2015 Players Championship Explained

2015 Players Championship
Dates:May 7–10, 2015
Location:Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida
Course:TPC Sawgrass,
Stadium Course
Tour:PGA Tour
Par:72
Field:144 players, 75 after cut
Cut:144 (Even)
Purse:$10.0 million
Winners Share:$1.80 million
Champion: Rickie Fowler
Score:276 (−12), playoff
Map:USA#USA Florida
Map Relief:yes
Map Label:TPC Sawgrass
Coordinates:30.198°N -81.394°W
Previous:2014
Next:2016

The 2015 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 42nd Players Championship.

Rickie Fowler won the tournament, beating Kevin Kisner and Sergio García in a playoff.[1] [2] [3]

Trailing by five shots with six holes to play, Fowler played them at six-under-par, going birdie-par-birdie-eagle-birdie-birdie to force a playoff.[4] [5] After the three-hole aggregate playoff (holes 16–18) ended with Kisner and Fowler still tied, they returned to the 17th for sudden-death. Fowler put his tee shot to 5feet on the island green 17th, and made birdie to win.[6] [7] [8]

Defending champion Martin Kaymer finished twelve strokes back at even par, tied for 56th place.

Venue

See main article: article and TPC at Sawgrass. This was the 34th Players Championship held at the TPC at Sawgrass Stadium Course and it remained at .

Course layout

Field

The field consisted of 144 players meeting the following criteria:

1. Winners of PGA Tour events since last PlayersBae Sang-moon (2), Ángel Cabrera (2), Alex Čejka, Ben Crane (2), Jason Day (2,6,8,12), Matt Every (2,8), Jim Furyk (2,8), Bill Haas (2,8), James Hahn (2), Brian Harman (2), Pádraig Harrington, Charley Hoffman (2,8,12), J. B. Holmes (2,8,12), Billy Horschel (2,7,8), Dustin Johnson (2,6,8,12), Martin Kaymer (2,4,5,8), Chris Kirk (2,8), Brooks Koepka (8), Hunter Mahan (2,8), Ben Martin (2), Hideki Matsuyama (2,8,12), Rory McIlroy (2,4,6,8), Ryan Moore (2,8,12), Geoff Ogilvy (2), Patrick Reed (2,6,8,12), Justin Rose (2,4,8), Adam Scott (2,4,8), Brandt Snedeker (2,7,8), Jordan Spieth (2,4,8,12), Robert Streb (2), Kevin Streelman (2), Nick Taylor, Brendon Todd (2,8), Camilo Villegas (2), Jimmy Walker (2,8,12), Bubba Watson (2,4,6,8,12)
2. Top 125 from previous season's FedEx Cup points listRobert Allenby, Aaron Baddeley, Ricky Barnes, Jonas Blixt, Jason Bohn, Steven Bowditch, Keegan Bradley (4,6,8), Scott Brown, Paul Casey (8), Kevin Chappell, K. J. Choi (5), Stewart Cink, Erik Compton, Brian Davis, Brendon de Jonge, Graham DeLaet, Luke Donald, Jason Dufner (4), Ernie Els (4), Harris English, Gonzalo Fernández-Castaño, Martin Flores, Rickie Fowler (8), Sergio García (8), Brice Garnett, Robert Garrigus, Retief Goosen, Luke Guthrie, Chesson Hadley, David Hearn, Russell Henley (8), Morgan Hoffmann, Charles Howell III, John Huh, Billy Hurley III, Ryo Ishikawa, Freddie Jacobson, Zach Johnson (8), Matt Jones, Jerry Kelly, Kevin Kisner, Russell Knox, Jason Kokrak, Matt Kuchar (5,6,8), Scott Langley, Danny Lee, Marc Leishman, Justin Leonard, Will MacKenzie, Graeme McDowell (4,8), William McGirt, George McNeill, Troy Merritt, Phil Mickelson (4,8), Bryce Molder, Kevin Na (8), Noh Seung-yul, Louis Oosthuizen (4,8), Jeff Overton, Ryan Palmer (8), Pat Perez, Carl Pettersson, Ian Poulter (6,8), Michael Putnam, Andrés Romero, Rory Sabbatini, Charl Schwartzel (4,8), John Senden, Webb Simpson (4,8), Vijay Singh, Scott Stallings, Brendan Steele, Shawn Stefani, Henrik Stenson (7,8), Steve Stricker, Chris Stroud, Brian Stuard, Daniel Summerhays, Andrew Svoboda, Michael Thompson, David Toms, Cameron Tringale, Bo Van Pelt, Jhonattan Vegas, Nick Watney, Boo Weekley, Lee Westwood (8), Tim Wilkinson, Gary Woodland
3. Top 125 from current season - Medical ExtensionSpencer Levin, Scott Piercy
4. Major champions from the past five yearsDarren Clarke
5. Players Championship winners from the past five yearsTiger Woods (6)
6. WGC winners from the past three years
7. The Tour Championship winners from the past three years
8. Top 50 from the Official World Golf RankingJamie Donaldson, Stephen Gallacher, Branden Grace, Thongchai Jaidee, Anirban Lahiri, Shane Lowry, Joost Luiten, Bernd Wiesberger, Danny Willett
9. Senior Players champion from prior yearBernhard Langer
10. Web.com Tour money leader from prior seasonAdam Hadwin
11. Money leader during the Web.com Tour FinalsDerek Fathauer
12. Top 10 current year FedEx Cup points leaders
13. Remaining positions and alternates filled through current year FedEx Cup standingsDaniel Berger, Sean O'Hair, Justin Thomas

Round summaries

First round

Thursday, May 7, 2015

PlacePlayerScoreTo par
T1 67 −5
Charley Hoffman
Hideki Matsuyama
Kevin Na
T5 68 −4
Billy Horschel
Charles Howell III
Ben Martin
Troy Merritt
Brendon Todd

Second round

Friday, May 8, 2015

PlacePlayerScoreTo par
T1 71-65=136 −8
67-69=136
T3 69-69=138 −6
71-67=138
67-71=138
70-68=138
T7 72-67=139 −5
72-67=139
71-68=139
68-71=139
68-71=139
70-69=139

Third round

Saturday, May 9, 2015

PlacePlayerScoreTo par
1 70-68-68=206 −10
T2 72-67-68=207 −9
73-67-67=207
68-71-68=207
T5 72-67-69=208 −8
69-72-67=208
67-71-70=208
71-65-72=208
67-69-72=208
73-70-65=208

Final round

Sunday, May 10, 2015

Champion
(c) = past champion
PlacePlayerScoreTo parMoney ($)
T1 69-69-71-67=276 −12 Playoff
Sergio García (c) 69-72-67-68=276
73-67-67-69=276
T4 72-67-68-70=277 −11 440,000
68-71-68-70=277
T6 67-69-72-71=279 −9 347,500
70-71-69-69=279
T8 70-72-71-67=280 −8 270,000
71-69-70-70=280
71-69-69-71=280
69-71-70-70=280
73-70-67-70=280
[9]

Scorecard

Final round

Hole123456789101112131415161718
Par453444435454344534
Fowler −6−6−6−6−6−6−7−7−7−6−6−6−7−7−8−10−11−12
García −7−8−8−9−10−11−11−11−11−11−11−11−11−10−10−11−12−12
Kisner −9−10−10−9−8−9−9−9−9−9−9−10−10−10−10−11−12−12
Haas −9−9−10−10−10−10−9−8−7−8−8−8−8−9−10−11−11−11
Martin −9−10−10−10−9−9−9−9−8−9−10−10−10−9−10−11−12−11
Na −8−8−8−6−6−7−8−8−8−8−8−8−8−9−9−10−10−9
Sabbatini −6−6−6−6−6−7−7−7−7−8−8−8−8−8−8−8−9−9
Kirk −10−10−10−9−8−8−9−9−9−9−9−9−9−8−7−7−7−7
Cumulative tournament scores, relative to par
EagleBirdieBogeyDouble bogeyTriple bogey+ -->
Source:[10]

Playoff

The playoff was the first at The Players to use the three-hole aggregate format, adopted the prior year, which began at par-5 16th hole. After the three holes, Fowler and Kisner were tied, but García missed his birdie putt on 18 to continue and was eliminated. The same three holes were scheduled for sudden-death, but started at the par-3 17th, which both had birdied twice Sunday. Fowler birdied it again (his fifth on the 17th hole in six attempts for the week) to win the title.[1] The birdies were a first for the Players; its four previous playoffs, all sudden-death, had no under-par scoring.

PlacePlayerCountryThree-holeSudden-deathMoney ($)
Score To par Score To par
1 Rickie Fowler 5-2-4=11 −1 2 −1 1,800,000
T2 5-2-4=11 −1 3 E 880,000
5-3-5=13 +1  

Source:[10]

Scorecard
Hole16171817
Par5343
Fowler E−1−1−2
Kisner E−1−1−1
García EE+1 
Cumulative playoff scores, relative to par
BirdieBogey
Source:[8] [10]

External links

Notes and References

  1. News: Rickie Fowler rallies, overcomes 2 in playoff to claim Players . ESPN . Associated Press . May 11, 2015 . May 2, 2017.
  2. News: Rickie Fowler outlasts logjam to win Players Championship . May 11, 2015 . New York Times . May 12, 2015.
  3. News: Rickie Fowler wins title after superb finish . May 11, 2015 . BBC Sport . May 12, 2015.
  4. News: 'Overrated' Fowler wins The Players Championship in playoff . Palm Beach Post . (Florida) . Biggane . Brian . May 10, 2015 . May 2, 2017.
  5. News: Rickie Fowler answers critics by winning the Players Championship . Los Angeles Times . Thompson . Edgar . May 10, 2015 . May 2, 2017.
  6. News: Unequaled finish earns Fowler PLAYERS Championship . PGA Tour . Associated Press . May 10, 2015 . May 2, 2017.
  7. The Players a player . Sports Illustrated . Bamberger . Michael . May 18, 2015. May 2, 2017.
  8. Rickie Fowler wins Players Championship in playoff . GOLF . Morfit . Cameron . May 11, 2015 . May 2, 2017.
  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 .
  10. Web site: The Players Championship . ESPN . (Golf) . May 10, 2015 . May 2, 2017.

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