The final commitment list for the 2021 Players Championship was released by the PGA Tour on Friday, with the top 51 players in the world coming to the First Coast to pick up where they left off last year when the tournament was canceled after one round because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Practice rounds are on March 9-10 and the first round will be March 11 at the Players Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass. A limited number of tickets that equal 20 percent capacity are sold out.
The only player who is eligible and not entered this week is two-time Players champion Tiger Woods, who suffered severe leg injuries in a car wreck last week. He is ranked 52nd in the world.
World No. 1-ranked Dustin Johnson, who has won the Masters and the FedEx Cup in the past six months, leads the field of 154 from a World Golf Ranking standpoint. The rest of the top-10 as of this week’s ranking is Jon Rahm, Justin Thomas, PGA champion Collin Morikawa, Xander Schauffele, Tyrrell Hatton, Patrick Cantlay, 2019 Players champion Rory McIlroy, Patrick Reed and 2018 Players champion Webb Simpson.
The field also will include the players who have combined to win 24 of the last 25 major championships, all 21 PGA Tour winners in the 2020-21 FedEx Cup season and past Players champions McIlroy, Simpson, Si Woo Kim, Jason Day, Rickie Fowler, Matt Kuchar, Henrik Stenson, Sergio Garcia and Adam Scott.
The Players is missing only 15 of the top-100 players in the world, but that’s only because they’re not eligible under the stringent rules to make the field. The primary avenues for getting into the Players are to win a tournament in the last 12 months since the previous Players and to finish among the top-125 on the final FedEx Cup standings the week before.
The Tour added a wrinkle this season in light of the pandemic, with the points list from 2019-20 combined with the points this season through last week to add 10 players to the usual field of 144.
Only one other pro can get into the field: the winner of this week’s Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill, if he is not otherwise eligible. Six players in that category made the cut at Bay Hill but only Jazz Janewattananond of Thailand (4-under 140) is in serious contention, as he is five back of the lead headed to the weekend.
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Players Championship field
(Past champions in bold)
Byeong Hun An
Abraham Ancer
Ryan Armour
Daniel Berger
Christaan Bezuidenhout
Keegan Bradley
Scott Brown
Sam Burns
Patrick Cantlay
Paul Casey
Cameron Champ
Stewart Cink
Wyndham Clark
Corey Conners
Austin Cook
Joel Dahman
Cameron Davis
Jason Day (2016)
Bryson DeChambeau
Jason Dufner
Tyler Duncan
Harris English
Tony Finau
Matthew Fitzpatrick
Tommy Fleetwood
Rickie Fowler (2015)
Dylan Fritelli
Sergio Garcia (2008)
Brice Garnett
Brian Gay
Doug Ghim
Lucas Glover
Talor Gooch
Branden Grace
Lanto Griffin
Emiliano Grillo
Adam Hadwin
James Hahn
Brian Harman
Scott Harrington
Tyrrell Hatton
Russell Henley
Jim Herman
Harry Higgs
Bo Hoag
Charley Hoffman
Tom Hoge
Max Homa
Billy Horschel
Beau Hossler
Viktor Hovland
Charles Howell III
Mark Hubbard
Mackenzie Hughes
Sungjae Im
Dustin Johnson
Zach Johnson
Matt Jones
Sung Kang
Jerry Kelly
Si Woo Kim
Chris Kirk
Kevin Kisner
Patton Kizzire
Russell Knox
Brooks Koepka
Jason Kokrak
Matt Kuchar (2012)
Martin Laird
Andrew Landry
Nate Lashley
Danny Lee
K.H. Lee
Marc Leishman
Tom Lewis
Luke List
Adam Long
Shane Lowry
Robert MacIntyre
Peter Malnati
Hideki Matsuyama
Denny McCarthy
Tyler McCumber
Graeme McDowell
Rory McIlroy (2019)
Maverick McNealy
Troy Merritt
Phil Mickelson (2007)
Keith Mitchell
Francesco Molinari
Ryan Moore
Collin Morikawa
Sebastian Munoz
Kevin Na
Matthew NeSmith
Joaquin Niemann
Alex Noren
Henrik Norlander
Louis Oosthuizen
Carlos Ortiz
Ryan Palmer
C.T. Pan
Cameron Percy
Pat Perez
Victor Perez
Scott Piercy
J.T. Poston
Ian Poulter
Andrew Putnam
Jon Rahm
Chez Reavie
Doc Redman
Patrick Reed
Patrick Rodgers
Justin Rose
Sam Ryder
Rory Sabbatini
Xander Schauffele
Scottie Scheffler
Adam Schenk
Charl Schwartzel
Adam Scott (2004)
Robby Shelton
Webb Simpson (2018)
Cameron Smith
Brandt Snedeker
Jordan Spieth
Scott Stallings
Kyle Stanley
Brendan Steele
Henrik Stenson (2009)
Sepp Straka
Robert Streb
Kevin Streelman
Brian Stuard
Hudson Swafford
Nick Taylor
Vaughn Taylor
Justin Thomas
Michael Thompson
Brendon Todd
Cameron Tringale
Harold Varner III
Jimmy Walker
Bubba Watson
Richey Werenski
Lee Westwood
Bernd Wiesberger
Danny Willett
Aaron Wise
Matthew Wolff
Gary Woodland
Will Zalatoris
Xinjun Zhang