1981 Tournament Players Championship


The 1981 Tournament Players Championship was a golf tournament in Florida on the PGA Tour, held March 19–23 at Sawgrass Country Club in Ponte Vedra Beach, southeast of Jacksonville. The eighth Tournament Players Championship, it was the fifth consecutive at Sawgrass and the champion was Raymond Floyd.
The final round on Sunday was washed-out by thunderstorms and played on Monday.
After 72 holes, three players were tied at 285 : Floyd, Barry Jaeckel, and Curtis Strange. The playoff began at the par-3 15th hole, where Floyd made par and the other two had bogeys.
In addition to the winner's share of $72,000, Floyd won a $250,000 bonus for consecutive victories during the tour's Florida swing; he won at Doral near Miami the previous week.
Defending champion Lee Trevino finished four strokes back, in a tie for twelfth place.

Venue

This was the fifth and last Tournament Players Championship held at Sawgrass Country Club; it moved to the nearby TPC at Sawgrass Stadium Course in 1982. The new course was scheduled to make its debut in 1981, but heavy rains during construction pushed it back a year.

Field

, Bud Allin, Wally Armstrong, Butch Baird, Seve Ballesteros, Miller Barber, Andy Bean, Chip Beck, Mike Brannan, Brad Bryant, George Burns, George Cadle, Rex Caldwell, Bill Calfee, Roger Calvin, Antonio Cerda Jr., Jon Chaffee, Bobby Clampett, Jim Colbert, Bobby Cole, Frank Conner, Charles Coody, John Cook, Ben Crenshaw, Rod Curl, Jim Dent, Bruce Devlin, Terry Diehl, Mike Donald, Bruce Douglass, Skip Dunaway, Bob Eastwood, Danny Edwards, David Edwards, Dave Eichelberger, Lee Elder, Keith Fergus, Ed Fiori, Raymond Floyd, John Fought, Buddy Gardner, Gibby Gilbert, Bob Gilder, Jaime Gonzalez, Mike Gove, David Graham, Lou Graham, Hubert Green, Jay Haas, Joe Hager, Gary Hallberg, Dan Halldorson, Phil Hancock, Morris Hatalsky, Mark Hayes, Vance Heafner, Dave Hill, Lon Hinkle, Scott Hoch, Joe Inman, Hale Irwin, Peter Jacobsen, Barry Jaeckel, Tom Jenkins, Grier Jones, Gary Koch, Billy Kratzert, Wayne Levi, Bruce Lietzke, Gene Littler, Lyn Lott, Mark Lye, John Mahaffey, Roger Maltbie, Rik Massengale, Terry Mauney, Mike McCullough, Mark McCumber, Jerry McGee, Pat McGowan, Artie McNickle, Steve Melnyk, Johnny Miller, Jeff Mitchell, Gil Morgan, Mike Morley, Bob Murphy, Jim Nelford, Larry Nelson, Jack Newton, Bobby Nichols, Jack Nicklaus, Mike Nicolette, Lonnie Nielsen, Andy North, Mark O'Meara, Peter Oosterhuis, Arnold Palmer, Jerry Pate, Calvin Peete, Mark Pfeil, Gary Player, Dan Pohl, Don Pooley, Greg Powers, Tom Purtzer, Dana Quigley, Sammy Rachels, Victor Regalado, Mike Reid, Jack Renner, Chi Chi Rodriguez, Bill Rogers, Mark Rohde, John Schroeder, Bob Shearer, Jim Simons, Scott Simpson, Tim Simpson, J. C. Snead, Ed Sneed, Mick Soli, Craig Stadler, Dave Stockton, Curtis Strange, Ron Streck, Mike Sullivan, Alan Tapie, Doug Tewell, Barney Thompson, Leonard Thompson, Jim Thorpe, Lee Trevino, Howard Twitty, Tommy Valentine, Bobby Wadkins, Lanny Wadkins, Bobby Walzel, Tom Watson, D. A. Weibring, Tom Weiskopf, Larry Ziegler, Fuzzy Zoeller

Round summaries

First round

Thursday, March 20, 1981
PlacePlayerCountryScoreTo par
T1Dave Eichelberger68−4
T1Mike Morley68−4
T3Jim Dent69−3
T3Barry Jaeckel69−3
T5Dan Halldorson70−2
T5Mike Sullivan70−2
T7Gary Hallberg71−1
T7Roger Maltbie71−1
T7Johnny Miller71−1
T7Gil Morgan71−1
T7Mark O'Meara71−1
T7Tom Purtzer71−1
T7Leonard Thompson71−1

Source:

Second round

Friday, March 20, 1981
PlacePlayerCountryScoreTo par
1Barry Jaeckel69-70=139−5
T2Danny Edwards72-68=140−4
T2Dan Halldorson70-70=140−4
4Jim Simons73-68=141−3
5Jim Dent69-73=142−2
T6John Mahaffey73-70=143−1
T6Jack Nicklaus75-68=143−1
T8Dave Eichelberger68-76=144E
T8Gary Hallberg71-73=144E
T8Mark O'Meara71-73=144E
T8Dan Pohl72-72=144E
T8Tom Purtzer71-73=144E
T8Curtis Strange72-72=144E

Source:

Third round

Saturday, March 21, 1981
PlacePlayerCountryScoreTo par
1Barry Jaeckel69-70-72=211−5
T2Dan Halldorson70-70-74=214−2
T2John Mahaffey73-70-71=214−2
T2Jim Simons73-68-73=214−2
5Curtis Strange72-72-71=215−1
T6Jim Colbert78-69-69=216E
T6Frank Conner74-72-70=216E
T6Gary Hallberg71-73-72=216E
T6Bruce Lietzke73-75-68=216E
T6Mark O'Meara71-73-72=216E
T6Lee Trevino73-73-70=216E

Source:

Final round

Monday, March 23, 1981

Playoff

The sudden-death playoff began and ended at the par-3 15th hole.
PlacePlayerCountryScoreTo parMoney
1Raymond Floyd3E72,000
T2Barry Jaeckel4+135,200
T2Curtis Strange4+135,200