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No Tiger Woods, but there’s enough star power in the 2024 Players Championship field

garry smits, jacksonville florida times-union
·4 min read

Tiger Woods won’t be at the Players Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass for next week’s Players Championship March 14-17.

That means First Coast golf fans might have seen the last of the 82-time PGA Tour winner and two-time Players Champion, unless he plays on good buddy Jim Furyk’s PGA Champions Tour event, the Constellation Furyk & Friends, in 2026, after Woods turns 50 years old.

However, there’s always enough star power at The Players. When the final commitment list was released by the PGA Tour at 5 p.m. on Friday, nine of the top-10 players in the world had signed up for the annual Stadium Course test, led by world No. 1-ranked Scottie Scheffler, the defending champion.

Scottie Scheffler walks past the gallery watching action on the 17th hole of the Players Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass during the final round of his 2023 victory at The Players.
Scottie Scheffler walks past the gallery watching action on the 17th hole of the Players Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass during the final round of his 2023 victory at The Players.

Also playing are No. 2 Rory McIlroy, the 2019 Players champion), No. 4 Viktor Hovland, the defending FedEx Cup champion, No. 5 Xander Schauffele, No. 6 Patrick Cantlay, No. 7 Wyndham Clark, No. 8 Max Homa, No. 9 Matthew Fitzpatrick and No. 10 Brian Harman of St. Simons Island, Ga.

Woods has not played since the Genesis Invitational, his first start since undergoing ankle fusion surgery in the spring of 2023. He withdrew in the second round because of the flu.

Woods said in December he wanted to play once a month leading up to the Masters on April 11-14 but has let the first three tournaments of the Florida Swing go by without playing.

Players missing four top-50 LIV members

Based on the current World Golf Ranking entering this week’s Arnold Palmer Invitational, The Players will have 18 of the top 20 players, 46 of the top 50, and 85 of the top 100.

Players on the LIV Golf League are still under suspension by the PGA Tour, which means world No. 3 Jon Rahm, No. 17 Tyrell Hatton, No. 30 Brooks Koepka and No. 50 Cameron Smith of Ponte Vedra Beach, the 2022 Players champion, won’t be in the field.

Can Tiger Woods ever enter The Players again?

Woods was in his final year of eligibility for The Players based on his 2019 Masters victory. Major champions get a five-year exemption.

Unless a new category is created, Woods is not currently eligible for the 2025 Players. Among the ways he can get back in: winning a PGA Tour event over the next 12 calendar months or finishing the 2024 season within the top 125 on the FedEx Cup points list.

Players Championship field

Ludwig Aberg, Tyson Alexander, Byeyong Hun An.

Aaron Baddeley, Christiaan Bezuidenhout, Akshay Bhatia, Alexander Bork, Zac Blair, Keegan Bradley, Joseph Bramlett, Hayden Buckley, Sam Burns.

Patrick Cantlay, Wyndham Clark, Eric Cole, Corey Conners.

Joel Dahmen, Cam Davis, Jason Day, Thomas Destry, Tyler Duncan, Nick Dunlap.

Nico Echavarria, Austin Eckroat, Harris English.

Tony Finau, Matt Fitzpatrick, Tommy Fleetwood, Rickie Fowler, Ryan Fox.

Doug Ghim, Lucas Glover, Will Gordon, Ben Griffin, Emiliano Grillo.

Chesson Hadley, Adam Hadwin, Harry Hall, Nick Hardy, Brian Harman, Russell Henley, Garrick Higgo, Ryo Hisatsune, Lee Hodges, Charley Hoffman, Tom Hoge, Nicolai Hojgaard, Max Homa, Billy Horschel, Beau Hossler, Viktor Hovland, Mark Hubbard, Mackenzie Hughes.

Sungjae Im.

Stephan Jaeger.

Chan Kim, Michael Kim, S.H. Kim, Si Woo Kim, Tom Kim, Chris Kirk, Kurt Kitiyama, Jake Knapp, Ben Kohles, Matt Kuchar.

Martin Laird, Nate Lashley, K.H. Lee, Min Woo Lee, David Lipsky, Luke List, Justin Lower, Shane Lowry.

Robert McIntyre, Peter Malnati, Ben Martin, Hideki Matsuyama, Denny McCarthy, Rory McIlroy, Maverick McNealy, Troy Merritt, Keith Mitchell, Francesco Molinari, Taylor Montgomery, Ryan Moore, Taylor Moore, Collin Morikawa, Grayson Murray.

Matt NeSmith, Alex Noren, Vincent Norrman, Andrew Novak.

C.T. Pan, Matthieu Paton, Taylor Pendrith, J.T. Poston, Seamus Power, Adam Putnam.

Aaron Rai, Chad Ramey, Chez Reavie, Davis Riley, Patrick Rodgers, Justin Rose, Sam Ryder.

Xander Schauffele, Scottie Scheffler, Adam Schenk, Matti Schmid, Adam Scott, Robby Shelton, Greyson Sigg, Ben Silverman, Webb Simpson, David Skinns, Alex Smalley, J.J. Spaun, Jordan Spieth, Scott Stallings, Jimmy Stanger, Sam Stevens, Sepp Straka, Kevin Streelman, Steve Stricker, Justin Suh, Adam Svensson.

Callum Tarren, Ben Taylor, Nick Taylor, Saihith Theegala, Justin Thomas, Davis Thompson, Brendon Todd.

Sami Valimaki, Erik van Rooyen, Camilo Villegas.

Matt Wallace, Gary Woodland, Brandon Wu, Dylan Wu.

Cameron Young, Carson Young, Kevin Yu, Carl Yuan.

Will Zalatoris.

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Defending champion, world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler leads Players field