1978 Tournament Players Championship Explained

1978 Tournament Players Championship
Dates:March 16–19, 1978
Location:Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida
Course:Sawgrass Country Club,
East-West course
Tour:PGA Tour
Par:72
Yardage:[1] [2]
Field:142 players, 79 after cut
Cut:153 (+9)
Purse:$344,270
Winners Share:$60,000
Champion: Jack Nicklaus
Score:289 (+1)
Map:USA#USA Florida
Map Relief:yes
Map Label:Sawgrass CC
Coordinates:30.189°N -81.37°W
Previous:1977
Next:1979

The 1978 Tournament Players Championship was a golf tournament in Florida on the PGA Tour, held March 16–19 at Sawgrass Country Club in Ponte Vedra Beach, southeast of Jacksonville. The fifth Tournament Players Championship, it was the second at Sawgrass and Jack Nicklaus won his third TPC title at 289 (+1), one stroke ahead of runner-up Lou Graham.[1] [2] [3] [4] Both shot in the windy final round and Nicklaus went without a birdie.[1] [3]

This was the fourth consecutive start for Nicklaus in 1978 that ended with a top-two finish: two wins and two second places.[1] [4] Four months later in July, he won his third Open Championship to become the first to win the TPC and a major title in the same calendar year, later joined by and

Defending champion Mark Hayes finished eleven strokes back, in a tie for 28th place.

Venue

See main article: Sawgrass Country Club. This was the second of five Tournament Players Championships held at Sawgrass Country Club; it moved to the nearby TPC at Sawgrass Stadium Course in 1982.

Eligibility requirements

  1. All designated players
  2. Winners of major PGA Tour co-sponsored or approved events beginning with the 1977 Tournament Players Championship and concluding with the tournament immediately preceding the 1978 TPC
  3. The current British Open champion
  4. Leaders In PGA Tour Official Standings as necessary to complete the field, beginning with the 1977 Tournament Players Championship and concluding with the tournament scheduled to end on the Sunday immediately preceding the 1978 TPC, the Florida Citrus Open

Source:[5]

Field

Tommy Aaron, Sam Adams, Wally Armstrong, Butch Baird, Miller Barber, Andy Bean, Frank Beard, Don Bies, Homero Blancas, George Burns, George Cadle, Rex Caldwell, Bill Calfee, Billy Casper, Antonio Cerda Jr., Jim Colbert, Bobby Cole, Frank Conner, Charles Coody, Ben Crenshaw, Rod Curl, Jim Dent, Bruce Devlin, Terry Diehl, Ed Dougherty, Bob Eastwood, Danny Edwards, Dave Eichelberger, Lee Elder, Randy Erskine, Keith Fergus, Forrest Fezler, Raymond Floyd, Rod Funseth, Gibby Gilbert, Bob Gilder, David Graham, Lou Graham, Hubert Green, Gary Groh, Jay Haas, Phil Hancock, Morris Hatalsky, Dale Hayes, Mark Hayes, Jerry Heard, Mike Hill, Lon Hinkle, Joe Inman, Hale Irwin, Don Iverson, Peter Jacobsen, Barry Jaeckel, Don January, Tom Jenkins, Grier Jones, Tom Kite, George Knudson, Gary Koch, Billy Kratzert, Stan Lee, Wayne Levi, Bruce Lietzke, John Lister, Gene Littler, Lyn Lott, Mark Lye, John Mahaffey, Bill Mallon, Roger Maltbie, Graham Marsh, Fred Marti, Rik Massengale, Gary McCord, Mike McCullough, Jerry McGee, Mac McLendon, Artie McNickle, Steve Melnyk, Allen Miller, Johnny Miller, Jeff Mitchell, Florentino Molina, Orville Moody, Gil Morgan, Mike Morley, Bob Murphy, Larry Nelson, Dwight Nevil, Bobby Nichols, Jack Nicklaus, Andy North, Peter Oosterhuis, Arnold Palmer, Jerry Pate, Bob Payne, Eddie Pearce, Calvin Peete, Mark Pfeil, Gary Player, Don Pooley, Joe Porter, Tom Purtzer, Sammy Rachels, Victor Regalado, Mike Reid, Jack Renner, Chi Chi Rodriguez, Bill Rogers, John Schlee, John Schroeder, Tom Shaw, Bob Shearer, Dan Sikes, Jim Simons, Tim Simpson, Bob E. Smith, J. C. Snead, Ed Sneed, Craig Stadler, Ken Still, Dave Stockton, Curtis Strange, Ron Streck, Alan Tapie, Steve Taylor, Doug Tewell, Barney Thompson, Leonard Thompson, Lee Trevino, Howard Twitty, Bobby Wadkins, Lanny Wadkins, Art Wall Jr., Bobby Walzel, Tom Watson, Tom Weiskopf, Bob Wynn, Kermit Zarley, Bob Zender, Larry Ziegler, Fuzzy Zoeller

Round summaries

First round

Thursday, March 16, 1978

PlacePlayerScoreTo par
T1 70 −2
Bobby Wadkins
T8 71 −1
Artie McNickle
Source:[6]

Second round

Friday, March 17, 1978

PlacePlayerScoreTo par
T1 70-71=141 −3
71-70=141
70-71=141
4 71-72=143 −1
5 72-72=144 E
T6 72-73=145 +1
74-71=145
70-75=145
T9 74-72=146 +2
72-74=146
71-75=146
Artie McNickle 71-75=146
72-74=146
72-74=146
73-73=146
Source:[7]

Third round

Saturday, March 18, 1978

PlacePlayerScoreTo par
1 70-71-73=214 −2
2 71-70-74=215 −1
T3 70-71-77=218 +2
71-72-75=218
T5 72-72-75=219 +3
74-71-74=219
T7 75-72-74=221 +5
77-75-69=221
73-73-75=221
70-75-76=221
74-75-72=221
Bob Zender 75-73-73=221
Source:[8]

Final round

Sunday, March 19, 1978

Champion
(c) = past champion
PlacePlayerScoreTo parMoney ($)
1 Jack Nicklaus (c) 70-71-73-75=289 +1 60,000
2 71-70-74-75=290 +2 34,200
3 75-72-74-70=291 +3 21,300
T4 70-71-77-74=292 +4 11,700
71-72-75-74=292
74-71-74-73=292
70-75-76-71=292
8 74-74-74-72=294 +6 8,850
T9 76-77-71-71=295 +7 7,500
73-73-75-74=295
70-79-76-70=295
[9]

External links

Notes and References

  1. News: TPC scores high and so is Nicklaus . Eugene Register-Guard . (Oregon). Associated Press . March 20, 1978 . 1D.
  2. News: Nicklaus tops TPC with 75 . Spokesman-Review . (Spokane, Washington). Associated Press . March 20, 1978 . 16.
  3. News: Nicklaus holds on for 2d win of year . Chicago Tribune . wire services . March 20, 1978 . 6, sec. 6.
  4. Off in a world of his own . Sports Illustrated . Jenkins . Dan . Dan Jenkins . March 27, 1978 . 20.
  5. Web site: 1978 PGA Tour Media Guide . live . PGA Tour . 207. https://web.archive.org/web/20200927062459/https://pgatourmedia.pgatourhq.com/static-assets/page/header/files/1978_pgatour.pdf . 2020-09-27 .
  6. News: Nicklaus making his big bid . Eugene Register-Guard . (Oregon) . UPI . March 17, 1978 . 7C.
  7. News: Birdies bring back Nicklaus into a TPC tie . Eugene Register-Guard . (Oregon) . wire services . March 18, 1978 . 6B.
  8. News: Nicklaus slips then fights back. Eugene Register-Guard . (Oregon). UPI . March 19, 1978 . 6B.
  9. Web site: Past Results 1974 – present . PGA Tour . March 1, 2020 . September 1, 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200901175049/https://www.theplayers.com/past-results.html . dead .

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