2015 Players Championship


The 2015 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 42nd Players Championship.
Rickie Fowler won the tournament, beating Kevin Kisner and Sergio García in a playoff.
Trailing by five shots with six holes to play, Fowler played them at six-under-par, going birdie-par-birdie-eagle-birdie-birdie to force a playoff. After the three-hole aggregate playoff ended with Kisner and Fowler still tied, they returned to the 17th for sudden-death. Fowler put his tee shot to on the island green 17th, and made birdie to win.
Defending champion Martin Kaymer finished twelve strokes back at even par, tied for 56th place.

Venue

This was the 34th Players Championship held at the TPC at Sawgrass Stadium Course and it remained at.

Course layout

Field

The field consisted of 144 players meeting the following criteria:
;1. Winners of PGA Tour events since last Players
Bae Sang-moon, Ángel Cabrera, Alex Čejka, Ben Crane, Jason Day, Matt Every, Jim Furyk, Bill Haas, James Hahn, Brian Harman, Pádraig Harrington, Charley Hoffman, J. B. Holmes, Billy Horschel, Dustin Johnson, Martin Kaymer, Chris Kirk, Brooks Koepka, Hunter Mahan, Ben Martin, Hideki Matsuyama, Rory McIlroy, Ryan Moore, Geoff Ogilvy, Patrick Reed, Justin Rose, Adam Scott, Brandt Snedeker, Jordan Spieth, Robert Streb, Kevin Streelman, Nick Taylor, Brendon Todd, Camilo Villegas, Jimmy Walker, Bubba Watson
;2. Top 125 from previous season's FedEx Cup points list
Robert Allenby, Aaron Baddeley, Ricky Barnes, Jonas Blixt, Jason Bohn, Steven Bowditch, Keegan Bradley, Scott Brown, Paul Casey, Kevin Chappell, K. J. Choi, Stewart Cink, Erik Compton, Brian Davis, Brendon de Jonge, Graham DeLaet, Luke Donald, Jason Dufner, Ernie Els, Harris English, Gonzalo Fernández-Castaño, Martin Flores, Rickie Fowler, Sergio García, Brice Garnett, Robert Garrigus, Retief Goosen, Luke Guthrie, Chesson Hadley, David Hearn, Russell Henley, Morgan Hoffmann, Charles Howell III, John Huh, Billy Hurley III, Ryo Ishikawa, Fredrik Jacobson, Zach Johnson, Matt Jones, Jerry Kelly, Kevin Kisner, Russell Knox, Jason Kokrak, Matt Kuchar, Scott Langley, Danny Lee, Marc Leishman, Justin Leonard, Will MacKenzie, Graeme McDowell, William McGirt, George McNeill, Troy Merritt, Phil Mickelson, Bryce Molder, Kevin Na, Noh Seung-yul, Louis Oosthuizen, Jeff Overton, Ryan Palmer, Pat Perez, Carl Pettersson, Ian Poulter, Michael Putnam, Andrés Romero, Rory Sabbatini, Charl Schwartzel, John Senden, Webb Simpson, Vijay Singh, Scott Stallings, Brendan Steele, Shawn Stefani, Henrik Stenson, Steve Stricker, Chris Stroud, Brian Stuard, Daniel Summerhays, Andrew Svoboda, Michael Thompson, David Toms, Cameron Tringale, Bo Van Pelt, Jhonattan Vegas, Nick Watney, Boo Weekley, Lee Westwood, Tim Wilkinson, Gary Woodland
;3. Top 125 from current season - Medical Extension
Spencer Levin, Scott Piercy
;4. Major champions from the past five years
Darren Clarke
;5. Players Championship winners from the past five years
Tiger Woods
;6. WGC winners from the past three years
;7. The Tour Championship winners from the past three years
;8. Top 50 from the Official World Golf Ranking
Jamie Donaldson, Stephen Gallacher, Branden Grace, Thongchai Jaidee, Anirban Lahiri, Shane Lowry, Joost Luiten, Bernd Wiesberger, Danny Willett
;9. Senior Players champion from prior year
Bernhard Langer
;10. Web.com Tour money leader from prior season
Adam Hadwin
;11. Money leader during the Web.com Tour Finals
Derek Fathauer
;12. Top 10 current year FedEx Cup points leaders
;13. Remaining positions and alternates filled through current year FedEx Cup standings
Daniel Berger, Sean O'Hair, Justin Thomas

Nationalities in the field

Round summaries

First round

Thursday, May 7, 2015
PlacePlayerCountryScoreTo par
T1David Hearn67−5
T1Charley Hoffman67−5
T1Hideki Matsuyama67−5
T1Kevin Na67−5
T5Derek Fathauer68−4
T5Billy Horschel68−4
T5Charles Howell III68−4
T5Ben Martin68−4
T5Troy Merritt68−4
T5Brendon Todd68−4

Second round

Friday, May 8, 2015
PlacePlayerCountryScoreTo par
T1Jerry Kelly71-65=136−8
T1Kevin Na67-69=136−8
T3Rickie Fowler69-69=138−6
T3Branden Grace71-67=138−6
T3David Hearn67-71=138−6
T3Chris Kirk70-68=138−6
T7Scott Brown72-67=139−5
T7Bill Haas72-67=139−5
T7Zach Johnson71-68=139−5
T7Ben Martin68-71=139−5
T7Troy Merritt68-71=139−5
T7Chris Stroud70-69=139−5

Third round

Saturday, May 9, 2015
PlacePlayerCountryScoreTo par
1Chris Kirk70-68-68=206−10
T2Bill Haas72-67-68=207−9
T2Kevin Kisner73-67-67=207−9
T2Ben Martin68-71-68=207−9
T5Scott Brown72-67-69=208−8
T5Sergio García69-72-67=208−8
T5David Hearn67-71-70=208−8
T5Jerry Kelly71-65-72=208−8
T5Kevin Na67-69-72=208−8
T5Justin Thomas73-70-65=208−8

Final round

Sunday, May 10, 2015

Scorecard

Final round
Hole123456789101112131415161718
Par453444435454344534
Fowler−6−6−6−6−6−6−7−7−7−6−6−6−7−7−8−10−11−12
García−7−8−8−9−10−11−11−11−11−11−11−11−11−10−10−11−12−12
Kisner−9−10−10−9−8−9−9−9−9−9−9−10−10−10−10−11−12−12
Haas−9−9−10−10−10−10−9−8−7−8−8−8−8−9−10−11−11−11
Martin−9−10−10−10−9−9−9−9−8−9−10−10−10−9−10−11−12−11
Na−8−8−8−6−6−7−8−8−8−8−8−8−8−9−9−10−10−9
Sabbatini−6−6−6−6−6−7−7−7−7−8−8−8−8−8−8−8−9−9
Kirk−10−10−10−9−8−8−9−9−9−9−9−9−9−8−7−7−7−7

Cumulative tournament scores, relative to par
Source:

Playoff

The playoff was the first at The Players to use the three-hole aggregate format, adopted the prior year, which began at par-5 16th hole. After the three holes, Fowler and Kisner were tied, but García missed his birdie putt on 18 to continue and was eliminated. The same three holes were scheduled for sudden-death, but started at the par-3 17th, which both had birdied twice Sunday. Fowler birdied it again to win the title. The birdies were a first for the Players; its four previous playoffs, all sudden-death, had no under-par scoring.
Source:
Scorecard
Cumulative playoff scores, relative to par
Source: