2008 Players Championship

2008 Players Championship
Tournament information
Dates	May 8–11, 2008
Location	Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida; 30°11′53″N 81°23′38″W / 30.198°N 81.394°W
Course(s)	TPC at Sawgrass
Tour(s)	PGA Tour
Statistics
Par	72
Length	7,215 yards (6,597 m)
Field	144 players, 74 after cut
Cut	147 (+3)
Prize fund	$9.5 million
Winner's share	$1.71 million
Champion
	Sergio García
	283 (−5), playoff
Location map
	TPC Sawgrass Location in the United States TPC Sawgrass Location in Florida
	← 2007 2009 →

The 2008 Players Championship was a golf tournament in Florida on the PGA Tour, held May 8–11 at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, southeast of Jacksonville. It was the 35th Players Championship.

Tournament summary

The event was won by Sergio García in a sudden-death playoff over Paul Goydos.^[1]^[2] Defending champion Phil Mickelson finished nine strokes back, in a tie for 21st place.

Venue

This was the 27th Players Championship held at the TPC at Sawgrass Stadium Course and it remained at 7,215 yards (6,597 m).

Course layout

The 2008 Players Championship
Tee	Rating/Slope	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Out	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	In	Total
Yards	n/a	423	532	177	384	471	393	442	237	583	3,642	424	558	358	181	481	449	523	137	462	3,573	7,215
Par		4	5	3	4	4	4	4	3	5	36	4	5	4	3	4	4	5	3	4	36	72

Eligibility requirements

Winners of PGA Tour co-sponsored or approved tournaments, whose victories are considered official, since the previous year's Players Championship.

Zach Johnson, Rory Sabbatini, K. J. Choi, Woody Austin, Ángel Cabrera, Hunter Mahan, Brian Bateman, Jonathan Byrd, Pádraig Harrington, Joe Ogilvie, Jim Furyk, Steve Flesch, Brandt Snedeker, Steve Stricker, Phil Mickelson, Chad Campbell, Justin Leonard, George McNeill, Mike Weir, Daniel Chopra, Stephen Ames, D. J. Trahan, J. B. Holmes, Steve Lowery, Brian Gay, Ernie Els, Sean O'Hair, Geoff Ogilvy, Greg Kraft, Andrés Romero, Johnson Wagner, Boo Weekley, Adam Scott, Anthony Kim

The top 125 finishers on the 2007 Official PGA Tour Money List.^[3]

Vijay Singh, Scott Verplank, Mark Calcavecchia, Charles Howell III, Justin Rose, Tim Clark, John Rollins, Stewart Cink, Robert Allenby, Brett Wetterich, Luke Donald, Heath Slocum, David Toms, Carl Pettersson, Jerry Kelly, Ken Duke, John Senden, Henrik Stenson, Camilo Villegas, Nick Watney, Billy Mayfair, Stuart Appleby, Charley Hoffman, John Mallinger, Pat Perez, Lucas Glover, Bubba Watson, Mark Wilson, Jeff Quinney, Bo Van Pelt, Ryan Moore, Rod Pampling, Freddie Jacobson, Ian Poulter, Ryuji Imada, Nathan Green, Kevin Sutherland, Nick O'Hern, Vaughn Taylor, Brian Davis, José Cóceres, Troy Matteson, Robert Garrigus, Peter Lonard, Dean Wilson, Fred Funk, Paul Goydos, Kenny Perry, Steve Marino, Bart Bryant, Rocco Mediate, Bernhard Langer, Charlie Wi, Jason Gore, J. J. Henry, Jesper Parnevik, Charles Warren, Tim Petrovic, Retief Goosen, Michael Allen, Davis Love III, Stephen Leaney, Jeff Overton, Briny Baird, José María Olazábal, Mark Hensby, Mathew Goggin, Bill Haas, Shigeki Maruyama, Tim Herron, Chris DiMarco, Shaun Micheel, Tom Pernice Jr., Tommy Armour III, Steve Elkington, Cameron Beckman, Cliff Kresge, J. P. Hayes, Matt Kuchar, Tom Lehman, Bob Estes, Rich Beem, Alex Čejka, Ryan Armour, Kevin Na, Jeff Maggert, Kevin Stadler, Mathias Grönberg

Winners of the Players Championship, the Masters, U.S. Open, British Open, and PGA Championship from 2003 to 2007.

Michael Campbell, Ben Curtis, Todd Hamilton

Winners of the Tour Championship the past three years (2005-2007).

Winners of the World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship and World Golf Championships-CA Championship in the last three years (2006-2008).

Winners of the World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational in the last three years (2005-2007).

Any player(s), not otherwise eligible, among the top 50 leaders from the Official World Golf Rankings through the Wachovia Championship. Any player(s), not otherwise eligible, among the top 10 leaders from the 2008 FedExCup Points List through the Wachovia Championship.

Sergio García, Lee Westwood, Niclas Fasth, Paul Casey, Richard Sterne, Miguel Ángel Jiménez, Søren Hansen

The winner of the 2007 Constellation Energy Senior Players Championship. (Such an exemption will be an addition to the field.)

The leading money winner from the 2007 Official Nationwide Tour Money List.

Richard Johnson

If necessary to complete a field of 144 players, PGA Tour members from the 2008 FedExCup Points List below 10th position through the Wachovia Championship, in order of their positions on such list.^[3]

Dudley Hart, John Merrick, Nicholas Thompson, Aaron Baddeley, Ben Crane, Brett Quigley, Fred Couples, Jason Bohn, Matt Jones, Tim Wilkinson, Dustin Johnson

Source:^[4]

Round summaries

First round

Thursday, May 8, 2008

Place	Player	Score	To par
1	Sergio García	66	−6
T2	Paul Goydos	68	−4
T2	Kenny Perry	68	−4
T4	Steve Elkington	69	−3
	Niclas Fasth
	Todd Hamilton
	Ian Poulter
	Heath Slocum
T9	Ángel Cabrera	70	−2
	Fred Couples
	Ben Crane
	Miguel Ángel Jiménez
	Anthony Kim
	Troy Matteson
	John Merrick
	Phil Mickelson
	José María Olazábal
	Brett Quigley
	Kevin Stadler
	Nicholas Thompson
	D. J. Trahan
	Boo Weekley

Source:^[5]

Second round

Friday, May 9, 2008

Place	Player	Score	To par
1	Kenny Perry	68-70=138	−6
T2	Sergio García	66-73=139	−5
	Paul Goydos	68-71=139
	Bernhard Langer	72-67=139
5	Anthony Kim	70-70=140	−4
6	Boo Weekley	70-71=141	−3
T7	Stephen Ames	74-68=142	−2
	Briny Baird	71-71=142
	Fred Couples	70-72=142
	Ben Crane	70-72=142
	John Merrick	70-72=142
	Kevin Stadler	70-72=142

Source:^[6]

Third round

Saturday, May 10, 2008

Place	Player	Score	To par
1	Paul Goydos	68-71-70=209	−7
2	Kenny Perry	68-70-72=210	−6
3	Sergio García	66-73-73=212	−4
T4	Bernhard Langer	72-67-75=214	−2
	Phil Mickelson	70-73-71=214
	Jeff Quinney	71-73-70=214
T7	Stuart Appleby	72-72-71=215	−1
	Briny Baird	71-71-73=215
	J. B. Holmes	72-72-71=215
	Greg Kraft	75-72-68=215
	Tom Lehman	73-73-69=215
	Tim Petrovic	73-73-69=215
	Boo Weekley	70-71-74=215

Source:^[7]

Final round

Sunday, May 11, 2008

In windy conditions, the final pairing struggled on the final day; overnight leader Paul Goydos managed a 2-over-par 74, whilst Kenny Perry crashed to an 81 (+9). In the groups ahead, the pairing of Jeff Quinney and Sergio García produced some of the best golf of the day, and García became the clubhouse leader at 5-under-par 283. Goydos still led, but missed a 15-foot (4.6 m) par putt to win on the final hole, forcing a sudden-death playoff.^[2]

Champion
(c) = past champion

Place	Player	Score	To par	Money ($)
T1	Sergio García	66-73-73-71=283	−5	Playoff
T1	Paul Goydos	68-71-70-74=283	−5	Playoff
3	Jeff Quinney	71-73-70-70=284	−4	646,000
4	Briny Baird	71-71-73-72=287	−1	456,000
5	Stephen Ames (c)	74-68-74-72=288	E	380,000
T6	Ben Crane	70-72-75-72=289	+1	307,562
	Ernie Els	72-71-74-72=289
	Tom Lehman	73-73-69-74=289
	Brett Quigley	70-76-72-71=289
T10	Chad Campbell	73-72-77-68=290	+2	218,500
	J. B. Holmes	72-72-71-75=290
	Greg Kraft	75-72-68-75=290
	Henrik Stenson	73-71-75-71=290
	Dean Wilson	74-72-75-69=290

Leaderboard below the top 10
Place	Player	Score	To par	Money ($)
T15	Stuart Appleby	72-72-71-76=291	+3	147,250
	Fred Couples (c)	70-72-77-72=291
	Bernhard Langer	72-67-75-77=291
	Kenny Perry	68-70-72-81=291
	Tim Petrovic	73-73-69-76=291
	Kevin Stadler	70-72-78-71=291
T21	Woody Austin	71-76-73-72=292	+4	95,000
	Stewart Cink	71-75-73-73=292
	Phil Mickelson (c)	70-73-71-78=292
	Ian Poulter	69-74-73-76=292
	Nicholas Thompson	70-77-71-74=292
	Boo Weekley	70-71-74-77=292
T27	Luke Donald	75-72-74-72=293	+5	67,450
	Jim Furyk	74-72-71-76=293
	John Merrick	70-72-77-74=293
	Ryan Moore	72-74-73-74=293
	Rory Sabbatini	73-71-75-74=293
T32	Aaron Baddeley	71-74-77-72=294	+6	48,260
	Jonathan Byrd	76-71-72-75=294
	Steve Elkington (c)	69-76-77-72=294
	Brian Gay	72-74-75-73=294
	Freddie Jacobson	76-70-70-78=294
	Miguel Ángel Jiménez	70-74-76-74=294
	Jerry Kelly	74-72-70-78=294
	Nick O'Hern	73-74-75-72=294
	David Toms	77-70-76-71=294
	Mike Weir	71-76-75-72=294
T42	Robert Allenby	74-71-77-73=295	+7	29,830
	Bart Bryant	73-71-79-72=295
	Daniel Chopra	72-72-73-78=295
	Ben Curtis	74-72-71-78=295
	Søren Hansen	71-73-73-78=295
	J. J. Henry	71-73-73-78=295
	Anthony Kim	70-70-79-76=295
	Pat Perez	72-74-72-77=295
	Mark Wilson	76-71-72-76=295
T51	Retief Goosen	73-71-77-75=296	+8	22,863
	Carl Pettersson	74-71-75-76=296
	D. J. Trahan	70-77-75-74=296
T54	Chris DiMarco	71-73-78-75=297	+9	21,280
	Ken Duke	72-75-76-74=297
	Todd Hamilton	69-77-75-76=297
	Davis Love III (c)	73-74-70-80=297
	Rocco Mediate	74-72-72-79=297
	Kevin Na	72-75-76-74=297
	José María Olazábal	70-75-80-72=297
	Adam Scott (c)	75-71-71-80=297
	Johnson Wagner	72-74-77-74=297
T63	Nick Watney	76-71-74-77=298	+10	20,235
T63	Charlie Wi	74-73-69-82=298	+10	20,235
65	Cliff Kresge	74-71-77-77=299	+11	19,950
T66	José Cóceres	72-75-71-82=300	+12	19,570
	Richard Sterne (golfer)	77-70-76-77=300
	Camilo Villegas	74-73-77-76=300
T69	Jesper Parnevik	72-74-70-85=301	+13	19,095
T69	Heath Slocum	69-76-78-78=301	+13	19,095
71	Jason Bohn	74-73-79-76=302	+14	18,810
72	Billy Mayfair	72-73-77-81=303	+15	18,620
T73	Tommy Armour III	71-76-80-80=307	+19	18,335
T73	Troy Matteson	70-76-80-81=307	+19	18,335
CUT	Alex Čejka	72-76=148	+4
	Niclas Fasth	69-79=148
	Sean O'Hair	75-73=148
	John Senden	76-72=148
	Vijay Singh	75-73=148
	Brandt Snedeker	72-76=148
	Kevin Sutherland	73-75=148
	Brian Bateman	74-75=149	+5
	Mark Hensby	78-71=149
	Ryuji Imada	73-76=149
	Justin Leonard (c)	75-74=149
	Rod Pampling	72-77=149
	Scott Verplank	71-78=149
	Bubba Watson	76-73=149
	Tim Wilkinson	77-72=149
	Michael Allen	73-77=150	+6
	Steve Flesch	74-76=150
	Nathan Green	78-72=150
	Mathias Grönberg	74-76=150
	Pádraig Harrington	72-78=150
	Richard S. Johnson	77-73=150
	Stephen Leaney	77-73=150
	John Rollins	78-72=150
	Ángel Cabrera	70-81=151	+7
	Mark Calcavecchia	76-75=151
	Fred Funk (c)	74-77=151
	Mathew Goggin	74-77=151
	Peter Lonard	77-74=151
	George McNeill	77-74=151
	Joe Ogilvie	74-77=151
	Justin Rose	78-73=151
	Lee Westwood	73-78=151
	Rich Beem	72-80=152	+8
	Michael Campbell	74-78=152
	Brian Davis	77-75=152
	Bob Estes	77-75=152
	Dudley Hart	75-77=152
	Matt Jones	75-77=152
	John Mallinger	75-77=152
	Shaun Micheel	77-75=152
	Geoff Ogilvy	77-75=152
	Paul Casey	77-76=153	+9
	Bill Haas	76-77=153
	Charles Howell III	79-74=153
	Dustin Johnson	73-80=153
	Matt Kuchar	78-75=153
	Steve Lowery	77-76=153
	Jeff Overton	74-79=153
	Steve Stricker	77-76=153
	Vaughn Taylor	78-75=153
	Brett Wetterich	71-82=153
	Tim Herron	73-81=154	+10
	Tom Pernice Jr.	75-79=154
	Bo Van Pelt	74-80=154
	Robert Garrigus	79-76=155	+11
	Zach Johnson	76-79=155	+11
	Steve Marino	77-79=156	+12
	Andrés Romero	77-79=156	+12
	K. J. Choi	79-78=157	+13
	J. P. Hayes	83-75=158	+14
	Tim Clark	77-82=159	+15
	Lucas Glover	80-79=159
	Charley Hoffman	76-83=159
	Charles Warren	77-82=159
WD	Jeff Maggert	72	E
	Ryan Armour	81	+9
	Shigeki Maruyama	81	+9
	Cameron Beckman
	Jason Gore
	Hunter Mahan

Source:^[8]

Scorecard

Final round

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
García	−3	−3	−3	−3	−3	−3	−4	−3	−3	−3	−4	−5	−4	−5	−5	−5	−5	−5
Goydos	−7	−6	−5	−6	−5	−5	−5	−5	−5	−6	−6	−7	−7	−6	−5	−6	−6	−5
Quinney	−3	−4	−3	−3	−3	−3	−2	−2	−2	−2	−3	−3	−4	−4	−4	−5	−5	−4
Baird	−1	−1	−2	−2	−2	−2	−3	−3	−3	−3	−3	−3	−3	−3	−2	−2	−1	−1
Ames	E	E	E	+2	+2	+2	+1	+1	E	−1	−1	−1	−1	−1	−2	−2	−2	E
Perry	−5	−5	−5	−4	−5	−5	−4	−4	−4	−3	−2	−2	−2	−2	+1	+1	+2	+3

Cumulative tournament scores, relative to par

	Birdie		Bogey		Double bogey		Triple bogey+

Source:^[9]

Playoff

At the first playoff hole, the infamous par-3 17th, Goydos' went first and his tee shot found water. Garcia stayed dry, stopping 4 feet (1.2 m) from the pin and the playoff was essentially over. Goydos finished the hole with a double bogey to give Garcia three putts to win; he two-putted for par and the title.^[1] It was the first playoff at the Players Championship since 1987 and the first to start at the 17th hole.^[2]

Place	Player	Score	To par	Money ($)
1	Sergio García	3	E	1,710,000
2	Paul Goydos	5	+2	1,026,000

References

^ ^a ^b Bamberger, Michael (May 19, 2008). "A Fresh Breeze". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved May 9, 2016.
^ ^a ^b ^c Ferguson, Doug (May 12, 2008). "Garcia wins Players Championship". Victoria Advocate. Texas. Associated Press. p. C1.
^ ^a ^b "Official Money – 2007". PGA Tour. Retrieved 2023-04-18.
^ "2008 PGA Tour Media Guide" (PDF). PGA Tour. p. 3-41.
^ "Golf: Players Championship - First round scores". Tuscaloosa News. Alabama. Associated Press. May 9, 2008. p. 2C.
^ "Youth gives way at Players". Tuscaloosa News. Alabama. Associated Press. May 10, 2008. p. 5C.
^ "Goydos takes control at Players". Tuscaloosa News. Alabama. Associated Press. May 11, 2008. p. 5C.
^ "Past Results 1974 – present". PGA Tour. Archived from the original on September 1, 2020. Retrieved March 1, 2020.
^ "The Players Championship". ESPN. Retrieved September 14, 2015.

External links

[fbrz-1] Bamberger, Michael (May 19, 2008). "A Fresh Breeze". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved May 9, 2016.

[gwplch08-2] Ferguson, Doug (May 12, 2008). "Garcia wins Players Championship". Victoria Advocate. Texas. Associated Press. p. C1.

[:0-3] "Official Money – 2007". PGA Tour. Retrieved 2023-04-18.

[4] "2008 PGA Tour Media Guide" (PDF). PGA Tour. p. 3-41.

[5] "Golf: Players Championship - First round scores". Tuscaloosa News. Alabama. Associated Press. May 9, 2008. p. 2C.

[ythgway-6] "Youth gives way at Players". Tuscaloosa News. Alabama. Associated Press. May 10, 2008. p. 5C.

[gtcapl-7] "Goydos takes control at Players". Tuscaloosa News. Alabama. Associated Press. May 11, 2008. p. 5C.

[tpcpr-8] "Past Results 1974 – present". PGA Tour. Archived from the original on September 1, 2020. Retrieved March 1, 2020.

[ldr-9] "The Players Championship". ESPN. Retrieved September 14, 2015.

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v t e The Players Championship
Tournaments	1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
Venues	Atlanta Country Club (1974) Colonial Country Club (1975) Inverrary Country Club (1976) Sawgrass Country Club (1977–1981) Tournament Players Club at Sawgrass (1982–present)