1987 Tournament Players Championship


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. Rains had softened the course and led to favorable scoring; the 36-hole cut of 143 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 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 while Lyle made his from to end it.
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

This was the sixth Tournament Players Championship held at the TPC at Sawgrass Stadium Course and it remained at.

Field

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

Round summaries

First round

Thursday, March 26, 1987
Friday, March 27, 1987
PlacePlayerCountryScoreTo par
1Steve Jones66−6
T2Bob Eastwood67−5
T2Brad Fabel67−5
T2Sandy Lyle67−5
T2Greg Norman67−5
T6Isao Aoki68−4
T6Paul Azinger68−4
T6Mark Brooks68−4
T6Hale Irwin68−4
T6Wayne Levi68−4
T6Blaine McCallister68−4
T6Mark O'Meara68−4
T6Chris Perry68−4
T6Dan Pohl68−4
T6Dave Rummells68−4
T6Gene Sauers68−4
T6Hal Sutton68−4

Source:

Second round

Friday, March 27, 1987
Saturday, March 28, 1987
PlacePlayerCountryScoreTo par
T1Steve Jones66-67=133−11
T1Mark O'Meara68-65=133−11
T3Dan Pohl68-66=134−10
T3Scott Simpson69-65=134−10
T5Brad Fabel67-68=135−9
T5Greg Norman67-68=135−9
T7Hale Irwin68-68=136−8
T7Tom Purtzer69-67=136−8
T7Jeff Sluman70-66=136−8
10Curt Byrum69-68=137−7

Source:

Third round

Saturday, March 28, 1987
PlacePlayerCountryScoreTo par
T1Mark O'Meara68-65-69=202−14
T1Scott Simpson69-65-68=202−14
T3Ben Crenshaw70-68-66=204−12
T3Sandy Lyle67-71-66=204−12
5Jeff Sluman70-66-69=205−11
6Paul Azinger68-70-68=206−10
6Bill Glasson69-69-68=206−10
6Greg Norman67-68-71=206−10
9Nick Price71-68-68=207−9
10Tom Purtzer69-67-72=208−8

Source:

Final round

Sunday, March 29, 1987
On the 72nd hole, Lyle and Sluman both made birdie putts to finish at 274 and advanced to the playoff.

Playoff

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