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The Players Championship

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The Players Championship

The Players Championship (commonly known as simply The Players, stylized by the PGA Tour as THE PLAYERS Championship) is an annual golf tournament on the PGA Tour and is the tour's flagship event. Originally known as the Tournament Players Championship, it began in 1974. The Players Championship at one point offered the highest purse of any tournament in golf (from $12.5 million in 2019 up to $25 million in 2023). The field usually includes the top 50 players in the world rankings, but, unlike the major championships, it is owned by the PGA Tour and not an official event on other tours.

Despite not being a major, it has been promoted as such by the tour, dubbed the fifth major, and is often regarded as the next most prestigious tournament in golf. This is because of the characteristics it shares with the majors, such as the high class field, challenging course conditions, and its large purse. It also has a renowned host course in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida (the TPC at Sawgrass Stadium Course at which the tournament has been played since 1982, home of the iconic par-3 No. 17 "Island Green").

As of 2023, the victor receives $4.5 million, the winner's share (18%) of the largest purse in golf ($25 million), and receives 80 points towards his world ranking, the largest share aside from the majors, for which winners earn 100 points. For comparison, the winners of other leading tournaments receive between 65 and 70 points.

The winner also receives a five-year exemption on the PGA Tour (formerly ten years), a three-year invitation to the Masters Tournament, and three-year exemptions for the U.S. Open, The Open Championship, and the PGA Championship. The winner earns 600 FedEx Cup points, if a PGA Tour member.

The field comprises 144 players who constitute:

The Players Championship was conceived by the PGA Tour commissioner Deane Beman; the inaugural event in 1974 was played at Atlanta Country Club in Marietta, Georgia, concluding on Labor Day weekend in early September. It moved to Texas in 1975, at the Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth in August, and then to south Florida in 1976 at Inverrary Country Club in Lauderhill, at its East Course in late February. In these first three years the event replaced existing events, the Atlanta Classic in 1974, the Colonial National Invitational in 1975 and the Jackie Gleason-Inverrary Classic in 1976, which each returned to the schedule the following year.

In 1976 the PGA Tour agreed a multi-year deal to play the event up the coast at Sawgrass Country Club in Ponte Vedra Beach in mid-March, beginning in 1977. Since 1982, it has been played across the road to the west, at the Stadium Course at TPC at Sawgrass. The word "Tournament" was dropped from the title following the 1987 event.

Following the 2006 event, the course underwent a major renovation, which received very positive reviews from the players in 2007. Included in the renovation was a new 77,000-square-foot (7,150 m2) Mediterranean Revival-style clubhouse.

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