2025 Players Championship

This article is about the golf tournament. For the snooker tournament, see 2025 Players Championship (snooker). For the curling tournament, see 2025 Players' Championship. For the darts series, see 2025 PDC Players Championship series.
2025 Players Championship
Tournament information
DatesMarch 13–16, 2025
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 Sawgrass
(Stadium Course)
Tour(s)PGA Tour
Statistics
Par72
Field144 players, 72 after cut
Cut143 (−1)
Prize fund$25,000,000
Winner's share$4,500,000
Champion
Rory McIlroy
276 (−12), playoff
Location map
TPC Sawgrass
Location in the United States
TPC Sawgrass
Location in Florida

The 2025 Players Championship was the 51st edition of The Players Championship (the 48th as a standalone tournament), held from March 13–16 at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. Rory McIlroy earned his second Players title in a three-hole aggregate playoff against J. J. Spaun after both finished at 12-under-par 276. A four-hour weather delay during the final round forced the playoff into Monday, marking the tournament’s first playoff since 2015. Two-time defending champion Scottie Scheffler placed eight strokes behind in a tie for twentieth.

The event offered a record-high purse of $25 million, including a $4.5 million winner’s share. The field of 144 players met various PGA Tour eligibility criteria, with the cut falling at one-under 143. In the second round, Justin Thomas tied the TPC Sawgrass course record with a score of 62.

Venue

Main article: TPC at Sawgrass

An overhanging limb on a tree at the tee box of the 6th hole was restored prior to the competition, with the tee box also moved back 20 feet. Five holes were lengthened by a total of 75 yards through a mix of tee box extensions and other adjustments: the 2nd, 6th, 11th, 14th, and 16th.[1]

Field

The field consisted of 144 players meeting various criteria; they included tournament winners on the PGA Tour since the previous Players Championship, recent winners of major championships, The Players and World Golf Championships, and leading players in the FedEx Cup standings from the current and preceding seasons.[2]

Eligibility criteria

This list details the eligibility criteria for the 2025 Players Championship and the players who qualified under them; any additional criteria under which players are eligible is indicated in parentheses.

1. Winners of PGA Tour events since the 2024 Players Championship

2. Recent winners of the Masters Tournament (2019–2024)

3. Recent winners of The Players Championship (2019–2024)

4. Recent winners of the U.S. Open (2019–2024)

5. Recent winners of the PGA Championship (2019–2024)

6. Recent winners of The Open Championship (2019–2024)

7. Recent winners of the FedEx Cup (2020–2024)

8. Recent winners of the WGC Match Play (2022–2023)

9. Recent winners of the Arnold Palmer Invitational (2023–2025)

10. Recent winners of the Memorial Tournament (2022–2024)

11. Recent winners of the Genesis Invitational (2023–2025)

12. Olympic gold medalist (2024)

13. Top 125 from the previous season's FedEx Cup points list

14. Top 125 (medical)

15. Top 50 from the Official World Golf Ranking following the Cognizant Classic

16. Top 10 in the current season's FedEx Cup points standings after the Cognizant Classic

17. Kaulig Companies Championship champion from previous year

18. Leading player who earned a PGA Tour card from the 2024 Race to Dubai

19. Leading points winner from the Korn Ferry Tour during the previous year

20. Remaining positions and alternates filled through current year FedEx Cup standings after the Cognizant Classic

Ineligible players

The following players met criteria, but having been contracted with LIV Golf, were suspended by the PGA Tour and ineligible to compete:[8]

Round summaries

First round

Thursday, March 13, 2024
Friday, March 14, 2024

The overnight lead was shared by Lucas Glover, J. J. Spaun and Camilo Villegas, who recorded scores of 66 (6 under par).[9][10] Chandler Phillips became the first player to record three eagles in one round at The Players Championship.[11]

Play was suspended due to darkness at 7:34 p.m. EDT with 5 players yet to finish their round.[12] Round 1 was completed on Friday morning.

Place Player Score To par
T1 Lucas Glover 66 −6
J. J. Spaun
Camilo Villegas
T4 Akshay Bhatia 67 −5
Billy Horschel
Min Woo Lee
Rory McIlroy
T8 Laurie Canter 68 −4
Bud Cauley
Rickie Fowler
Emiliano Grillo
Stephan Jäger
Denny McCarthy
Max McGreevy
Trey Mullinax
Chandler Phillips
Aaron Rai
Sam Ryder
Alex Smalley

Second round

Friday, March 14, 2025

2021 winner Justin Thomas tied the TPC at Sawgrass course record of 62 set by Tom Hoge.[13] Wyndham Clark withdrew due to a neck injury after playing the ninth hole.[5]

The cut came at 143 (−1). Notables to miss the cut included Brian Harman, Matt Fitzpatrick, Hideki Matsuyama, Ludvig Åberg, Maverick McNealy, Max Homa, Viktor Hovland, Justin Rose and Adam Scott.[14]

Place Player Score To par
T1 Akshay Bhatia 67-66=133 −11
Min Woo Lee 67-66=133
3 J. J. Spaun 66-68=134 −10
T4 Rory McIlroy 67-68=135 −9
Collin Morikawa 70-65=135
Alex Smalley 68-67=135
T7 Lucas Glover 66-70=136 −8
Will Zalatoris 70-66=136
T9 Tommy Fleetwood 71-66=137 −7
Jake Knapp 69-68=137

Third round

Saturday, March 15, 2025

On the fifth hole, Akshay Bhatia and Min Woo Lee found themselves in the bushes and decided to take a penalty stroke and drop their ball in the back of the driving range across a small lake.[15]

Place Player Score To par
1 J. J. Spaun 66-68-70=204 −12
2 Bud Cauley 68-71-66=205 −11
T3 Lucas Glover 66-70-71=207 −9
Alex Smalley 68-67-72=207
T5 Akshay Bhatia 67-66-75=208 −8
Corey Conners 71-71-66=208
Rory McIlroy 67-68-73=208
T8 Patrick Cantlay 69-70-70=209 −7
Stephan Jäger 68-71-70=209
Jake Knapp 69-68-72=209
Max McGreevy 68-71-70=209
Sepp Straka 70-68-71=209
Danny Walker 73-70-66=209

Final round

Sunday, March 16, 2025

Before play was scheduled to begin Sunday morning, tee times were moved up three hours and players were grouped in threes due to impending storms.[16] Play was suspended at 1:15 p.m. EDT due to an expected line of thunderstorms.[17][18] At the time of the weather delay, Rory McIlroy held the sole lead, with J. J. Spaun in second and Tom Hoge, Akshay Bhatia and Danny Walker tied for third.[19] Play resumed at 5:15 p.m. EDT.[20]

McIlroy began the final round four shots off the lead but moved within one after making eagle on the par-5 second hole. He moved into sole possession of the lead with another birdie on the 11th before play was suspended.

Overnight leader Spaun made two bogeys on the front nine and did not make a birdie until the ninth hole as he fell from atop the leaderboard. Once play resumed, he hit into a bunker on the par-5 11th and made another bogey to fall three shots back of McIlroy. He then hit his approach on the 14th hole to within a foot and tapped in for birdie. He got up-and-down on the par-5 16th for another birdie and moved back into a tie with McIlroy, who made bogey on the 14th after driving into the trees and being forced to chip out into the fairway. McIlroy parred his last four holes to finish at 12-under, while Spaun had a 30-foot putt for birdie on the 18th green to win the championship but came up just short, forcing a Monday three-hole playoff.

Akshay Bhatia birdied three of his first four holes and was tied for the lead until two bogeys on the eighth and tenth holes. He parred his last eight holes to finish at 10-under, two shots out of the playoff. Tom Hoge made four birdies on his front-nine and shot a six-under 66 to tie Bhatia for third place, along with Lucas Glover. Bud Cauley, who began the round a shot behind Spaun, was three-over through his first eight holes and ended up with a two-over 74 to fall back to sixth place.

(c) = past champion
Place Player Score To par Money ($)
T1 Rory McIlroy (c) 67-68-73-68=276 −12 Playoff
J. J. Spaun 66-68-70-72=276
T3 Akshay Bhatia 67-66-75-70=278 −10 1,325,000
Lucas Glover 66-70-71-71=278
Tom Hoge 71-70-71-66=278
T6 Bud Cauley 68-71-66-74=279 −9 843,750
Corey Conners 71-71-66-71=279
Danny Walker 73-70-66-70=279
9 Robert MacIntyre 69-70-72-69=280 −8 731,250
T10 Collin Morikawa 70-65-77-69=281 −7 656,250
Davis Thompson 72-68-71-70=281

Scorecard

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
McIlroy −9 −11 −11 −11 −11 −11 −10 −11 −11 −11 −12 −13 −13 −12 −12 −12 −12 −12
Spaun −12 −12 −12 −12 −11 −11 −11 −10 −11 −11 −10 −10 −10 −11 −11 −12 −12 −12
Bhatia −9 −10 −10 −11 −11 −11 −11 −10 −11 −10 −10 −10 −10 −10 −10 −10 −10 −10
Glover −9 −8 −8 −8 −7 −7 −7 −6 −6 −7 −7 −7 −8 −9 −9 −10 −10 −10
Hoge −4 −5 −5 −5 −6 −6 −7 −7 −8 −9 −8 −8 −9 −9 −9 −10 −10 −10
Cauley −11 −11 −10 −9 −9 −9 −9 −8 −9 −9 −8 −9 −8 −8 −8 −8 −9 −9
Conners −8 −8 −8 −7 −7 −7 −7 −7 −7 −7 −8 −8 −9 −8 −8 −9 −9 −9
Walker −7 −8 −8 −7 −8 −8 −8 −8 −8 −9 −10 −10 −9 −9 −9 −9 −9 −9

Cumulative tournament scores, relative to par

Eagle Birdie Bogey
Source:[21]
Playoff

The three-hole aggregate playoff began on the par-5 16th hole. McIlroy found the green on his second shot and two-putted from 33 feet for birdie, while Spaun couldn't get up-and-down from a greenside bunker and settled for par.[22]

On the par-3 17th, Spaun hit his tee shot over the island green into the water hazard and ended up with a triple bogey, while McIlroy three-putted for bogey and took a three-shot lead into the final hole.[23] Both players had to chip out into the fairway after hitting their tee shots into the trees on the right. McIlroy then hit his third shot to 17 feet and two-putted for a bogey to secure his second Players Championship title.[24] This was the first playoff since 2015.[25]

Champion
(c) = past champion
Place Player Score To par Money ($)
1 Rory McIlroy (c) 4-4-5=13 +1 4,500,000
2 J. J. Spaun 5-6-x=x x 2,725,000
Scorecard
Hole 16 17 18
Par 5 3 4
McIlroy −1 +1 +1
Spaun E +3 x

Notes

  1. ^ Wyndham Clark withdrew during the second round due to a neck injury. Clark played a total of 27 holes.[5]
  2. ^ a b Victor Perez withdrew before the first round. He was replaced by Ricky Castillo.[6]
  3. ^ a b Jason Day withdrew prior to his first round start time due to illness. He was replaced by Danny Walker.[7]

References

  1. ^ Hirsh, Jack (March 13, 2025). "Forget the tree, here are all the other key changes to TPC Sawgrass". Golf Magazine. Retrieved March 14, 2025.
  2. ^ Bolton, Rob. "Qualifiers for all 2025 Signature Events, The Players and majors". PGA Tour. Retrieved March 17, 2025.
  3. ^ "Woods to miss The Players and delay PGA Tour comeback". Sky Sports. March 7, 2025. Retrieved March 14, 2025.
  4. ^ a b c Leighfield, Jonny (March 12, 2025). "Tiger Woods Among 5 Eligible Golfers Not In The Players Championship Field". Golf Monthly. Retrieved March 14, 2025.
  5. ^ a b Uggetti, Paolo (March 14, 2025). "Clark withdraws from Players due to neck injury". ESPN. Retrieved March 16, 2025.
  6. ^ Freeman, Clayton (March 13, 2025). "Victor Perez withdraws from Players Championship 2025, Ricky Castillo joins field". Jacksonville.com. Retrieved March 14, 2025.
  7. ^ "Jason Day withdraws from Players Championship with illness". ESPN. Associated Press. March 13, 2025. Retrieved March 16, 2025.
  8. ^ Anand Bhat, Varun (February 20, 2025). "Which LIV Golfers could play in The Players Championship? Eligibility explored". Sportskeeda. Retrieved March 17, 2025.
  9. ^ "2025 Players Championship, Day 1 recap: Three tied for lead; Rory McIlroy one back". NBC Sports. March 13, 2025. Retrieved March 14, 2025.
  10. ^ "Three tied atop the board after round one". ESPN Southwest Louisiana. March 13, 2025. Retrieved March 14, 2025.
  11. ^ Prise, Kevin (March 13, 2025). "Chandler Phillips becomes first player on record to make three eagles in round at The Players Championship". PGA Tour. Retrieved March 14, 2025.
  12. ^ Smits, Garry (March 13, 2025). "Gators growling at The Players Championship as Billy Horschel, Camilo Villegas contend". Jacksonville.com. Retrieved March 14, 2025.
  13. ^ McDonald, Patrick (March 14, 2025). "Players Championship 2025: Justin Thomas ties TPC Sawgrass course record with sizzling 62, scoring 11 birdies". CBS Sports. Retrieved March 15, 2025.
  14. ^ Giannotto, Mark (March 14, 2025). "Players Championship 2025: Brian Harman, Justin Rose, more notable players miss cut". USA Today. Retrieved March 16, 2025.
  15. ^ Martin, Sean (March 15, 2025). "Overnight leaders Min Woo Lee, Akshay Bhatia hit from range after unique ruling at The Players Championship". PGA Tour. Retrieved March 16, 2025.
  16. ^ Dixon, Drew (March 16, 2025). "Storm front loaded with potential tornadoes plows through Florida". Florida Politics. Retrieved March 16, 2025.
  17. ^ "Play suspended at The Players Championship due to storms". PGA Tour. March 16, 2025. Retrieved March 16, 2025.
  18. ^ Lavner, Ryan (March 16, 2025). "Play suspended during final round of Players Championship". NBC Sports. Retrieved March 16, 2025.
  19. ^ "Play suspended at Players with McIlroy in lead". ESPN. March 16, 2025. Retrieved March 16, 2025.
  20. ^ Willis, Andrew (March 16, 2025). "Live Updates: The Players Championship final round to resume Sunday evening". First Coast News. Retrieved March 16, 2025.
  21. ^ "The Players Championship 2025 – PGA Tour Golf Leaderboard". ESPN. Retrieved March 16, 2025.
  22. ^ Freeman, Clayton (March 17, 2025). "Rory McIlroy wins Players Championship, defeats J. J. Spaun in playoff at TPC Sawgrass". Jacksonville.com. Retrieved March 17, 2025.
  23. ^ "Rory McIlroy defeats J. J. Spaun in Monday playoff at 2025 Players Championship". NBC Sports. Associated Press. March 17, 2025. Retrieved March 17, 2025.
  24. ^ Colgan, James (March 17, 2025). "Luck of the Irish: Rory McIlroy wins Players Championship in Monday playoff blowout". Golf Magazine. Retrieved March 17, 2025.
  25. ^ "Rory cruises past Spaun in playoff to win Players". ESPN. Associated Press. March 17, 2025. Retrieved March 17, 2025.
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