2012 Players Championship Explained

2012 Players Championship
Dates:	May 10–13, 2012
Location:	Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida
Course:	TPC Sawgrass, Stadium Course
Tour:	PGA Tour
Par:	72
Field:	144 players, 72 after cut
Cut:	144 (Even)
Purse:	$9.5 million
Winners Share:	$1.71 million
Champion:	Matt Kuchar
Score:	275 (−13)
Map:	USA#USA Florida
Map Relief:	yes
Map Label:	TPC Sawgrass
Coordinates:	30.198°N -81.394°W
Previous:	2011
Next:	2013

The 2012 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 39th Players Championship and was won by Matt Kuchar, two strokes ahead of four runners-up.^[1] ^[2]

Defending champion K. J. Choi missed the 36-hole cut by seven strokes.

Venue

See main article: article and TPC at Sawgrass. This was the 31st Players Championship held at the TPC at Sawgrass Stadium Course and it remained at .

Course layout

Field

The field consisted of 144 players meeting criteria 1–12, plus the winner of the 2011 Senior Players Championship.

1. Winners of PGA Tour events since last Players Keegan Bradley (2,3,5,9), K. J. Choi (2,3,6,9), Ben Crane (3,9), Ben Curtis, Luke Donald (2,3,7,9), Jason Dufner (2,3,9,11), Rickie Fowler (3,9), Harrison Frazar (3), Bill Haas (2,3,8,9), John Huh, Freddie Jacobson (2,3,9), Chris Kirk (3), Hunter Mahan (2,3,7,9,11), Rory McIlroy (5,9,11), George McNeill (3), Phil Mickelson (2,3,5,6,8,9,11), Bryce Molder (3), Kevin Na (3), Sean O'Hair (3), Carl Pettersson (3,9,11), Scott Piercy (3), Justin Rose (2,3,7,9,11), Adam Scott (2,3,7,9), Webb Simpson (2,3,9), Brandt Snedeker (2,3,9), Scott Stallings (3), Kyle Stanley (3,11), Steve Stricker (2,3,9), David Toms (2,3,9), Johnson Wagner (3,11), Nick Watney (2,3,7,9), Mark Wilson (2,3,9,11), Tiger Woods (5,7,9)

Darren Clarke (5) and Dustin Johnson (2,3,9) did not play.

2. Top 30 from previous season's FedEx Cup points listAaron Baddeley (3,9), Jonathan Byrd (3), Jason Day (3,9), Charles Howell III (3), Matt Kuchar (3,9), Geoff Ogilvy (3), Chez Reavie (3), John Senden (3,9), Vijay Singh (3), Bo Van Pelt (3,9), Gary Woodland (3), Yang Yong-eun (3,5)

3. Top 125 from previous season's PGA Tour money listBlake Adams, Robert Allenby, Arjun Atwal, Briny Baird, Ricky Barnes, Matt Bettencourt, Kris Blanks, Michael Bradley, Chad Campbell, Greg Chalmers, Kevin Chappell, Stewart Cink (5), Chris Couch, Brian Davis, Brendon de Jonge, Chris DiMarco, James Driscoll, Ernie Els (7,9), Jim Furyk (8,9), Tommy Gainey, Sergio García (6,9), Robert Garrigus, Brian Gay, Tom Gillis, Lucas Glover (5), Retief Goosen, Hunter Haas, Pádraig Harrington (5), David Hearn, J. J. Henry, Tim Herron, Charley Hoffman, J. B. Holmes, Ryuji Imada, Trevor Immelman (5), Brandt Jobe, Zach Johnson (9), Kang Sung-hoon, Robert Karlsson (9), Jerry Kelly, Martin Laird (9), Marc Leishman, Justin Leonard, Spencer Levin, Davis Love III, David Mathis, Troy Matteson, Billy Mayfair, Graeme McDowell (5,9), John Merrick, Ryan Moore, Joe Ogilvie, Nick O'Hern, Louis Oosthuizen (5,9), Jeff Overton, Ryan Palmer, Rod Pampling, Pat Perez, Tom Pernice Jr., Ian Poulter (7,9), John Rollins, Andrés Romero, Rory Sabbatini, Heath Slocum, Kevin Stadler, Brendan Steele, Kevin Streelman, Chris Stroud, Josh Teater, Michael Thompson, D. J. Trahan, Cameron Tringale, Jhonattan Vegas, Scott Verplank, Camilo Villegas, Jimmy Walker, Charlie Wi

Paul Goydos, Anthony Kim, Steve Marino, D. A. Points, Charl Schwartzel (5,9), and Bubba Watson (2,3,5,9,11) did not play.

4. Top 125 from current season - Medical ExtensionBob Estes

5. Major champions from the past five yearsÁngel Cabrera, Martin Kaymer (9)

6. Players Championship winners from the past five yearsTim Clark, Henrik Stenson

7. WGC winners from the past three years (WGC-HSBC Champions winners only from 2010–11, and only if PGA Tour members)

8. The Tour Championship winners from the past three years

9. Top 50 from the Official World Golf Ranking as of April 29Bae Sang-moon, Paul Casey, Simon Dyson, Peter Hanson, Francesco Molinari, Álvaro Quirós, Lee Westwood

Thomas Bjørn, Anders Hansen, Kim Kyung-tae, and Paul Lawrie did not play.

10. Nationwide Tour money leader from prior seasonJ. J. Killeen

11. Top 10 current year FedEx Cup points leaders as of April 29

12. Field filled to 144 through current year FedEx Cup standings as of April 29Bud Cauley, Graham DeLaet, Ken Duke, Harris English, Matt Every, Brian Harman, Colt Knost, Jeff Maggert, John Mallinger

13. Senior Players champion from prior year (did not count against field of 144)

Fred Couples did not play; therefore only 144 players competed.

Round summaries

First round

Thursday, May 10, 2012

Place	Player	Score	To par
T1	Martin Laird	65	−7
T1	Ian Poulter	65	−7
3	Blake Adams	66	−6
T4	Ben Crane	67	−5
T4	Kevin Na	67	−5
T6	Bae Sang-moon	68	−4
	Jonathan Byrd
	Ben Curtis
	Brian Davis
	Harrison Frazar
	Bill Haas
	Matt Kuchar
	Adam Scott
	Kevin Stadler
	Michael Thompson
	Jhonattan Vegas

Second round

Friday, May 11, 2012

Place	Player	Score	To par
T1	Zach Johnson	70-66=136	−8
	Kevin Na	67-69=136
	Matt Kuchar	68-68=136
4	Harris English	70-67=137	−7
T5	Jonathan Byrd	68-70=138	−6
	Adam Scott	68-70=138
	Brian Davis	68-70=138
	Martin Laird	65-73=138
	Charlie Wi	71-67=138
T10	Blake Adams	66-73=139	−5
	Ben Curtis	68-71=139
	Michael Thompson	68-71=139
	Bill Haas	68-71=139
	Kevin Stadler	68-71=139

Third round

Saturday, May 12, 2012

Place	Player	Score	To par
1	Kevin Na	67-69-68=204	−12
2	Matt Kuchar	68-68-69=205	−11
3	Rickie Fowler	72-69-66=207	−9
T4	Zach Johnson	70-66-73=209	−7
T4	Ben Curtis	68-71-70=209	−7
T6	Jhonattan Vegas	68-74-68=210	−6
	Brian Davis	68-70-72=210
	Jonathan Byrd	68-70-72=210
	Martin Laird	65-73-72=210
T10	Johnson Wagner	69-73-69=211	−5
	Bo Van Pelt	71-70-70=211
	Blake Adams	66-73-72=211
	Charlie Wi	71-67-73=211

Final round

Sunday, May 13, 2012

Champion
(c) = past champion

Place	Player	Score	To par	Money ($)
1	Matt Kuchar	68-68-69-70=275	−13	1,710,000
T2		68-71-70-68=277	−11	627,000
	72-69-66-70=277
	70-66-73-68=277
	65-73-72-67=277
6		72-69-72-66=279	−9	342,000
T7		67-69-68-76=280	−8	296,083
	71-70-70-69=280
	68-74-68-70=280
T10		71-72-69-69=281	−7	247,000
	69-74-73-65=281

Leaderboard below the top 10
Place	Player	Score	To par	Money ($)
T12		66-73-72-71=282	−6	199,500
	68-70-72-72=282
	70-73-70-69=282
T15		69-71-72-71=283	−5	137,987
	73-69-76-65=283
	73-71-71-68=283
	73-69-70-71=283
	74-68-72-69=283
	72-71-69-71=283
Adam Scott (c)	68-70-74-71=283
Henrik Stenson (c)	71-71-71-70=283
T23		72-71-71-70=284	−4	95,000
	75-66-72-71=284
T25	Tim Clark (c)	71-70-71-73=285	−3	66,547
	68-70-72-75=285
	72-70-72-71=285
	68-71-74-72=285
Phil Mickelson (c)	71-71-70-73=285
	69-75-70-71=285
	65-76-71-73=285
	72-72-69-72=285
	68-71-73-73=285
	71-67-73-74=285
T35		72-70-74-70=286	−2	46,835
	70-71-73-72=286
	70-71-71-74=286
	69-73-69-75=286
	71-70-71-74=286
T40		69-74-72-72=287	−1	37,050
	71-73-74-69=287
	72-72-70-73=287
	72-72-72-71=287
Tiger Woods (c)	74-68-72-73=287
45		73-70-73-72=288	E	31,350
T46		74-69-72-74=289	+1	26,334
	68-76-69-76=289
	71-72-71-75=289
	69-72-75-73=289
	71-71-76-71=289
T51		73-68-76-73=290	+2	22,496
	71-73-72-74=290
	76-68-75-71=290
	72-68-72-78=290
	68-71-75-76=290
T56	Sergio García (c)	73-71-68-79=291	+3	21,280
	72-72-72-75=291
	70-74-76-71=291
	71-72-78-70=291
	71-70-76-74=291
T61		72-72-75-73=292	+4	20,520
	75-68-72-77=292
	71-70-74-77=292
T64		71-72-78-72=293	+5	19,855
	70-67-79-77=293
	70-73-82-68=293
	73-70-78-72=293
T68		73-71-76-75=295	+7	19,285
	69-75-77-74=295
T70		71-73-76-76=296	+8	18,905
Justin Leonard (c)	75-68-74-79=296
72		73-71-77-76=297	+9	18,620
CUT		68-77=145	+1
	67-78=145
	73-72=145
	69-76=145
	70-75=145
	76-69=145
	74-71=145
	72-73=145
	72-73=145
	74-71=145
	71-74=145
	73-72=145
	74-71=145
	73-73=146	+2
	74-72=146
	69-77=146
Davis Love III (c)	72-74=146
	69-77=146
	73-73=146
	73-73=146
	75-71=146
	69-78=147	+3
	72-75=147
	73-74=147
	74-73=147
	73-74=147
	73-74=147
	78-69=147
	73-74=147
	72-75=147
	76-71=147
	73-74=147
	72-75=147
	73-74=147
	74-74=148	+4
	72-76=148
	74-74=148
	79-69=148
	72-76=148
	70-78=148
	80-68=148
	72-77=149	+5
	75-75=150	+6
	79-71=150
	71-79=150
	74-76=150
	76-74=150
	76-74=150
	77-73=150
K. J. Choi (c)	75-76=151	+7
	77-74=151
	73-78=151
	72-79=151
	74-77=151
	75-77=152	+8
	74-78=152
	73-79=152
	74-78=152
	75-77=152
	82-72=154	+10
	78-77=155	+11
	80-75=155
	79-77=156	+12
	79-78=157	+13
	76-82=158	+14
WD		72	E
	76	+4
	76
	78	+6


DQ		80	+8

^[3]

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
Kuchar	−10	−10	−10	−11	−11	−11	−11	−11	−12	−12	−12	−13	−13	−13	−13	−14	−13	−13
Curtis	−7	−7	−6	−7	−7	−7	−8	−6	−7	−8	−9	−10	−10	−10	−9	−10	−10	−11
Fowler	−10	−10	−10	−11	−9	−9	−8	−8	−8	−8	−9	−10	−10	−10	−9	−10	−11	−11
Johnson	−7	−9	−8	−9	−9	−9	−9	−9	−9	−9	−10	−10	−10	−11	−10	−11	−11	−11
Laird	−6	−7	−7	−7	−7	−7	−8	−8	−9	−9	−10	−11	−12	−11	−11	−12	−12	−11
Na	−12	−13	−13	−13	−12	−11	−11	−10	−9	−9	−10	−9	−8	−8	−8	−8	−8	−8

Cumulative tournament scores, relative to par

	Eagle		Birdie		Bogey		Double bogey		Triple bogey+ -->

Source:^[4]

External links

The Players Championship website

Notes and References

News: Matt Kuchar wins The Players . May 14, 2012 . ESPN . Associated Press . February 26, 2013 .
News: Steady Matt Kuchar wins Players Championship in Sawgrass by two shots . Lawrence . Donegan . May 13, 2012 . The Guardian . February 26, 2013.
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 .
Web site: Leaderboard: 2012 Players Championship . Golf Channel . August 9, 2015.