2008 Players Championship


The 2008 Players Championship was a golf tournament in Florida on the PGA Tour, held at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, southeast of Jacksonville. It was the 35th Players Championship and was won by Sergio García, in a sudden-death playoff over Paul Goydos.
Defending champion Phil Mickelson finished nine strokes back, in a tie for 21st place.

Venue

This was the 27th Players Championship held at the TPC at Sawgrass Stadium Course and it remained at.

Course layout

Field

, Robert Allenby, Stephen Ames, Stuart Appleby, Ryan Armour, Tommy Armour III, Woody Austin, Aaron Baddeley, Briny Baird, Brian Bateman, Cameron Beckman, Rich Beem, Jason Bohn, Bart Bryant, Jonathan Byrd, Ángel Cabrera, Mark Calcavecchia, Chad Campbell, Michael Campbell, Paul Casey, Alex Čejka, K. J. Choi, Daniel Chopra, Stewart Cink, Tim Clark, José Cóceres, Fred Couples, Ben Crane, Ben Curtis, Brian Davis, Chris DiMarco, Luke Donald, Ken Duke, Steve Elkington, Ernie Els, Bob Estes, Niclas Fasth, Steve Flesch, Fred Funk, Jim Furyk, Sergio García, Robert Garrigus, Brian Gay, Lucas Glover, Mathew Goggin, Retief Goosen, Jason Gore, Paul Goydos, Nathan Green, Mathias Grönberg, Bill Haas, Todd Hamilton, Søren Hansen, Pádraig Harrington, Dudley Hart, J. P. Hayes, J. J. Henry, Mark Hensby, Tim Herron, Charley Hoffman, J. B. Holmes, Charles Howell III, Ryuji Imada, Freddie Jacobson, Miguel Ángel Jiménez, Dustin Johnson, Richard S. Johnson, Zach Johnson, Matt Jones, Jerry Kelly, Anthony Kim, Greg Kraft, Cliff Kresge, Matt Kuchar, Bernhard Langer, Stephen Leaney, Tom Lehman, Justin Leonard, Peter Lonard, Davis Love III, Steve Lowery, Jeff Maggert, Hunter Mahan, John Mallinger, Steve Marino, Shigeki Maruyama, Troy Matteson, Billy Mayfair, George McNeill, Rocco Mediate, John Merrick, Shaun Micheel, Phil Mickelson, Ryan Moore, Kevin Na, Sean O'Hair, Nick O'Hern, Joe Ogilvie, Geoff Ogilvy, José María Olazábal, Jeff Overton, Rod Pampling, Jesper Parnevik, Pat Perez, Tom Pernice Jr., Kenny Perry, Tim Petrovic, Carl Pettersson, Ian Poulter, Brett Quigley, Jeff Quinney, John Rollins, Andrés Romero, Justin Rose, Rory Sabbatini, Adam Scott, John Senden, Vijay Singh, Heath Slocum, Brandt Snedeker, Kevin Stadler, Henrik Stenson, Richard Sterne, Steve Stricker, Kevin Sutherland, Vaughn Taylor, Nicholas Thompson, David Toms, D. J. Trahan, Bo Van Pelt, Scott Verplank, Camilo Villegas, Johnson Wagner, Charles Warren, Nick Watney, Bubba Watson, Boo Weekley, Mike Weir, Lee Westwood, Brett Wetterich, Charlie Wi, Tim Wilkinson, Dean Wilson, Mark Wilson

Round summaries

First round

Thursday, May 8, 2008
PlacePlayerCountryScoreTo par
1Sergio García66−6
T2Paul Goydos68−4
T2Kenny Perry68−4
T4Steve Elkington69−3
T4Niclas Fasth69−3
T4Todd Hamilton69−3
T4Ian Poulter69−3
T4Heath Slocum69−3
T9Ángel Cabrera70−2
T9Fred Couples70−2
T9Ben Crane70−2
T9Miguel Ángel Jiménez70−2
T9Anthony Kim70−2
T9Troy Matteson70−2
T9John Merrick70−2
T9Phil Mickelson70−2
T9José María Olazábal70−2
T9Brett Quigley70−2
T9Kevin Stadler70−2
T9Nicholas Thompson70−2
T9D. J. Trahan70−2
T9Boo Weekley70−2

Source:

Second round

Friday, May 9, 2008
PlacePlayerCountryScoreTo par
1Kenny Perry68-70=138−6
T2Sergio García66-73=139−5
T2Paul Goydos68-71=139−5
T2Bernhard Langer72-67=139−5
5Anthony Kim70-70=140−4
6Boo Weekley70-71=141−3
T7Stephen Ames74-68=142−2
T7Briny Baird71-71=142−2
T7Fred Couples70-72=142−2
T7Ben Crane70-72=142−2
T7John Merrick70-72=142−2
T7Kevin Stadler70-72=142−2

Source:

Third round

Saturday, May 10, 2008
PlacePlayerCountryScoreTo par
1Paul Goydos68-71-70=209−7
2Kenny Perry68-70-72=210−6
3Sergio García66-73-73=212−4
T4Bernhard Langer72-67-75=214−2
T4Phil Mickelson70-73-71=214−2
T4Jeff Quinney71-73-70=214−2
T7Stuart Appleby72-72-71=215−1
T7Briny Baird71-71-73=215−1
T7J. B. Holmes72-72-71=215−1
T7Greg Kraft75-72-68=215−1
T7Tom Lehman73-73-69=215−1
T7Tim Petrovic73-73-69=215−1
T7Boo Weekley70-71-74=215−1

Source:

Final round

Sunday, May 11, 2008
In windy conditions, the final pairing struggled on the final day; overnight leader Paul Goydos managed a 2-over-par 74, whilst Kenny Perry crashed to an 81. In the groups ahead, the pairing of Jeff Quinney and Sergio García produced some of the best golf of the day, and García became the clubhouse leader at 5-under-par 283. Goydos still led, but missed a par putt to win on the final hole, forcing a sudden-death playoff.

Scorecard

Final round
Hole123456789101112131415161718
Par453444435454344534
García−3−3−3−3−3−3−4−3−3−3−4−5−4−5−5−5−5−5
Goydos−7−6−5−6−5−5−5−5−5−6−6−7−7−6−5−6−6−5
Quinney−3−4−3−3−3−3−2−2−2−2−3−3−4−4−4−5−5−4
Baird−1−1−2−2−2−2−3−3−3−3−3−3−3−3−2−2−1−1
AmesEEE+2+2+2+1+1E−1−1−1−1−1−2−2−2E
Perry−5−5−5−4−5−5−4−4−4−3−2−2−2−2+1+1+2+3

Cumulative tournament scores, relative to par
Source:

Playoff

At the first playoff hole, the infamous par-3 17th, Goydos' went first and his tee shot found water. Garcia stayed dry, stopping from the pin and the playoff was essentially over. Goydos finished the hole with a double bogey to give Garcia three putts to win; he two-putted for par and the title. It was the first playoff at the Players Championship since 1987 and the first to start at the 17th hole.
PlacePlayerCountryScoreTo parMoney
1Sergio García3E1,710,000
2Paul Goydos5+21,026,000