2018 Players Championship


The 2018 Players Championship was a professional golf tournament, held from May 10–13 at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. The flagship event of the PGA Tour, this was the 45th edition of The Players Championship, and the 37th edition held at the Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass. The tournament was won by Webb Simpson, four strokes ahead of three runners-up.
Defending champion Kim Si-woo opened with a five-under 67, but finished 15 strokes back, tied for 63rd place.
This was the twelfth consecutive Players Championship held in May; it returned to March in 2019.

Venue

Course layout

Field

The field consisted of 144 players meeting the following criteria. Each player is listed according to the first category by which he qualified with additional categories in which he qualified shown in parentheses.
;1. Winners of PGA Tour events since last Players
Ryan Armour, Daniel Berger, Patrick Cantlay, Austin Cook, Jason Day, Bryson DeChambeau, Jason Dufner, Brice Garnett, Billy Horschel, Dustin Johnson, Kim Si-woo, Kevin Kisner, Patton Kizzire, Satoshi Kodaira, Brooks Koepka, Andrew Landry, Marc Leishman, Hideki Matsuyama, Rory McIlroy, Phil Mickelson, Grayson Murray, Pat Perez, Scott Piercy, Ted Potter Jr., Ian Poulter, Jon Rahm, Patrick Reed, Justin Rose, Xander Schauffele, Jordan Spieth, Kyle Stanley, Brendan Steele, Henrik Stenson, Chris Stroud, Justin Thomas, Jhonattan Vegas, Bubba Watson, Gary Woodland
;2. Top 125 from previous season's FedEx Cup points list
An Byeong-hun, Blayne Barber, Ryan Blaum, Jonas Blixt, Dominic Bozzelli, Keegan Bradley, Scott Brown, Wesley Bryan, Rafael Cabrera-Bello, Chad Campbell, Bud Cauley, Kevin Chappell, Stewart Cink, Harris English, Derek Fathauer, Tony Finau, Martin Flores, Rickie Fowler, Sergio García, Robert Garrigus, Brian Gay, Lucas Glover, Branden Grace, Cody Gribble, Emiliano Grillo, Bill Haas, Adam Hadwin, James Hahn, Brian Harman, Russell Henley, J. J. Henry, Charley Hoffman, J. B. Holmes, Charles Howell III, Mackenzie Hughes, John Huh, Zach Johnson, Kang Sung-hoon, Michael Kim, Kim Meen-whee, Chris Kirk, Russell Knox, Jason Kokrak, Kelly Kraft, Matt Kuchar, Anirban Lahiri, Martin Laird, Danny Lee, David Lingmerth, Luke List, Jamie Lovemark, Ben Martin, William McGirt, Francesco Molinari, Ryan Moore, Kevin Na, Geoff Ogilvy, Sean O'Hair, Louis Oosthuizen, Rod Pampling, Pan Cheng-tsung, D. A. Points, Chez Reavie, Patrick Rodgers, Rory Sabbatini, Ollie Schniederjans, Charl Schwartzel, Adam Scott, Webb Simpson, Cameron Smith, Brandt Snedeker, J. J. Spaun, Scott Stallings, Robert Streb, Kevin Streelman, Steve Stricker, Hudson Swafford, Nick Taylor, Vaughn Taylor, Kevin Tway, Tyrone van Aswegen, Harold Varner III, Jimmy Walker, Nick Watney, Richy Werenski
;3. Top 125
Ryan Palmer, Michael Thompson
;4. Major champions from the past five years
Martin Kaymer, Danny Willett
;5. Players Championship winners from the past five years
Tiger Woods
;6. The Tour Championship winners from the past three years
;7. World Golf Championship winners from the past three years
Shane Lowry
;8. Memorial Tournament and Arnold Palmer Invitational winners from the past three years
;9. Top 50 from the Official World Golf Ranking
Kiradech Aphibarnrat, Ross Fisher, Matthew Fitzpatrick, Tommy Fleetwood, Tyrrell Hatton, Alexander Lévy, Li Haotong, Alex Norén
;10. Senior Players champion from prior year
Scott McCarron
;11. Web.com Tour money leader from prior season
Chesson Hadley
;12. Money leader during the Web.com Tour Finals
;13. Top 10 current year FedEx Cup points leaders
;14. Remaining positions and alternates filled through current year FedEx Cup standings
Brandon Harkins, Tom Hoge, Beau Hossler, Keith Mitchell, Trey Mullinax

Nationalities in the field

Round summaries

First round

Thursday, May 10, 2018
Kim Si-woo shot 67, the lowest first round score by a defending champion since the event moved to Florida; six players were a shot better at 66.
PlacePlayerCountryScoreTo par
T1Patrick Cantlay66−6
T1Chesson Hadley66−6
T1Dustin Johnson66−6
T1Matt Kuchar66−6
T1Alex Norén66−6
T1Webb Simpson66−6
T7Kim Si-woo67−5
T7Andrew Landry67−5
T7Keith Mitchell67−5
T7Rory Sabbatini67−5
T7Steve Stricker67−5
T7Jhonattan Vegas67−5

Second round

Friday, May 11, 2018
Webb Simpson tied the course record with a round of 63 to open up a five-shot lead. Simpson had six consecutive birdies on holes which also tied a tournament record. He was 11-under on his round until his tee shot found the water on the par-3 17th and made double bogey. His score of 129 after 36 holes tied Jason Day for the tournament record, while his five-shot lead set a new record.
For the second consecutive year, at least eighty players made the 36-hole cut, which invoked a 54-hole cut.
PlacePlayerCountryScoreTo par
1Webb Simpson66-63=129−15
T2Patrick Cantlay66-68=134−10
T2Danny Lee68-66=134−10
T2Charl Schwartzel68-66=134−10
T5Chesson Hadley66-69=135−9
T5Charles Howell III68-67=135−9
T5Alex Norén66-69=135−9
T8Jason Day69-67=136−8
T8Xander Schauffele68-68=136−8
T8Steve Stricker67-69=136−8

Third round

Saturday, May 12, 2018
PlacePlayerCountryScoreTo par
1Webb Simpson66-63-68=197−19
2Danny Lee68-66-70=204−12
3Dustin Johnson66-71-69=206−10
T4Jason Day69-67-71=207−9
T4Jason Dufner72-69-66=207−9
T4Xander Schauffele68-68-71=207−9
T4Charl Schwartzel68-66-73=207−9
T4Jimmy Walker69-68-70=207−9
T9Patrick Cantlay66-68-74=208−8
T9Tommy Fleetwood69-71-68=208−8
T9Matt Kuchar66-71-71=208−8
T9Ian Poulter70-69-69=208−8
T9Jordan Spieth75-68-65=208−8
T9Harold Varner III71-67-70=208−8
T9Tiger Woods72-71-65=208−8

Final round

Sunday, May 13, 2018

Scorecard

Final round
Hole123456789101112131415161718
Par453444435454344534
Simpson−19−19−19−19−19−19−20−19−19−18−19−19−19−19−19−20−20−18
Schauffele−9−10−10−11−11−11−10−10−11−11−12−13−13−13−13−13−13−14
Schwartzel−9−10−9−9−9−9−10−10−10−10−10−11−12−12−12−13−13−14
Walker−9−10−10−10−10−11−11−11−11−11−12−13−14−14−14−14−14−14
Day−9−10−10−11−11−11−11−11−13−13−13−13−13−13−13−13−13−13
Dufner−10−11−11−11−11−12−13−12−13−13−14−14−14−14−14−14−14−13
Lee−12−13−14−14−14−14−14−14−14−14−14−13−13−13−13−12−12−12
Woods−8−8−9−10−11−11−11−11−12−12−13−14−14−13−13−13−11−11

Cumulative tournament scores, relative to par