The ‘fifth major’ tag may ring a little hollow with two of the current four major champions not in the field, but The Players Championship remains the marquee tournament on the PGA Tour schedule.
The iconic Pete Dye-designed Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass has thrown up some of the best non-major moments of the past 50 years, including that “better than most” putt by Tiger Woods on the famous island-green 17th, and this year’s winner will walk away with $4.5 million, making it the most financially lucrative prize in golf, excluding the Tour Championship which sees staggered scoring and one player starting with at least a two-shot advantage and 10 shots on some.
And as always, the PGA Tour look to mark their flagship event by providing marquee pairings on days one and two, and both Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry have been identified as two of the big names in the field and handed groupings to reflect.
McIlroy is a former champion having won in 2019, while Lowry is on a hot run of form having finished fourth and third in his last two PGA Tour starts and has recent course form at Sawgrass including an eighth-placed finish in 2021.
McIlroy joins Viktor Hovland and Jordan Spieth in what will be the marquee group featured on early PGA Tour Live coverage on Thursday, and while Lowry’s group isn’t among the three singled out for special coverage on Friday morning, he’ll join Will Zalatoris and Tony Finau two groups behind the Friday marquee threeball of Scottie Scheffler, Justin Thomas and Rickie Fowler and directly behind a trio of major champions in Wyndham Clark, Collin Morikawa and Brian Harman.
Seamus Power completes the Irish lineup and he goes off alongside Grayson Murray and Francesco Molinari.
Thursday Tee-times
Hole #1
| 7:40 AM — Ryan Moore, Chesson Hadley,Zac Blair |
| 7:51 AM — Brandon Wu, Ben Taylor, Carson Young |
| 8:02 AM — Alex Noren, Thomas Detry, Joseph Bramlett |
| 8:13 AM — Camilo Villegas, Lee Hodges, Tom Hoge |
| 8:24 AM — Kurt Kitayama, Chad Ramey, Adam Schenk |
| 8:35 AM — Vincent Norrman, Sepp Straka, Chez Reavie |
| 8:46 AM — Brice Garnett, Russell Henley, Steve Stricker |
| 8:57 AM — Emiliano Grillo, Taylor Moore, Scott Stallings |
| 9:08 AM — Billy Horschel, Sungjae Im, Webb Simpson |
| 9:19 AM — Keegan Bradley, K.H. Lee, Adam Hadwin |
| 9:30 AM — David Lipsky, Justin Lower, Tyson Alexander |
| 9:41 AM — Robert MacIntyre, Ben Silverman, Ryo Hisatsune |
| 12:45 PM — Doug Ghim, Hayden Buckley, Kevin Yu |
| 12:56 PM — Peter Malnati, Beau Hossler, Alex Smalley |
| 1:07 PM — Cam Davis, Sam Ryder, Stephan Jaeger |
| 1:18 PM — Jake Knapp, Matthieu Pavon, Nick Dunlap |
| 1:29 PM — Hideki Matsuyama, Matt Fitzpatrick, Max Homa |
| 1:40 PM — Scottie Scheffler, Rickie Fowler, Justin Thomas |
| 1:51 PM — Wyndham Clark, Collin Morikawa, Brian Harman |
| 2:02 PM — Tony Finau, Will Zalatoris, Shane Lowry |
| 2:13 PM — Austin Eckroat, Sahith Theegala, Akshay Bhatia |
| 2:24 PM — Garrick Higgo, S.H. Kim, Andrew Novak |
| 2:35 PM — Ben Martin, Eric Cole, Harry Hall |
| 2:46 PM — Charley Hoffman, Sam Stevens, Sami Valimaki |
Hole #10
| 7:40 AM — Troy Merritt, Taylor Pendrith, Taylor Montgomery |
| 7:51 AM — Michael Kim, Aaron Rai, Carl Yuan |
| 8:02 AM — Joel Dahmen, Christiaan Bezuidenhout, Min Woo Lee |
| 8:13 AM — Jason Day, Si Woo Kim, Matt Kuchar |
| 8:24 AM — Sam Burns, Xander Schauffele, Tommy Fleetwood |
| 8:35 AM — Viktor Hovland, Rory McIlroy, Jordan Spieth |
| 8:46 AM — Ludvig Åberg, Patrick Cantlay, Adam Scott |
| 8:57 AM — Nick Taylor, Tom Kim, Justin Rose |
| 9:08 AM — Erik van Rooyen, Lucas Glover, Brendon Todd |
| 9:19 AM — C.T. Pan, Kevin Streelman, Ryan Fox |
| 9:30 AM — Martin Laird, Justin Suh, Greyson Sigg |
| 9:41 AM — Nate Lashley, Robby Shelton, Ben Kohles |
| 12:45 PM — Byeong Hun An, Patrick Rodgers, Matti Schmid |
| 12:56 PM — Denny McCarthy, Matt NeSmith, Nicolai Højgaard |
| 1:07 PM — Keith Mitchell, Mark Hubbard, Dylan Wu |
| 1:18 PM — Grayson Murray, Seamus Power, Francesco Molinari |
| 1:29 PM — Nick Hardy, Matt Wallace, Adam Svensson |
| 1:40 PM — Nico Echavarria, J.T. Poston, Harris English |
| 1:51 PM — Davis Riley, Corey Conners, J.J. Spaun |
| 2:02 PM — Luke List, Gary Woodland, Cameron Young |
| 2:13 PM — Chris Kirk, Mackenzie Hughes, Andrew Putnam |
| 2:24 PM — Aaron Baddeley, Ben Griffin, Davis Thompson |
| 2:35 PM — Tyler Duncan, Maverick McNealy, Callum Tarren |
| 2:46 PM — Chan Kim, David Skinns, Jimmy Stanger |
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