1977 Tournament Players Championship


The 1977 Tournament Players Championship was a golf tournament in Florida on the PGA Tour, held at Sawgrass Country Club in Ponte Vedra Beach, southeast of Jacksonville. The fourth Tournament Players Championship, it was the first of five consecutive at Sawgrass, which had agreed a multi-year with the PGA Tour in 1976.
Mark Hayes was the champion in windy conditions at 289, two strokes ahead of runner-up McCullough and Tom Watson were the co-leaders after the third round, with Hayes Defending champion Jack Nicklaus finished four strokes back, in a tie for fifth place.
Bob Menne set the tour's 72-hole record for fewest putts with 99, but tied for 47th at 303 . The record had been 102 putts, by Bert Yancey in 1966 at his victory in the final Portland Open Invitational.

Venue

This was the first of five Tournament Players Championships held at Sawgrass Country Club; it moved to the nearby TPC at Sawgrass Stadium Course in 1982. The venues for the first three editions in Georgia, Texas, and south Florida were familiar to most of the participants as those courses had recently hosted multiple PGA Tour events; this was the first tour event at Sawgrass.

Past champions in the field

Made the cut

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Missed the cut

Round summaries

First round

Thursday, March 17, 1977
PlacePlayerCountryScoreTo par
1Mike McCullough66−6
T3Don Bies68−4
T3Raymond Floyd68−4
T3Tom Watson68−4
T6Bruce Devlin69−3
T6Bill Kratzert69−3
T6Ed Sabo69−3
T6J. C. Snead69−3
T10Hubert Green71−1
T10Peter Oosterhuis71−1
T10John Schroeder71−1

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Second round

Friday, March 18, 1977
PlacePlayerCountryScoreTo par
1Mike McCullough66-74=140−4
2Tom Watson68-74=142−2
T3Raymond Floyd68-76=144E
T3Bob E. Smith73-71=144E
5J. C. Snead69-76=145+1
6Mark Hayes72-74=146+2
T7Jack Nicklaus73-74=147+3
T7Bill Rogers75-72=147+3
T7Tom Weiskopf75-72=147+3
T7Larry Ziegler74-73=147+3

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Third round

Saturday, March 19, 1977
PlacePlayerCountryScoreTo par
T1Mike McCullough66-74-76=216E
T1Tom Watson68-74-74=216E
3Mark Hayes72-74-71=217+1
T4Raymond Floyd68-76-74=218+2
T4Hale Irwin72-77-69=218+2
6Jack Nicklaus73-74-72=219+3
T7Bruce Devlin69-79-72=220+4
T7J. C. Snead69-76-75=220+4
T9Danny Edwards75-76-70=221+5
T9Tom Jenkins75-75-71=221+5
T9Larry Nelson74-74-73=221+5

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Final round

Sunday, March 20, 1977
PlacePlayerCountryScoreTo parMoney
1Mark Hayes72-74-71-72=289+160,000
2Mike McCullough66-74-76-75=291+334,200
T3Bruce Devlin69-79-72-72=292+417,700
T3Hale Irwin72-77-69-74=292+417,700
T5Graham Marsh73-77-72-71=293+510,900
T5Jack Nicklaus73-74-72-74=293+510,900
T5Tom Watson68-74-74-77=293+510,900
T8Steve Melnyk73-76-73-72=294+68,150
T8Larry Nelson74-74-73-73=294+68,150
T8Bill Rogers75-72-76-71=294+68,150

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