No Tiger Woods in Players field, but tournament still has plenty of star power

Scottie Scheffler celebrates after making his putt to win on the 18th green during the final round of THE PLAYERS Championship on THE PLAYERS Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass on March 12, 2023 in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. (Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images) (Mike Ehrmann, 2023 Getty Images)

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – Tiger Woods isn’t headed to The Players Championship next week, that’s the bad news. The good news for area golf fans is that the field for the golden anniversary event next week at TPC Sawgrass is a good one.

The 144-golfer field was finalized just after 5 p.m. Friday. Woods wasn’t necessarily expected to be in the mix, but it was made official with the release of the field.

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The Players tees off Thursday at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach.

Woods has seldom been healthy enough to compete in recent years due to injuries from a car accident. Woods last played at TPC Sawgrass in 2019. He’s won The Players twice. Woods, a 15-time major champion, withdrew from the Genesis Invitational last month after two rounds due to illness.

While that’s disappointing for area golf fans looking to see Woods, they should take comfort in a solid field. Defending champion Scottie Scheffler is back and looking to become the first back-to-back winner in tournament history.

Joining Scheffler in the field are eight other Players champions — Justin Thomas (2021), Rory McIlroy (2019), Webb Simpson (2018), Si Woo Kim (2017), Jason Day (2016), Rickie Fowler (2015), Matt Kuchar (2012) and Adam Scott (2004).

Players 144-golfer field

Åberg, Ludvig

Alexander, Tyson

An, Byeong Hun

Baddeley, Aaron

Bezuidenhout, Christiaan

Bhatia, Akshay

Björk, Alexander

Blair, Zac

Bradley, Keegan

Bramlett, Joseph

Buckley, Hayden

Burns, Sam

Cantlay, Patrick

Clark, Wyndham

Cole, Eric

Conners, Corey

Dahmen, Joel

Davis, Cam

Day, Jason

Detry, Thomas

Duncan, Tyler

Dunlap, Nick

Echavarria, Nico

Eckroat, Austin

English, Harris

Finau, Tony

Fitzpatrick, Matt

Fleetwood, Tommy

Fowler, Rickie

Fox, Ryan

Ghim, Doug

Glover, Lucas

Griffin, Ben

Grillo, Emiliano

Hadley, Chesson

Hadwin, Adam

Hall, Harry

Hardy, Nick

Harman, Brian

Henley, Russell

Higgo, Garrick

Hisatsune, Ryo

Hodges, Lee

Hoffman, Charley

Hoge, Tom

Højgaard, Nicolai

Homa, Max

Horschel, Billy

Hossler, Beau

Hovland, Viktor

Hubbard, Mark

Hughes, Mackenzie

Im, Sungjae

Jaeger, Stephan

Kim, Chan

Kim, Michael

Kim, S.H.

Kim, Si Woo

Kim, Tom

Kirk, Chris

Kitayama, Kurt

Knapp, Jake

Kohles, Ben

Kuchar, Matt

Laird, Martin

Lashley, Nate

Lee, K.H.

Lee, Min Woo

Lipsky, David

List, Luke

Lower, Justin

Lowry, Shane

MacIntyre, Robert

Malnati, Peter

Martin, Ben

Matsuyama, Hideki

McCarthy, Denny

McIlroy, Rory

McNealy, Maverick

Merritt, Troy

Mitchell, Keith

Molinari, Francesco

Montgomery, Taylor

Moore, Ryan

Moore, Taylor

Morikawa, Collin

Murray, Grayson

NeSmith, Matt

Noren, Alex

Norrman, Vincent

Novak, Andrew

Pan, C.T.

Pavon, Matthieu

Pendrith, Taylor

Poston, J.T.

Power, Seamus

Putnam, Andrew

Rai, Aaron

Ramey, Chad

Reavie, Chez

Riley, Davis

Rodgers, Patrick

Rose, Justin

Ryder, Sam

Schauffele, Xander

Scheffler, Scottie

Schenk, Adam

Schmid, Matti

Scott, Adam

Shelton, Robby

Sigg, Greyson

Silverman, Ben

Simpson, Webb

Skinns, David

Smalley, Alex

Spaun, J.J.

Spieth, Jordan

Stallings, Scott

Stanger, Jimmy

Stevens, Sam

Straka, Sepp

Streelman, Kevin

Stricker, Steve

Suh, Justin

Svensson, Adam

Tarren, Callum

Taylor, Ben

Taylor, Nick

Theegala, Sahith

Thomas, Justin

Thompson, Davis

Todd, Brendon

Valimaki, Sami

van Rooyen, Erik

Villegas, Camilo

Wallace, Matt

Woodland, Gary

Wu, Brandon

Wu, Dylan

Young, Cameron

Young, Carson

Yu, Kevin

Yuan, Carl

Zalatoris, Will


About the Author

Justin Barney joined News4Jax in February 2019, but he’s been covering sports on the First Coast for more than 20 years.

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