The Players Championship field: No Tiger Woods, no Phil Mickelson, but lots of other big names
The final field for The Players Championship may not have past champions Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson for the first time in a quarter-century but almost every other worldwide star will be at the Players Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass next week.
The field, which was finalized after 5 p.m. Friday with the release of the final commitments, has the top 17 players on the Official World Golf Rankings, 40 of the top 42 and 51 of the top 53 when the tournament begins on March 10.
World No. 1-ranked and defending U.S. Open champion Jon Rahm leads the top players through No. 18 Harris English, who opted out because of a back injury. The next player on the world rankings who did not commit was Mickelson at No. 42, and the tournament will have everyone else through No. 53 Mackenzie Hughes.
Also committed are defending champion Justin Thomas, past champions Rory McIlroy, Webb Simpson, Si Woo Kim, Jason Day, Matt Kuchar, Sergio Garcia and Adam Scott; defending FedEx Cup champion Patrick Cantlay; defending Masters champion Hideki Matsuyama, defending British Open champion Collin Morikawa and other past major champions such as Dustin Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau, Louis Oosthuizen, Jordan Spieth, Brooks Koepka, Shane Lowry and Francesco Molinari.
The field has 109 players who have combined for 423 PGA Tour titles, eight past Players champions, eight past FedEx Cup champions, 123 of the top 125 on last year’s FedEx Cup points list and the top 30 on the current list (through last week’s Honda Classic and the first Tour event his season with all of the top 30).
The Players has had either Woods, who is still recovering from a horrific car accident a year ago, or Mickelson, who announced last week that he was taking time off after his controversial statements involving the PGA Tour and the proposed Saudi Golf League, in the field every year since Woods turned pro in 1997.
Woods has missed the 2008, 2011, 2014, 2016, 2017 and 2021 tournaments because of various injuries or personal issues and Mickelson has missed only the 2003 tournament since Woods’ first pro season, because of the birth of his second daughter.
Mickelson has missed only one other Players since turning pro in 1992, after a skiing injury in 1994.
Woods won The Players in 2001 and 2013 and Mickelson won in 2007.
The only other eligible player not in the field other than Woods, Mickelson and English is U.S. Ryder Cup captain Steve Stricker, who earned a spot by winning last year’s Senior Players Championship. He is battling an illness.
Rickie Fowler, the 2015 champion, is still fighting his way out of a slump and is the sixth alternate.
First Coast players in the field include Billy Horschel, Tyler McCumber, Cameron Smith, Doc Redman, Sam Ryder, Lanto Griffin and Russell Knox. Residents of St. Simons Island, Ga., playing are Brian Harmon, Zach Johnson, Patton Kizzire, Keith Mitchell, J.T. Post on and Hudson Swafford.
Players ticket information can be found at theplayers.com.
Players Championship field
Players committed to next week’s Players Championship at the Players Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass:
Abraham Ancer
Daniel Berger
Keegan Bradley
Joseph Bramlett
Hayden Buckley
Sam Burns
Patrick Cantlay
Paul Casey
Cameron Champ
Stewart Cink
Wyndham Clark
Corey Conners
Joel Dahmen
Cam Davis
Jason Day
Bryson DeChambeau
Tony Finau
Matt Fitzpatrick
Tommy Fleetwood
Dylan Frittelli
Sergio Garcia
Brice Garnett
Brian Gay
Doug Ghim
Lucas Glover
Talor Gooch
Branden Grace
Lanto Griffin
Emiliano Grillo
Chesson Hadley
Adam Hadwin
Brandon Hagy
James Hahn
Brian Harman
Tyrrell Hatton
Russell Henley
Lucas Herbert
Kramer Hickok
Garrick Higgo
Harry Higgs
Lee Hodges
Charley Hoffman
Tom Hoge
Max Homa
Billy Horschel
Viktor Hovland
Mackenzie Hughes
Sungjae Im
Stephan Jaeger
Dustin Johnson
Zach Johnson
Matt Jones
Si Woo Kim
Chris Kirk
Kevin Kisner
Patton Kizzire
Russell Knox
Brooks Koepka
Jason Kokrak
Matt Kuchar
Anirban Lahiri
Martin Laird
Hank Lebioda
Danny Lee
K.H. Lee
Marc Leishman
Luke List
Adam Long
Shane Lowry
Peter Malnati
Hideki Matsuyama
Denny McCarthy
Tyler McCumber
Rory McIlroy
Maverick McNealy
Troy Merritt
Keith Mitchell
Francesco Molinari
Taylor Moore
Collin Morikawa
Sebastian Munoz
Kevin Na
Matthew NeSmith
Joaquin Niemann
Alex Noren
Henrik Norlander
Louis Oosthuizen
Carlos Ortiz
Ryan Palmer
C.T. Pan
Taylor Pendrith
Mito Pereira
Pat Perez
Scott Piercy
Thomas Pieters
J.T. Poston
Ian Poulter
Seamus Power
Andrew Putnam
Jon Rahm
Chez Reavie
Doc Redman
Patrick Reed
Justin Rose
Sam Ryder
Xander Schauffele
Scottie Scheffler
Adam Schenk
Charl Schwartzel
Adam Scott
Webb Simpson
Roger Sloan
Cameron Smith
Brandt Snedeker
J.J. Spaul
Jordan Spieth
Scott Stallings
Kyle Stanley
Brendan Steele
Sepp Straka
Robert Streb
Kevin Streelman
Brian Stuard
Hudson Swafford
Sahith Theegala
Justin Thomas
Brendon Todd
Cameron Tringale
Kevin Tway
Erik van Rooyen
Harold Varner III
Jhonattan Vegas
Jimmy Walker
Matt Wallace
Nick Watney
Bubba Watson
Richy Werenski
Lee Westwood
Aaron Wise
Matthew Wolff
Gary Woodland
Cameron Young
Will Zalatoris
Alternates (based on current FedEx Cup points list)
Patrick Rodgers
Aaron Rai
Michael Thompson
Adam Svensson
Christiaan Bezuidenhout
Rickie Fowler
Vince Whaley
Kurt Kitayama
Nick Taylor
Andrew Landry
Alex Smalley
John Huh
Rory Sabbatini
Davis Riley
Greyson Sigg
