Site: Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida.
Course: TPC Sawgrass (Players Stadium). Yardage: 7,256. Par: 72.
Prize money: $25 million. Winner’s share: $4.5 million.
Television: Thursday-Friday, noon to 6 p.m. (Golf Channel); Saturday-Sunday, 1-6 p.m. (NBC).
Previous winner: Cameron Smith.
FedEx Cup leader: Jon Rahm.
Last week: Kurt Kitayama won the Arnold Palmer Invitational.
Notes: The PGA Tour’s premier event offers a $25 million purse, the richest in golf for stroke play. … Defending champion Cameron Smith is not playing because the PGA Tour suspended him for joining Saudi-funded LIV Golf. The runner-up (Anirban Lahiri) and third-place finisher from last year (Paul Casey) also joined LIV. … The field features every PGA Tour member from the top 50 in the world ranking. … No one has ever won back to back at The Players Championship. … Seventeen players who made the cut last year at The Players are now with LIV Golf. … The winner gets $4.5 million, which is more than the entire purse from 25 years ago. … Tiger Woods has decided not to play, meaning he likely won’t be seen again until the Masters. … This is the final event for players to qualify for the 64-man field at the WGC-Dell Match Play in two weeks. Because of LIV defections and those not playing, it could dip down to the high 70s in the ranking to get in. … The winner gets a three-year invitation to the majors. … Woods, Jason Day and Greg Norman are the only players to win The Players Championship as No. 1 in the world.
Next week: Valspar Championship.
Online: https://www.pgatour.com/
