players this year so far on the PGA tour it felt different when you walked up on the practice tea and you saw Arnold Palmer Johnny Miller Tom weof Jack Nicholas you know you go down the list Al gyberg BL Graham all the ones

That were great players all of them were here for years the players have felt that there was a need to have a climax to the golf season uh strictly uh speaking we wanted uh the significance of the tour to be brought to a conclusion and we wanted it to be open

To players who had contributed to the development of the tour through the year and had contributed to the success of that tour and we’re dedicated to bringing to the golfing public and to sports fans in general a championship of the tour it’s very clear when you read about

The history of the PLAYERS Championship that commissioner Beaman had high aspirations for the tournament Players Championship the intent was for it to be the strongest field in golf you go back and you read the initial documents and press releases and things that the professionals were saying at the time

All the professionals acknowledged that the tournament Players Championship even the inaugural 1974 or was the strongest field in golf in the beginning you wanted to pick the best golf course you wanted to pick the best golf course condition and I think that’s what they got in the inaugural event here in

Atlanta Country Club it was difficult enough to be Championship it had such following from the people so you had big galleries enthusiastic Galleries and you had what you felt like was a championship course you weren’t playing one of the ones that was wide open and you could hit it

Anywhere and it was short and they shot a million under you know this one was more difficult to actually qualify for the first Players Championship in 74 it was really nice because it was only 20 minutes from my home here in Atlanta and

So it was a fun event for me you had all the best players so it was one of those things that yeah you really wanted to play good but I was so excited that didn’t know how that was going to turn Out okay the winner of the first tournament Players Championship is the great Jack Nicholas we were very fortunate Nicholas was the one who won the inaugural event it’s buil into a a significant tournament that all the players are enjoy playing it proud proud to win it

As I was proud to win the first it just kind of put a check mark uh on what Bean uh wanted to do to get the right Champion uh the best player and that’s really the way it should be obviously I’m delighted and of course

You know we’re play in a lot of other major championships and uh uh that are not our own tournament this is our own tournament the own The Players tournament and of course we want to build it to be as big as we possibly can of course uh winning it for the first

Time is uh makes me obviously feel very proud to have arguably the best player in the history of game to have not only won the first tournament Players Championship but to have won the PLAYERS Championship when it was held here at Atlanta Country Club is something that is um very

Unique the man is really something else Jack Nicholas going to minus 17 as time has gone on you realize what a major championship this is and the influential great players like a Nicholas like Rory now or like Sheffer their career just won’t be finished until they win a Players

Championship we just were unaware of how important that first step Was I drive in I’m like wow there’s such a beautiful piece of land when you enter the property you do feel at home everyone feels really comfortable here you arrive at this amazing Clubhouse and you have this amazing practice facility and the golf courses and the most

Amazing shap for a PJ to remember it definitely feels like coming home while TPC Saw Grass Is Now synonymous with the PLAYERS Championship a course rotation was set following the inaugural event which led to three different venues hosting Jack Nicholas’s three titles the winner of the first tournament Players

Championship is the great Jack Nicholas Jack Nicholas winning the first one winning three of the first five it shows that it’s a big event because Jack Nicholas wins all the big events Marous round 65 has broken record the championship it’s over he’s remarkable Nicholas has won the tournament Players title three out of five years to have won three players championships is always a very special thing on my resume nobody else has done that so that that’s even makes me prouder in the players championship’s

First four years of existence the event was held on four different golf courses The Players Championship moving from course to course made it unusual and different alburger has won the tourament PLAYERS Championship Mar has won the tournament Players Championship now settled in the northeast corner of Florida Saw Grass

Country Club’s firm Fairways and blistering seab Breeze provide a championship level test Raymond Floyd 1981 TPC champion long lip Lee trino what a champion Lanny W boy he wins a big one this is you of the toughest conditions we see all year and to win here is just very very satisfying when

Jack won the 1978 Players Championship the conditions were brutal and the scores were super high afterwards he went to commissioner beam and he was like that’s the least fun I’ve ever had winning a tournament and I think that was the impetus to find a permanent home as it became my responsibility to

Build the players I thought the best way to get the tournament uh at a higher level was to hold it in the same place every year so that people would be familiar with what they’re seeing year after year wellan had attempted to purchase the Sawgrass Golf Course and

Facilities the board at that time was very conservative and felt like uh the tour’s purpose was to host golf tournaments it was kind of a radical idea but Dean’s always been a Visionary when Dean and the PGA Tour could not come to an agreement with sass Country Club he explored other options

And he found this piece of property that was owned by the Fletchers Dean had approached the Fletchers the land was just a swamp it was nothing my job was to convince the Fletchers that if they sold me 415 acres for a dollar that it

Was not just a good deal for me but they were going to benefit as much as we were increase the value of their land by building a golf course so it really was a win-win we’re building the tournament Players Club which is really a new dimension in tournament golf it’s what I

Call stadium golf I’m convinced that this is a future of of professional tournament and competitive golf commissioner be had an affinity for Harbor toown the collaboration that Pete D and Jack Nicholas had and then the golf course that they produced which was really revolutionary at the time lots of

Severe dog legs lots of railroad ties and to be honest it’s not the longest golf course and Dean never hit the ball far so I think he really truly appreciated golf courses that were designed to reward the player who could hit it straight and think his way around

The golf course and so I think he found a kindred spirit in pet d i was a Pete D fan and I thought he could produce a golf course that the players would uh enjoy and love and that the gallery would uh enjoy because we were building

A stadium golf course Dean had a great idea of how to promote Golf and uh having a golf course that would take care of the gallery and he started out with me on a real Sho string Pete came to town and they were sitting at the table tossing back ideas and Dean

Told him you know I want similarity on the start of the front nine and the back nine so no player is is advantaged or disadvantaged I wanted the routing to be in a way that somebody could walk a couple hundred yards and maybe see a couple t- shots a couple second shots

And a couple of Greens in a very small area and then said I want 3 finishing holes that create a lot of drama so it would make for for really good entertainment Pete said you mean like this and he picked up a napkin and starts making a sketch and shows it the

Dean and Dean said exactly his sketches are famous Pete would take a toppo map and he would sketch out a routing plan the next most important thing he would focus on was the balance of the golf holes left to right or right to left and that’s about

As much as we had to start with Pete told me one time you showed me a golf course built by a set of plans I’ll show you a bad Golf Course instead of drawing with a pen he would draw with a bulldozer Pete I was known for tantalizing golf holes that could be

Both prosperous or penalizing if you don’t execute and 17 is that in a nutshell not only do we think TPC Saw Grass when we think of the island green but we think of Pete di when we were digging the area around where the 17th green is now it kept

Digging and found sand and I just kept digging it and digging it because I needed all the sand in the world for the fairways and finally I just had a big hole down there and Alice came by I said what am I going to do I don’t have a

Place to put the 17th green I said Pete why don’t you put it right back where you had it bulkhead it and fill up that big old hole with water I said you’re crazy I get shot we had have one of the great finishing holes in golf an

Opportunity as we’ve seen the players making two to be able to win the tournament and other players making fives and sixes to lose a tournament in a very traditional game where things changed very slowly it became one of the most famous holes overnight the PGA tour’s new tournament

Players Club represents a new direction for golf stadium golf the greatest Innovation for spectators since the tour began stadium golf the concept of Tomorrow golf’s Future Has Arrived it’ll be playable for all players but I think it has a little Scottish tone to it and uh it has some individualistic uh characteristics I

Think that you’ll find a little different than a lot of conventional Dolph coures 82 was a perfect debut for TPC Saw Grass and especially that finish Jer P eight under bar in this noral tournament Players Championship at the tournament Players Club when Jerry Pate was coming down the Fairway after he his

Second shot on the green and he was certain of winning he started jabbering a little bit about throwing Pete in the lake Pete die will go for a swim today I became aware that he also had his eyes on me so I suspected that once

Pete get in I was going to be the next one it’s a scene that we still see 40 years later which I think is all we need to know it gave the tournament identity it made it an exciting must-watch event and so you could not have asked for a much

Better debut than than 1982 Dean was a Visionary I mean honestly if we had failed it would have been horrible and so fair wasn’t an option I’m not sure anybody else could have done what Vernon did based on all the hurdles that that had to be overcome I think it turned out spectacular

There’s probably nobody else that could have built a golf course on this piece of property other than Pete Dy and with great guys like Vernon Kelly and of course Dean this was the Genesis of stadium golf and there was a lot riding on this golf course which was going to

Host an event that ultimately evolved into the Players Championship the 50th showing of The Players Championship welcomes more than a dozen Fresh Faces in the field another goal reached for the 24y old Swedish sensation the players is obviously such a big tournament so I’m just very fortunate to be a part of it from what I’ve seen on TV I know it

Plays so firm you actually have to experience some of these coures to be able to see how tough it is such a cool event and yeah I’m really excited to play winning on this stage is no small feat especially for one making their tournament debut at TPC Sr this is at

17 the leader now Hal Sutton a Triumph only achieved twice the first by Hal Sutton in 1983 that’s a true test of nerve and skill right there and you and nearly 20 years later by Craig perks in 2002 well that’s beautiful and that is going to

Away you need to know how the firmness of the course will play because there’s lots of quirky bounces around here it’s a lot to learn it can be really challenging and difficult for a new timer to uh pick up on all that stuff right away visual deception was a big

Part of Pete D’s golf courses with experience you start to learn some of Pete’s tricks and you realize that Fairway is a lot wider than I thought it was or the trouble’s not as close to the green as it looks like there is a certain amount of comfort that can come

Over the years maybe some of the intimidation starts to go away but it only took 24-year-old Fred couple’s three attempts to overcome the intimidation TPC Saw Grass [Applause] presented the 1984 edition of the tournament Players Championship a lot of things happening Fred couple still has

The lead atus 8 the biggest thing for 84 when I think about it is it was Freddy before he was fredd he was well known as a a hot shot and an upand Comer and then definitely cemented that by beating that list of Hall of

Famers it was just a who’s who of golf at that tournament which is what Dean wanted the best players in the world Gathering every year at one place to play together that was a big deal that was a really big deal he had played two previous players he missed the cut both

Times I played 82 and 83 and shot some pretty high scores and I went out in the second day day shot 64 makes it look very easy supremely confident young man I got off to a red hot start and I just kept rolling and the reason being

Is you know I I felt like I was at a young age a good player and it just kind of happened and then everyone would say well let’s see how he does in the weekend and I actually played pretty darn good golf he had future star written on him

But it had only won once on tour and came in and stared down the best players in the world a lot of great names close to the top of the leaderboard right behind him were seie BOS and Lee trino arguably two of the top 12 players in the history of golf

Nine other guys in that top 15 made it to the hall of fame and that doesn’t include three other guys who were major championship winners that leaderboard was just stacked all weekend long and he ended up denying trino a second players championship title because he beat him

And here’s the young guy beating the kg veteran it’s a win great play well for today Fred Couples is the best the 1984 champion of the tournament Players Championship if you look back at that now it was important and one of the reasons he’s in the Hall of Fame is cuz

He won the PLAYERS Championship twice and the voters would look at who he beat in 1984 at such a young age to do that for a 24y old guy on the tour winning the Players Championship it was a very good day following couples’s Marquee win the elevation of the event continued to

Unfold as evidenced by Calvin Pete becoming the first African-American to Hoist the trophy the following year 14 underhanded new record 1986 saw John mafy erase a four-shot final round deficit he never gave up while 1987 marked the first International player to take the title Scotland’s Sandy Lyall in the first

Sudden death playoff at TPC sass Sandy Lyle watch out for that a trio of Americans claim the next three players championship titles Jody mud is the 1990 players champion until Australia’s Steve elkington came from four shots behind on Sunday in 1991 look at this he has

It and in the 10th anniversary of the stadium course a new Love Story started to unravel unbelievable shot Davis loved the third’s final round score of 67 sealed his first players title a win which exceeds others in his career thanks to his ties to the [Applause] event my starting golf was Atlantic

Country Club felt like this big giant golf course that I was growing up on all of a sudden there’s this new tournament and it was the PGA Tours coming to have their biggest tournament my dad was the pro and my mom worked in the merchandise tent and the

Pros came and they all knew my dad and I just thought that was so cool as a kid to be hanging around a PGA Tour event my brother and I created a nice little strategy that since we lived on the second green we would be the first

Concession stand that people got to and so we had a lemonade stand and then as we you know moved down to the coast of Georgia and now we’re closer to where the PLAYERS Championship was at Saw Grass Country Club and then I watched it move across the street to the TPC course

It’s just amazing that you know I was a little kid and saw the first one and then followed it down to to the coast to to watch it grow and then in ‘ 86 my first year on tour I played well enough to go play in the players

Championship and then I got paired with Ben crenchaw on Saturday six iron from 200 yards that is really some power in there that’s amazing it was fun to be a part of something in the beginning I’m just incredibly blessed to play in a bunch of them and to actually win the golf

Tournament and be a part of the history of such an incredible growth of an idea back then of of Dean mean lov’s players Legacy would also soon be cemented even further as a rare Trend in tournament history was on the Horizon I can remember being a kid and hitting putz on and putting green thinking about winning the Players Championship it’s a golf tournament that everyone would like to win and very few actually do I have always looked at this place in this event as one of the ultimate tests of

Golf any resume if it has the players on it it means something and if it doesn’t have it you’re missing something those hopeful to add the players to their portfolio understand it’s more than winning a tournament it’s about making history you want to beat the best want

They playing the best to Jo Jo The Who’s Who in the game of golf get down oh what a wonderful golf shot oh that’s brilliant you had to be the very best if you were outside the United States to make it onto the PGA Tour and then succeed Nick price has dominated the

Field following three international winners in the first half of the decade Americans claimed four of the the final five players championships in the 9s Le Janson has won this 1995 Players Championship Justin Leonard at 25 is the champion of the 25th Players Championship such a demanding test and

It just comes down to playing well at the right moment it makes it very difficult to do it twice the fact is it’s hard to win on PGA Tour period it’s really hard to win when you have a field like you have here but guys know the

Course they know where to hit it they know where to [Applause] miss Fred Couples Eagle what a time to ha hold a Putt couples breaking through was a big thing there’s only one man who’s ever won the PLAYERS Championship more than once on this golf course and his name is Freddy Couples couples historic victory in 96 ignited an 8-year stretch that saw four champions win a second player title

Look at this look at this oh my magical that is better than the best they know how to seize the moment and they had that confidence that they had already won here Al Sutton is driving the wagon right now that was a great old versus young battle the former Phenom and Sutton

Against the you know upand Comer and new name on the Block and tiger right Club be the right club today yes I don’t think you look into winning the Players Championship twice it takes guts to win here and those guys all all have guts Davis Love going forward and two

Playing with Fred Couples on a bad weather Sunday we thought we were going to have to grind it out and then all of a sudden I started making a whole bunch of birdies I thought someone would shoot a good round in win I certainly never thought someone could shoot 64 in those

Conditions but that is by far the best round I’ve ever seen to hear him say that and continue to say that for years made me not only proud to win the golf tournament but what an incredible day not only is it the very small number of guys who’ve won

There twice but they don’t do it close together Freddy’s 84 and 96 Davis is 11 years apart tiger is 12 years apart [Applause] and that is all that is left for Tiger Woods’s last great Championship he’s the 2001 players champion when Tiger Woods entered the 2001 Players Championship he was coming

Off one of the greatest seasons in the history of golf in 2000 where he finished by winning the last three majors of the year and he started 2001 kind of in a slump the pressure on tiger at that time to finish the tiger slam you can tell at the time he’s really

Starting to get frustrated with it the previous week he won at Bay Hill so he came in finally snapping out of that slump and he put it all together especially on uh Saturday one of my most iconic moments I’ve ever had in my career was the put at 17 coming down the

Hill Johnny that’s better than most going right to left over the hill how about in but is better better than most back left to right at the end putter up better than most huge fist PP I threw it hard he played to the crowd with his

Fist pumps and he pumps here and he pumps there and he pumps over here and the crowd’s out of their minds it’s still the loudest Roar I’ve ever heard on a golf course it was insane they probably watched it a thousand times since then you’ve seen it a million

Times but it never get sold watching it Go in it was so epic and it was just tiger being tiger the 2013 Players Championship was a very different experience for Tiger Wood’s second victory Joey had this idea that this was our year and he was in my

Ear that we’re going to win The Players Championship it was just one of those things where he just he loved the golf course and when I got there for some reason I just felt comfortable I had my game and I got it going he is so smart at golf

And that’s what you need to succeed here at TPC s grassing you need to be smart and to know when to take on the risk and then pull off the shot 2013 very different swings very different body very different everything and he’s able to win on that golf course and Tiger

Woods is a players champion again A Dozen Years removed from his first told you huh that huh awesome buddy good work I told you you’d get this track yes go I owe that win to Jojo because he convinced me that I could do it end up

Pulling it off with him just made it that much more special tiger is the only player to win the players in March and in may he would find different ways to get it done and and that’s really part of his genius that a variety of conditions variety of

Courses variety of factors he could always overcome them and win it was like two different Tiger Woods young Hotshot golfer best in the world best we’ve maybe ever seen that stretch of golf he played there in the early 2000s it’s just a testament that Tiger Woods could probably win anywhere [Applause] Anyhow I remember always getting excited and march to sit down with my dad and watch the Players Championship remember watching tiger win in 2001 Adam Scott breaking through in 2004 it means a lot to be a players champion it was an event that was known

In Australia from a young age for me the 2024 Players Championship is full of international Stars it’s just the most elite field in golf but the Players champion ship field didn’t always reflect the game’s Global Talent those first few years when the tournament Players Championship started

You could look at the any field and it was mostly Americans the first 17 years of The Players Championship had one international winner and that was Sandy ly in 1987 watch out for that the TPC was always on the radar for me to do well I

Mean this was a big tourament there was big prize money and also the the 10-year exemption for winning the tournament was huge it’s just been a straight line going up like this with International Players so I think it was inevitable that international players were going to start having an impact here dating back

To lyall’s groundbreaking Victory nearly 50% of players Champions have come from outside of the United States and that is going to P away New Zealand’s Craig perks sparked a 13-year run that yielded eight International winners from eight different countries it couldn’t have been much better for Steven

Ases and KJ Choy is a players champion with only five Americans winning during that span The Players Championship established itself not only as a Melting Pot for international stars but a proud representation of global Heroes it’s an event that’s revered around around the world for international players and having a

Fairly large list of international winners it certainly has a special meaning Adam in 2004 sort of like Davis Love thei third in 92 and Fred Couples in 84 it was another example of The Players Championship elevating the career of a great young player got it 23-year-old Adam Scott takes the lead

Playing with Ernie Ells on Saturday was a really Haring thing for me and I think that gave me a little bit of confidence going into Sunday he’s been Rock Solid I’ll tell you this was a great pairing for Adam Scott very calm very much the same kind of demeanor as in Ernie

El’s when Adam came out in 2000 I kind of took him under my wing a little bit we played a lot of practice rounds together I’ve always saw him as a as the Next Generation because I always felt he had such a great swing a great temperament and and he’s good for the

Game of golf just is through players and if this 23y old is nervous he certainly has not shown it so far very very poised and Confident I was feeling pretty good after biring 11 and 12 but it was around 14 when I saw the Padre Harrington had posted a number and all of a sudden Things become a bit more difficult he slips down to a two- shot lead with four holes to

Play we kind of let the rest of the field back in and padrick Harington took advantage of it he went five under on the last five holes I made the charge I had a chance but it wasn’t really my tournament I didn’t feel good about losing to Adam because it was his to

Lose at that time perfect this ball going down the right center this is perfect another great swing there’s the right Club it’s very hard not to race ahead and think about winning think about what all comes with that and I was doing a pretty

Good job of things but I kind of had a in between yardage going into 18 I put the ball back in my stance a little bit and and got a little out of rhythm and and over hooked it it’s caught the water one of the most beautiful golf swings that you’ll ever

See and yet it malfunctioned on the 18th hole he’ll be line three double bogy means playoff with Harrington up and down means Victory the way he responded I think shows one reason why Adam Scott is the great Champion that he is you collect yourself take your drop and then hit the

Chip Shot he was looking to become the third Australian to win this tournament and I just remember how clutch she Was Scott survives a young champion in the history of the PLAYERS Championship you were looking at a future star which is he has become I have really special memories about winning that afternoon and everything that came with it so for a 23-year-old kid to become the youngest

Winner of the players it was it was a really big boost for my career early on Scott’s victory was the fourth by an Aussie born player 20 years later their total of six is the most by any internet National contingent conversely England shockingly has yet to claim a player

Championship he probably is a little bit of a surprise cuz you know produce some very good players despite 26 top 10 finishes by Englishmen at TPC sass one last one in the chamber for Luke Donald it’s an amazing start that no Englishman has ever won it when you look

At some of the players that we’ve had over the years second shot of Nick Faldo two back of the leader no it’s wet that’s too bad I had a great chance to win in 2019 just showing off now it didn’t work out for me that week yeah first

Englishman would be very cool while England stands with nil in the trophy case a redl winner from their neighbor in Northern Ireland broke through in recent years the players has yet a another incredible Talent win it’s Crown jeweled but Rory mooy’s Saw Grass moment wasn’t accomplished overnight my history

With TPC Saw Grass and the PLAYERS Championship being a little rocky but it’s always been a tournament that I’ve wanted to win all right we’ll go ahead and get started I’d like to welcome Rory maroy to the interview room here at the Players Championship it’s a golf tournament I

Grew up watching on TV and it’s a great place and we’ve seen a lot of a lot of great stories here over the years we hope that I could be part of one of those it’s difficult for a player to win in his tournament debut because this course takes some

Knowledge I’ve feel like over the past few years here started to embrace this tournament and and embrace the golf course more than anything else this is a a tournament that I sort of struggled starting off with first couple of years I played feel like I’ve played a little

Bit better here uh as I’ve went along for Rory the return to March the golf course is is softer it plays longer you don’t have many players who drive a golf ball better than Rory Mao he has been just about Bulletproof on the [Applause] back cracking towards the cop and it

Goes in 15 [Applause] Under kept telling myself two good swings and this thing’s Yours that is about as good as you can draw it up it was definitely one of the best swings I’ve ever made under pressure and then from there the rest of the hole is pretty simple to finally conquer that place you win on that golf course it meant a lot

To me for sure and Rory mroy is a players champion with everything that I have achieved in the game and that I want to achieve in the game I would have been missing something if I wasn’t able to call myself a player’s champion Being on the the 17th green and having a a putt to win and yeah a really cool moment I remember my cad was praying and hoping that I just hit a good putt Ricky Fowler owns the island green to do everything exactly how I wanted to and

Being able to share that moment the two of us it was like we’re literally standing on our own Island Ricky Fowler’s notable win in 2015 kickstarted a dynamic list of Champions elevating the stature of their resumés starting with Jason day whose Champion stroll down 18 capped off his eighth win

In 15 months to be able to walk off as a players champion it’s pretty special it is the toughest field in golf on one of the biggest stages we hold that pretty high 21-year-old SE wam from South Korea he is the youngest players champion ever in only his second start at the Players

A young confidence SEI Wu Kim won the title but the last five editions have been won by proven Champions web Simpson can add the title players champion to the resume Rory closes the deal after a lot of close calls very proud very honored to be able to call myself a players

Champion Justin Thomas has it this week was huge to win a big Championship like this it tested me mentally physically emotionally and I’m very proud of myself for getting it done overcoming those demands is only part of the winning equation repeatedly achieving that success is a more arduous

Undertaking I think we’re all trying to chase that consistency and that’s something that I’ve tried to chase for a number of years I think that’s what we’re all trying to achieve it’s a pretty difficult game consistency at TPC Saw Grass perhaps more than any event as we’ve

Learned through 50 years is at a premium it’s such a great golf course in that sense where when you’re hitting good you can score low but the minute you start missing Fairways and you start getting offline the golf course gets really difficult really fast Scotty sheffer’s

Win at the Players was the highlight of his Player of the Year campaign along with his record-breaking season consistency another piece of that puzzle was a repeat victory in Phoenix back to back titles at the WM Phoenix Open he knows how to defend I was able to defend my title in

Phoenix and then when the players that’s a tournament I grew up watching people play on TBC Saw Grass for a long time and to be able to walk the fairways and and finish that tournament off was really special but to replicate what he was able to duplicate in Phoenix at this

Year’s players will be no easy task what I’m looking forward to most at the 2024 Players Championship is to see if Scotty Sheffer can successfully defend his title as there has never been a back-to-back winner in the history of the event it’s such a good golf course in the sense of it

Doesn’t really suit one type of player you don’t really see the same guys year in year out at the top of that leaderboard it’s always a mix and it’s really the guys that are just playing the best at the time it’s a stat that could be considered an anomaly by

Today’s current PGA Tour standards but in fact the players is the oldest tournament on the current PGA Tour schedule without a successful title defense the course itself is probably why so much can happen you have to be so on your game The Players obviously with the golf course it it’s not one that

Necessarily suits one specific type of player it’s just very difficult to go back to back because it just brings different Golf Course every single day spring can bring cold weather and can bring nice weather and it can bring different tops of wind with a rain coming a switch in the wind especially

Noticed over by 17 you can hit some some shots depending on the weather that that are pretty good and and end up just in some really tough spots with just the way Pete Dy designed it not even the legendary first Champion could pull it off on its initial course rotation while

He had done so at nine other events though the golden bear has come the closest winning three times alternating in a of 5 years but the best he could muster following a win is a tie for fifth in 1977 two other players join Jack at that

Mark for the best finish in a title defense is very difficult to win because the field is so strong from number one to number 144 so you have to compete against all the best at their best so you need to bring it every year there’s

Just a lot more guys that have a real chance of winning that’s the strongest field we play you look at the previous winners it’s not like you have a lot of the same guys winning all sorts of different types of games have won there and it really Varies 15 past players Champions have repeated at other tournament venues giving props to the difficulty of the stadium course since it became the host course in 1982 since then only five Defenders have cracked the top 10 after Conquering the stadium course the year prior and only

Six have opened with a round in the 60s it’s not overly long it’s very much a shotmakers golf course it helps if you can move it both ways but length isn’t necessarily a big key they’ve had a bunch of different winners right short hitters long hitters drawers faders of

The ball um s US is an amazing golf course in the year following Victory defending Champions played the three closing holes at a combined 84 shots worse than their Triumph your misses have to be in the perfect spots the Finish just requires such Precision it requires such a level of

Patience too because you don’t really have to go low you just can’t make big mistakes it’s just the golf course that makes it so difficult to repeat Scotty sheffler could be the first repeat champion in the history of the players because he has all the tools he’s the best ball Striker I’ve seen

Since tiger and what’s amazing is you think he’s going to slip and fall on every single shot as we’ve talked about TPC sass being so demanding from Tia green and there is right now no better player in that fast of the game than Scotty Sheffer the best ball Striker on

The planet right now at one of the most penal golf courses that we’ll see all year it’s a recipe for Success that he doesn’t have to worry about some of the things that other players do last year I just had such a good ball striking week

That and was able to kind of extend myself and stay out of trouble Scotty believes in himself as he should and I think that definitely makes it easier and also the ability to handle mistakes with his seemingly unflappable consistency sheffler’s chances may be better than most considering what he

Overcame last year down the stretch going into number eight that’s a kind of an area of the golf course where a lot of stuff was happening and there was guys kind of making moves and the wind had really started to pick up I was just doing my best to try and stay patient

Not trying to force things Scotty sheffler first birdie of the day chip in here on the par three I get the chip in and then momentum starts happening and by the time I’m walking off 12 I knew that it was me against the golf course at that point the sheffler victory train just

Keeps on rolling and back on top of the world it was such a great season being able to accomplish a lot of stuff that I dreamt about accomplishing as a little kid was [Applause] great it’s really hard to to put into words how special it is to win this

Tournament it’s so hard to defeat this field and this golf course I’m very proud to have done it the level of respect from your peers is high and that is a nice feeling it means a lot to be a players champion the history of this

Event and what it means to PJ T players feels special an exceptional tournament on an iconic golf course after 50 years the PLAYERS Championship stands alone Dean Bean bill was a tradition you return to the same place every year in his Accumulates by oh I tend to think about things as they could be not as they are it gives me a great deal of pleasure to be able to know that fans of golf all over the world rever this tournament who will be crowned the golden Champion adding their

Name to a legacy that will resonate well into the the next 50 years it never gets old coming back here this is our championship