The inaugural Players Championship was played at Atlanta Country Club in 1974, moved to the Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas in 1975 and to Inverrary Country Club in Ft. Lauderdale in 1976.Jack Nicklaus won the first TPC with a round of 272, Al Geiberger was the winner in '75 with a 270 and Nicklaus won again in '76 with a 269.After Mike Hayes win in 1977, Jack Nicklaus (pictured) won his third Players Championship in 1978. Nicklaus remains the only golfer to have won the tournament three times.Fred Couples won his first Players in 1984. Champions in previous five years were Hal Sutton, Jerry Pate, Raymond Floyd, Lee Trevino and Lanny Wadkins, all from the United States.Austrailian Steve Elkington (pictured) finished 12 under in 1991. The previous six champions were American Jodie Mudd, American Tom Kite, Jacksonville resident Mark McCumber in 1988, Scot Sandy Lyle and Americans John Mahaffey and Calvin Peete.Austrialian Greg Norman (pictured) shattered the tournamt record with a 24 under 264 in 1994. The year before, Nick Price, of Zimbabwe won by five strokes. In 1992, Davis Love III won his first Players with 15 under.Fred Couples won in 1996 with 18 under. The year before, American Lee Janzen won with 5 under.Austrilian Steve Elkington won with 16 under in 1997; in 1998 American Justin Leonarrd won by two strokes; American David Duval (pictured) finished two stokes ahead in 1999; and American Hal Sutton finished with 10 under for the 2000 championship.Tiger Woods won his first Player Championship in 2001 with 14 under2002: Craig Perks, of New Zealand, won with 8 under parSt. Simons Island, Ga., resident Davis Love III won at Sawgrass in 2003; Astrailian Adam Scott in 2004, Ponte Vedra Beach resident Fred Funk in 2005 and Canadian Stephen Ames in 2005.In 2007, Phil Mickelson won his only Players Championship.American Phil Mickelson, 2007 champion, presents Spaniard Sergio Garca with trophy for his 2008 victory2009: Swede Henrik Stenson finished 12 under, 7 strokes ahead of the field2010: South African Tim Clark finished 72 holes 16 under2011: South Korean K. J. Choi wins after a playoff with 13 under2012: Amercian Matt Kuchar, 13 under par2013: American Tiger Woods wins with 13 under2014: German Martin Kaymer finishes 13 under2015: In arguably the greatest finish in the The Players' 41 years, Rickie Fowler finished 72 holes tied at 12 under, then won the first three-hole playoff in tournament history.2016: Jason Day, No. 1 golfer in the world rankings and reigning PGA Champion, led wire-to-wire to win his first Players at -15, four strokes ahead of runner-up Kevin Chappell.2017: Si Woo Kim of South Korea shot 10-under par to win The Players..2018: On the final "pink-out" Sunday -- the final round of The Players held on Mother's Day -- Webb Simpson won by four stokes.Rory McIlroy won The 2019 Players Championship, outdueling Ponte Vedra Beach resident Jim Furyk and a host of others on a spectacular and blustery Sunday at TPC Sawgrass.
AP photo by Phil Sandlin
The inaugural Players Championship was played at Atlanta Country Club in 1974, moved to the Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas in 1975 and to Inverrary Country Club in Ft. Lauderdale in 1976.Jack Nicklaus won the first TPC with a round of 272, Al Geiberger was the winner in '75 with a 270 and Nicklaus won again in '76 with a 269.
A look back at the winners of The Player Championship over the decades finds a mixture of the legends of the game and golfers that had an exceptional few rounds of golf.
Click through the photo gallery above for a walk through a who’s who of the champions of professional golf’s “fifth major."
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