The PGA Tour continues its Florida Swing with one of, if not, the biggest non-major tournament of the 2024 season with this week’s Players Championship, taking place at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla.
The PGA Tour’s biggest stars are on hand for their championship, highlighted by last year’s Players Champions and World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, who headlines this week’s field.
Scheffler is coming off a victory on Sunday at the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Arnold Palmer’s Bay Hill Club and Lounge near Orlando, 150 miles south of TPC Sawgrass.
As the Arnold Palmer Invitational progressed, Scheffler’s dominance increased, highlighted by firing a bogey-free 6-under 66 in the final round to win for the second time in three years at Bay Hill.
In addition to the Arnold Palmer Invitational, Brice Garnett won the Puerto Rico Open last weekend for his first PGA Tour victory in six years. He defeated Erik Barnes on the fourth hole of sudden death. With the win, Garnett earned himself a spot in the Players Championship field.
As a result, Garnett and Scheffler lead a strong field heading into one of the most difficult courses on the PGA Tour this week at TPC Sawgrass.
TPC Sawgrass, which was built in 1980 and renovated in 2016, is a par-72 lasting 7,275 yards that is considered one of the trickiest layouts on the PGA Tour.
The PGA Tour schedule has seen tricky three-hole stretches and this week is no different. The final three holes – 16, 17 and 18 – are as demanding as it can get with water in play on all three holes. Hole 16 is a short par-5 that gives players a chance to reach the green in two, but the placement of the rough, the bunkers and an oak tree presents the challenges of going for an eagle.
The par-3 17th is one of the most famous holes on the PGA Tour as players have to hit their tee shot onto an island green that is mostly surrounded by water. Although the shot is only 137 yards, looking straight into water and the swirling winds make the shot even more deceiving.
The final hole is a dogleg left with water on the left from tee to green and players have to pinpoint their accuracy on one of the premier finishing holes on the PGA Tour.
Related: The Players Championship FAQ: What, when, where and more
What channel is The Players Championship on?
The Players Championship will be televised between NBC and the Golf Channel. This year marks the 50th iteration of The Players Championship and to celebrate that milestone, the broadcast duo of Roger Maltbie and Gary Koch will return this week after being behind the microphone together for NBC for more than 25 years before their careers ended in 2022.
Maltbie will be calling the action on the course on Thursday and Friday, while Koch will sit alongside Mike Tirico in the booth. Koch called the infamous “Better Than Most” Tiger Woods putt in 2001 that was 60 feet long and broke three different times.
Television schedule for The Players Championship
| Round | Date | Time (ET) | TV |
| 1 | Thursday Mar. 14 | 1:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. | Golf Channel |
| 2 | Friday Mar. 15 | 1:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. | Golf Channel |
| 3 | Saturday Mar. 16 | 2:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. | NBC |
| 4 | Sunday Mar. 17 | 1:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m. | NBC |
Other coverage for The Players Championship
In addition to NBC and the Golf Channel, The Players Championship will also be broadcasted on ESPN+ and Peacock. PGA Tour Live for the marquee and featured groups can be exclusively found on ESPN+, in addition to the featured holes around the course.
The Players Championship will also be on the airwaves of Sirius XM.
Thursday, March 14 (Round 1)
ESPN+: 7:30 a.m. – 7:00 p.m. ET
Peacock: 1:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. ET
Sirius XM: 12:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. ET
Friday, March 15 (Round 2)
ESPN+: 7:30 a.m. – 7:00 p.m. ET
Peacock: 12:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m. ET
Sirius XM: 12:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. ET
Saturday, March 16 (Round 3)
ESPN+: 8:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m. ET
Peacock: 2:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. ET
Sirius XM: 1:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. ET
Sunday, March 17 (Round 4)
ESPN+: 7:30 a.m. – 6:00 p.m. ET
Peacock: 1:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m. ET
Sirius XM: 1:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m. ET
How much are tickets for The Players Championship?
Tickets to walk the grounds for The Players Championship, called the Stadium Pass, begin at $97. Tickets for The Deck, which offers a premium view of the 16th and 18th holes, begin at $300. The Intracoastal Club is a new hospitality venue for 2024, which is located between the 12th and 13th holes. Prices for The Intracoastal Club begin at $230.
Up to two youths, ages 15 and under, will be admitted free with a ticketed adult all week. In addition, there are complimentary tickets for active duty, retired, reserve national guard members and veterans.
Payout for the 2024 Players Championship
The total purse for the event is set at $25 million and the winner will receive $4.5 million. In addition, the winner will receive 750 FedEx Cup points towards the season long standings.
The 750 FedEx Cup points is the highest amount that will be given out to a tournament winner this season, in addition to the four major tournaments – The Masters, PGA Championship, U.S. Open, Open Championship.
The winner also receives a five-year exemption on the PGA Tour and a three-year exemption into all four majors.
Also read: Payout for the Players Championship 2024: How it compares to other PGA Tour events
Who are some of the top golfers in The Players Championship?
Scheffler highlights the two main featured groups for the first two days of this week’s Players Championship, which will be the marquee group on ESPN+ through the first two days on Thursday and Friday.
Marquee Group No. 1: Scheffler, Rickie Fowler and Justin Thomas
Marquee Group No. 2: Rory McIlroy, Viktor Hovland, Jordan Spieth
As a result, that makes three of the top four players in the world – Scheffler, McIlroy and Hovland – headlining this event. All three members of each featured group have a common trait. Scheffler, Fowler and Thomas are past Players Championship winners in 2023, 2015 and 2021, respectively. McIlroy, Hovland and Spieth are FedEx Cup Champions. McIlory have has claimed three FedEx Cup titles in 2016, 2019 and 2022. Hovland is the reigning FedEx Cup Champion and Spieth won the FedEx Cup in 2015.
In addition, Scheffler, McIlroy and Hovland highlight nine of the top 10 in the Official World Golf Ranking that are in the field. After a runner-up finish at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, Wyndham Clark reached No. 5 for his highest mark in the world rankings.
Clark jumped Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay followed by Max Homa, Brian Harman and Ludvig Aberg rounding out the top 10. Since the Players Championship moved from August to March beginning in 2019, each of the last four winners at TPC Sawgrass resided inside the top 10 of the world rankings.
Related: The Players Championship winners by year
5 players who can hoist The Players Championship trophy on Sunday
Scottie Scheffler
Last week, Scheffler recorded his first official PGA Tour win in nearly a year when he won the Players Championship 12 months ago. This week, he is looking not only to win back-to-back events on the PGA Tour, but he is trying to become the first back-to-back Players Championship winner, having it not being done in the previous 48 tournaments.
The key for Scheffler last week was his putting as he led the field in strokes gained putting, shaving off 3.892 strokes, the fourth best mark of his career in that category during a single round. Earlier in the week, Scheffler changed to a TaylorMade Spider mallet putter to secure his second Arnold Palmer Invitational victory in three years. If he can get the putter going this week at TPC Sawgrass, no one can beat him on the course.
Wyndham Clark
Going off the theme of a top-10 player in the world having won the Players Championship each of the last four times, Clark gets the nod. As the runner up last week, he finished 10-under par, which was fueled by a 6-under 66 in Friday’s second round and led the field that day in birdies, strokes gained total, strokes gained putting and putts per green in regulation.
His second-place finish last week, elevated him to No. 2 in the FedEx Cup standings, only trailing Scheffler to an already strong 2024 season that also includes a victory at the weather-shortened AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am when he fired a final round 12-under 60 at the historic course.
Xander Schauffele
Schauffele rolls into the Players Championship having four top 10s in six events this season, including a T4 at The Genesis Invitational last month. He is coming off a T25 at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. The keys for Schauffele this week is with his driver and his putter.
Schauffele ranks third in strokes gained tee to green and eighth in both strokes gained total and strokes gained off the tee. However, he is only finding fairways 58.89% of the time, which ranks 102nd this season. On the putting surface, Schauffele ranks 108th in one-putt percentage, but ranks second in 3-putt avoidance, meaning he is executing his two putts well. If Schauffele s able to find fairways and one-putt, similar to Scheffler’s winning recipe last week at Bay Hill, the 2020 Olympic Gold Medalist is a player to wach come Sunday.
Will Zalatoris
If the stretch of top-10 players winning this event comes to an end on Sunday, Will Zalatoris has the opportunity to end that. Since missing the cut at the Sony Open in Hawaii in his first PGA Tour start since his back surgery last year, Zalatoris has not missed a cut, going T34 at The American Express, a T13 at the Farmers Insurance Open, a runner-up at The Genesis Invitational and a T4 last week at the Arnold Palmer Invitational.
Zalatoris has shown he has returned to form with his new putting stroke. He had an opportunity to win last weekend but struggled, like many, with a final round even par 72. In five events this season, Zalatoris is inside the top 10 in strokes gained total, tee to green and approach the green, which will all be critical this week when players go bridie hunting as the Wake Forest alum ranks fourth in par-3 scoring average this season, highlighted by his ace at The Genesis to win a car both for him and his caddie.
Justin Thomas
The 2021 Players Champion comes to TPC Sawgrass playing a lot better than what he did last season. Outside of his missed cut at The Genesis Invitational he has four top 15 finishes, including a T3 at The American Express and a T6 at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. Sandwiched between his missed cut, is a T12 at both the WM Phoenix Open and last week at Bay Hill.
Thomas also has the history of success on top of his win three years ago. In each of his eight trips to the Players Championship, Thomas has yet to miss a cut. No one else has more than five perfect trips without missing a cut, highlighted by Thomas placing third in 2016 and 11th in 2018.
The Players Championship pairings
All times ET; (FG) is Featured Group, (MG) is Marquee Group
| Round 1: 1 tee | Round 2: 10 tee | Players |
| 7:40 a.m. | 12:45 p.m. | Ryan Moore, Chesson Hadley, Zac Blair |
| 7:51 a.m. | 12:56 p.m. | Brandon Wu, Ben Taylor, Carson Young |
| 8:02 a.m. | 1:07 p.m. | Alex Noren, Thomas Detry, Joseph Bramlett |
| 8:13 a.m. | 1:18 p.m. | Camilo Villegas, Lee Hodges, Tom Hoge |
| 8:24 a.m. | 1:29 p.m. | Kurt Kitayama, Chad Ramey, Adam Schenk |
| 8:35 a.m. | 1:40 p.m. | Vincent Norrman, Sepp Straka, Chez Reavie |
| 8:48 a.m. | 1:51 p.m. | Brice Garnett, Russell Henley, Steve Stricker |
| 8:57 a.m. | 2:02 p.m. | Emiliano Grillo, Taylor Moore, Scott Stallings |
| 9:08 a.m. | 2:13 p.m. | Billy Horschel, Sungjae Im, Webb Simpson |
| 9:19 a.m. | 2:24 p.m. | Keegan Bradley, K.H. Lee, Adam Hadwin |
| 9:30 a.m. | 2:35 p.m. | David Lipsky, Justin Lower, Tyson Alexander |
| 9:41 a.m. | 2:46 p.m. | Robert MacIntyre, Ben Silverman, Ryo Hisatsune |
| Round 1: 10 tee | Round 2: 1 tee | Players |
| 7:40 a.m. | 12:45 p.m. | Troy Merritt, Taylor Pendrith, Taylor Montgomery |
| 7:51 a.m. | 12:56 p.m. | Michael Kim, Aaron Rai, Carl Yuan |
| 8:02 a.m. | 1:07 p.m. | Joel Dahmen, Christiaan Bezuidenhout, Min Woo Lee |
| 8:13 a.m. | 1:18 p.m. | Jason Day, Si Woo Kim, Matt Kuchar |
| 8:24 a.m. (FG) | 1:29 p.m. | Sam Burns, Xander Schauffele, Tommy Fleetwood |
| 8:35 a.m. (MG) | 1:40 p.m. (FG) | Viktor Hovland, Rory McIlroy, Jordan Spieth |
| 8:48 a.m. (FG) | 1:51 p.m. (FG) | Ludvig Aberg, Patrick Cantlay, Adam Scott |
| 8:57 a.m. | 2:02 p.m. | Nick Taylor, Tom Kim, Justin Rose |
| 9:08 a.m. | 2:13 p.m. | Erik van Rooyen, Lucas Glover, Brendon Todd |
| 9:19 a.m. | 2:24 p.m. | C.T. Pan, Kevin Streelman, Ryan Fox |
| 9:30 a.m. | 2:35 p.m. | Martin Laird, Justin Suh, Greyson Sigg |
| 9:41 a.m. | 2:46 p.m. | Nate Lashley, Robby Shelton, Ben Kohles |
| Round 1: 1 tee | Round 2: 10 tee | Players |
| 12:45 p.m. | 7:40 a.m. | Doug Ghim, Hayden Buckley, Kevin Yu |
| 12:56 p.m. | 7:51 a.m. | Peter Malnati, Beau Hossler, Alex Smalley |
| 1:07 p.m. | 8:02 a.m. | Cam Davis, Sam Ryder, Stephan Jaeger |
| 1:18 p.m. | 8:13 a.m. | Jake Knapp, Matthieu Pavon, Nick Dunlap |
| 1:29 p.m. (FG) | 8:24 a.m. (FG) | Hideki Matsuyama, Matt Fitzpatrick, Max Homa |
| 1:40 p.m. (FG) | 8:35 a.m. (MG) | Scottie Scheffler, Rickie Fowler, Justin Thomas |
| 1:51 p.m. | 8:48 a.m. (FG) | Wyndham Clark, Collin Morikawa, Brian Harman |
| 2:02 p.m. | 8:57 a.m. | Tony Finau, Will Zalatoris, Shane Lowry |
| 2:13 p.m. | 9:08 a.m. | Austin Eckroat, Sahith Theegala, Akshay Bhatia |
| 2:24 p.m. | 9:19 a.m. | Garrick Higgo, S.H. Kim, Andrew Novak |
| 2:35 p.m. | 9:30 a.m. | Ben Martin, Eric Cole, Harry Hall |
| 2:46 p.m. | 9:41 a.m. | Charley Hoffman, Sam Stevens, Sami Valimaki |
| Round 1: 10 tee | Round 2: 1 tee | Players |
| 12:45 p.m. | 7:40 a.m. | Byeong Hun An, Patrick Rodgers, Matti Schmid |
| 12:56 p.m. | 7:51 a.m. | Denny McCarthy, Matt NeSmith, Nicolai Hojgaard |
| 1:07 p.m. | 8:02 a.m. | Keith Mitchell, Mark Hubbard, Dylan Wu |
| 1:18 p.m. | 8:13 a.m. | Grayson Murray, Seamus Power, Francesco Molinari |
| 1:29 p.m. | 8:24 a.m. | Nick Hardy, Matt Wallace, Adam Svensson |
| 1:40 p.m. | 8:35 a.m. | Nico Echavarria, J.T. Poston, Harris English |
| 1:51 p.m. | 8:48 a.m. | Davis Riley, Corey Conners, J.J. Spaun |
| 2:02 p.m. | 8:57 a.m. | Luke List, Gary Woodland, Cameron Young |
| 2:13 p.m. | 9:08 a.m. | Chris Kirk, Mackenzie Hughes, Andrew Putnam |
| 2:24 p.m. | 9:19 a.m. | Aaron Baddeley, Ben Griffin, Davis Thompson |
| 2:35 p.m. | 9:30 a.m. | Tyler Duncan, Maverick McNealy, Callum Tarren |
| 2:46 p.m. | 9:41 a.m. | Chan Kim, David Skinns, Jimmy Stanger |