1987 Tournament Players Championship Explained

1987 Tournament Players Championship
Dates:March 26–29, 1987
Location:Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida
Course:TPC Sawgrass,
Stadium Course
Tour:PGA Tour
Par:72
Yardage:[1]
Field:144 players, 72 after cut
Cut:143 (−1)
Purse:$1.0 million
Winners Share:$180,000
Champion: Sandy Lyle
Score:274 (−14), playoff
Map:USA#USA Florida
Map Relief:yes
Map Label:TPC Sawgrass
Coordinates:30.198°N -81.394°W
Previous:1986
Next:1988

The 1987 Tournament Players Championship was a golf tournament in Florida on the PGA Tour, held at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, southeast of Jacksonville. It was the fourteenth Tournament Players Championship.

Sandy Lyle of Scotland defeated Jeff Sluman on the third hole of a sudden-death playoff to become the first international player to win the title.[2] [3] [4] Rains had softened the course and led to favorable scoring;[5] the 36-hole cut of 143 (−1) was the lowest until 1993.

At the second playoff hole, the par-3 17th "Island Green," an unruly spectator jumped into the water as Sluman was addressing his 6feet birdie putt for the win. After order was restored, he missed and they went to third extra hole at 18. Both found the fairway with their tee shots but both approaches went deep. Sluman couldn't save par from 12feet while Lyle made his from 7feet to end it.[2] [3] [5]

This was the second playoff at the Tournament Players Championship, but the first at the Stadium Course. This year also marked the championship's first seven-figure purse and its last with "Tournament" in the title.

Defending champion John Mahaffey finished ten strokes back, in a tie for 32nd place.

Venue

See main article: TPC at Sawgrass. This was the sixth Tournament Players Championship held at the TPC at Sawgrass Stadium Course and it remained at .[1]

Eligibility requirements

1. Top 126 players, if PGA Tour members, from Final 1986 Official Money List:

Greg Norman, Bob Tway, Payne Stewart, Andy Bean, Dan Pohl, Hal Sutton, Tom Kite, Ben Crenshaw, Raymond Floyd, Bernhard Langer, John Mahaffey, Calvin Peete, Fuzzy Zoeller, Joey Sindelar, Jim Thorpe, Ken Green, Larry Mize, Doug Tewell, Corey Pavin, Tom Watson, Mike Hulbert, Don Pooley, Lanny Wadkins, Kenny Knox, Mark Wiebe, John Cook, Donnie Hammond, Paul Azinger, Mark O'Meara, Tim Simpson, Curtis Strange, Bobby Wadkins, Jack Nicklaus, Nick Price, Scott Hoch, Tom Purtzer, Chip Beck, Roger Maltbie, Scott Simpson, Gene Sauers, Phil Blackmar, Clarence Rose, Jay Haas, David Frost, Bruce Lietzke, Jodie Mudd, Bob Murphy, Gary Koch, Steve Pate, Willie Wood, Craig Stadler, Dan Forsman, D. A. Weibring, Ronnie Black, Howard Twitty, Mark Calcavecchia, Wayne Levi, Jeff Sluman, Rick Fehr, J. C. Snead, Sandy Lyle, Pat McGowan, Mike Reid, Danny Edwards, Ernie Gonzalez, Larry Nelson, Dave Barr, David Edwards, Bill Glasson, Hubert Green, Mark Hayes, Brian Claar, Fred Couples, Davis Love III, Peter Jacobsen, Lennie Clements, Mark McCumber, Jim Colbert, Mike Donald, Morris Hatalsky, Bob Gilder, Lon Hinkle, Bobby Clampett, David Graham, Brett Upper, Brad Faxon, Buddy Gardner, Russ Cochran, Tom Byrum, Blaine McCallister, Bobby Cole, Charlie Bolling, TC Chen, Lee Trevino, Bob Lohr, Jack Renner, Dan Halldorson, Leonard Thompson, Dave Rummells, George Archer, Barry Jaeckel, Larry Rinker, Jim Gallagher Jr., Curt Byrum, Dick Mast, Ken Brown, Mark Lye, George Burns, David Ogrin, Chris Perry, Fred Wadsworth, Andy Dillard, Bob Eastwood, Johnny Miller, Ed Fiori, Andrew Magee, Gary Hallberg, Mark Pfeil, Jay Delsing, John Adams, Tom Sieckmann, Antonio Cerda, Jr.

Source:[6]

2. Designated players

Andy North

3. Any foreign player meeting the requirements of a designated player, whether or not he is a PGA Tour member

Seve Ballesteros

4. Winners in the last 10 calendar years of the Tournament Players Championship, PGA Championship, U.S. Open, Masters Tournament and World Series of Golf

Hale Irwin, Bill Rogers

5. The leader in Senior PGA Tour official earnings of 1986

Source:[7]

6. The three players, not otherwise eligible, designated by the TPC Committee as "special selections"

Rodger Davis, Dave Stockton

7. To complete a field of 144 players, those players in order, not otherwise eligible, from the 1987 Official Money List, as of the completion of the USF&G Classic, March 22, 1987

Isao Aoki, Keith Clearwater, Steve Elkington, Sam Randolph, Brad Fabel, Bill Sander, Tsuneyuki Nakajima, Steve Jones, Rick Dalpos, Rocco Mediate, Jay Don Blake, John Inman, Mark Brooks, Denis Watson, Richard Zokol, Mike Nicolette

Source:[8]

General source:[9]

Round summaries

First round

Thursday, March 26, 1987
Friday, March 27, 1987

PlacePlayerScoreTo par
1 66 −6
T2 67 −5
T6 68 −4
Source:[10] [11]

Second round

Friday, March 27, 1987
Saturday, March 28, 1987

PlacePlayerScoreTo par
T1 66-67=133 −11
68-65=133
T3 68-66=134 −10
69-65=134
T5 67-68=135 −9
67-68=135
T7 68-68=136 −8
69-67=136
70-66=136
10 69-68=137 −7
Source:[10]

Third round

Saturday, March 28, 1987

PlacePlayerScoreTo par
T1 68-65-69=202 −14
69-65-68=202
T3 70-68-66=204 −12
67-71-66=204
5 70-66-69=205 −11
6 68-70-68=206 −10
69-69-68=206
67-68-71=206
9 71-68-68=207 −9
10 69-67-72=208 −8
Source:[12]

Final round

Sunday, March 29, 1987

On the 72nd hole, Lyle and Sluman both made birdie putts to finish at 274 (−14) and advanced to the playoff.[2] [3] [5]

Champion
(c) = past champion
PlacePlayerScoreTo parMoney ($)
T1 67-71-66-70=274 −14 Playoff
70-66-69-69=274
3 68-65-69-73=275 −13 68,000
T4 67-68-71-70=276 −12 44,000
69-65-68-74=276
6 68-70-68-71=277 −11 36,000
T7 69-69-68-72=278 −10 32,250
68-66-75-69=278
T9 70-68-66-75=279 −9 27,000
72-70-67-70=279
69-67-72-71=279
[13]

Playoff

PlacePlayerScoreTo parMoney ($)
1 Sandy Lyle 5-3-4=12 E 180,000
2 5-3-5=13 +1 108,000
Scorecard
Hole 16  17  18 
Par534
Lyle EEE
Sluman EE+1
Source:[2]

External links

Notes and References

  1. News: Tournament Players Championship . Toledo Blade . (Ohio). Associated Press . March 30, 1987 . 22 .
  2. News: Lyle takes TPC with playoff win . Eugene Register-Guard . (Oregon) . Associated Press . March 30, 1987 . 2C.
  3. News: Lyle ducks rain, competition for extra-hole victory in TPC . Toledo Blade . (Ohio) . Loomis . Tom . March 30, 1987 . 20.
  4. News: Lyle bags the TPC in playoff . Chicago Tribune . Hanley . Reid . March 30, 1987 . 8, sec. 3.
  5. Taming a toothless tiger . Sports Illustrated . Ballard . Sarah . April 6, 1987 . 128.
  6. Web site: Official Money – 1986 . 2021-08-17 . PGA Tour.
  7. Web site: Charles Schwab Cup Money List. 2021-08-18. PGA Tour.
  8. Web site: Official Money PGA TOUR Stats. 2021-09-01. PGATour. en.
  9. Web site: 1987 PGA Tour Media Guide . live . PGA Tour . 305. https://web.archive.org/web/20200924144924/https://pgatourmedia.pgatourhq.com/static-assets/page/header/files/1987_pgatour.pdf . 2020-09-24 .
  10. News: Weather still leads TPC . Eugene Register-Guard . (Oregon) . Associated Press . March 28, 1987 . 7C.
  11. News: Norman storms into TPC's lead . Eugene Register-Guard . (Oregon) . Associated Press . March 27, 1987 . 2B.
  12. News: O'Meara tramps 27 holes for lead . Eugene Register-Guard . (Oregon) . Associated Press . March 29, 1987 . 8D.
  13. 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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