2015 Players Championship

The 2015 Players Championship was a golf tournament in Florida on the PGA Tour, held May 7–10 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.^[1][2][3]

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.^[4][5] After the three-hole aggregate playoff (holes 16–18) ended with Kisner and Fowler still tied, they returned to the 17th for sudden-death. Fowler put his tee shot to five feet (1.5 m) on the island green 17th, and made birdie to win.^[6][7][8]

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 7,215 yards (6,597 m).

Course layout

The 2015 Players Championship

Tee	Rating/Slope	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Out	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	In	Total
Yards	76.8 / 155	423	532	177	384	471	393	442	237	583	3,642	424	558	358	181	481	449	523	137	462	3,573	7,215
Par		4	5	3	4	4	4	4	3	5	36	4	5	4	3	4	4	5	3	4	36	72

Field

The field consisted of 144 players meeting the following criteria:

1. Winners of PGA Tour events since last Players

Bae Sang-moon (2), Ángel Cabrera (2), Alex Čejka, Ben Crane (2), Jason Day (2,6,8,12), Matt Every (2,8), Jim Furyk (2,8), Bill Haas (2,8), James Hahn (2), Brian Harman (2), Pádraig Harrington, Charley Hoffman (2,8,12), J. B. Holmes (2,8,12), Billy Horschel (2,7,8), Dustin Johnson (2,6,8,12), Martin Kaymer (2,4,5,8), Chris Kirk (2,8), Brooks Koepka (8), Hunter Mahan (2,8), Ben Martin (2), Hideki Matsuyama (2,8,12), Rory McIlroy (2,4,6,8), Ryan Moore (2,8,12), Geoff Ogilvy (2), Patrick Reed (2,6,8,12), Justin Rose (2,4,8), Adam Scott (2,4,8), Brandt Snedeker (2,7,8), Jordan Spieth (2,4,8,12), Robert Streb (2), Kevin Streelman (2), Nick Taylor, Brendon Todd (2,8), Camilo Villegas (2), Jimmy Walker (2,8,12), Bubba Watson (2,4,6,8,12)

• Tim Clark (2,5) did not play.

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 (4,6,8), Scott Brown, Paul Casey (8), Kevin Chappell, K. J. Choi (5), Stewart Cink, Erik Compton, Brian Davis, Brendon de Jonge, Graham DeLaet, Luke Donald, Jason Dufner (4), Ernie Els (4), Harris English, Gonzalo Fernández-Castaño, Martin Flores, Rickie Fowler (8), Sergio García (8), Brice Garnett, Robert Garrigus, Retief Goosen, Luke Guthrie, Chesson Hadley, David Hearn, Russell Henley (8), Morgan Hoffmann, Charles Howell III, John Huh, Billy Hurley III, Ryo Ishikawa, Freddie Jacobson, Zach Johnson (8), Matt Jones, Jerry Kelly, Kevin Kisner, Russell Knox, Jason Kokrak, Matt Kuchar (5,6,8), Scott Langley, Danny Lee, Marc Leishman, Justin Leonard, Will MacKenzie, Graeme McDowell (4,8), William McGirt, George McNeill, Troy Merritt, Phil Mickelson (4,8), Bryce Molder, Kevin Na (8), Noh Seung-yul, Louis Oosthuizen (4,8), Jeff Overton, Ryan Palmer (8), Pat Perez, Carl Pettersson, Ian Poulter (6,8), Michael Putnam, Andrés Romero, Rory Sabbatini, Charl Schwartzel (4,8), John Senden, Webb Simpson (4,8), Vijay Singh, Scott Stallings, Brendan Steele, Shawn Stefani, Henrik Stenson (7,8), 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 (8), Tim Wilkinson, Gary Woodland

• Stuart Appleby, Justin Hicks, and Kevin Stadler did not play.

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)

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

• Victor Dubuisson did not play.

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

Round summaries

First round

Thursday, May 7, 2015

Place	Player	Score	To par
T1	David Hearn	67	−5
	Charley Hoffman
	Hideki Matsuyama
	Kevin Na
T5	Derek Fathauer	68	−4
	Billy Horschel
	Charles Howell III
	Ben Martin
	Troy Merritt
	Brendon Todd

Second round

Friday, May 8, 2015

Place	Player	Score	To par
T1	Jerry Kelly	71-65=136	−8
	Kevin Na	67-69=136
T3	Rickie Fowler	69-69=138	−6
	Branden Grace	71-67=138
	David Hearn	67-71=138
	Chris Kirk	70-68=138
T7	Scott Brown	72-67=139	−5
	Bill Haas	72-67=139
	Zach Johnson	71-68=139
	Ben Martin	68-71=139
	Troy Merritt	68-71=139
	Chris Stroud	70-69=139

Third round

Saturday, May 9, 2015

Place	Player	Score	To par
1	Chris Kirk	70-68-68=206	−10
T2	Bill Haas	72-67-68=207	−9
	Kevin Kisner	73-67-67=207
	Ben Martin	68-71-68=207
T5	Scott Brown	72-67-69=208	−8
	Sergio García	69-72-67=208
	David Hearn	67-71-70=208
	Jerry Kelly	71-65-72=208
	Kevin Na	67-69-72=208
	Justin Thomas	73-70-65=208

Final round

Sunday, May 10, 2015

Champion

(c) = past champion

Place	Player	Score	To par	Money ($)
T1	Rickie Fowler	69-69-71-67=276	−12	Playoff
	Sergio García (c)	69-72-67-68=276
	Kevin Kisner	73-67-67-69=276
T4	Bill Haas	72-67-68-70=277	−11	440,000
	Ben Martin	68-71-68-70=277
T6	Kevin Na	67-69-72-71=279	−9	347,500
	Rory Sabbatini	70-71-69-69=279
T8	Jamie Donaldson	70-72-71-67=280	−8	270,000
	Brian Harman	71-69-70-70=280
	Ryo Ishikawa	71-69-69-71=280
	Rory McIlroy	69-71-70-70=280
	John Senden	73-70-67-70=280

Leaderboard below the top 10
Place	Player	Score	To par	Money ($)
T13	Billy Horschel	68-72-69-72=281	−7	187,500
	Zach Johnson	71-68-71-71=281
	Chris Kirk	70-68-68-75=281
	David Toms	73-71-68-69=281
T17	Derek Fathauer	68-72-69-73=282	−6	130,857
	Jerry Kelly	71-65-72-74=282
	Russell Knox	72-70-72-68=282
	Hideki Matsuyama	67-74-72-69=282
	George McNeill	73-70-69-70=282
	Pat Perez	71-70-68-73=282
	Henrik Stenson (c)	72-69-73-68=282
T24	Chesson Hadley	71-72-66-74=283	−5	81,000
	Russell Henley	70-70-72-71=283
	Marc Leishman	69-71-74-69=283
	Geoff Ogilvy	72-72-69-70=283
	Patrick Reed	72-70-69-72=283
	Justin Thomas	73-70-65-75=283
T30	Bae Sang-moon	72-68-73-71=284	−4	58,125
	Scott Brown	72-67-69-76=284
	Erik Compton	74-70-72-68=284
	James Hahn	70-73-72-69=284
	Charley Hoffman	67-74-71-72=284
	Ian Poulter	71-69-70-74=284
	Robert Streb	70-73-72-69=284
	Bo Van Pelt	70-72-69-73=284
T38	Martin Flores	73-71-67-74=285	−3	44,000
	Stephen Gallacher	72-70-70-73=285
	Adam Scott (c)	72-69-69-75=285
	Steve Stricker	69-75-69-72=285
T42	K. J. Choi (c)	70-74-70-72=286	−2	31,400
	Matt Every	74-70-70-72=286
	Branden Grace	71-67-73-75=286
	Pádraig Harrington	71-73-75-67=286
	David Hearn	67-71-70-78=286
	Freddie Jacobson	70-74-70-72=286
	Chris Stroud	70-69-76-71=286
	Jhonattan Vegas	75-69-66-76=286
	Bubba Watson	71-70-69-76=286
T51	Luke Guthrie	74-69-69-75=287	−1	23,680
	J. B. Holmes	70-71-73-73=287
	Joost Luiten	71-70-71-75=287
	Charl Schwartzel	71-72-72-72=287
	Brendon Todd	68-72-75-72=287
T56	Robert Allenby	70-72-73-73=288	E	22,200
	Graham DeLaet	75-69-70-74=288
	Jim Furyk	70-70-73-75=288
	Charles Howell III	68-72-71-77=288
	Martin Kaymer (c)	69-72-71-76=288
	Graeme McDowell	73-70-74-71=288
	Cameron Tringale	69-71-72-76=288
T63	Brendon de Jonge	73-71-71-74=289	+1	21,200
	Bryce Molder	72-71-75-71=289
	Vijay Singh	71-72-76-70=289
T66	Ernie Els	73-70-76-71=290	+2	20,600
	Scott Langley	72-72-71-75=290
	Webb Simpson	69-74-78-69=290
T69	Dustin Johnson	72-72-75-72=291	+3	20,000
	Louis Oosthuizen	70-73-75-73=291
	Tiger Woods (c)	73-71-75-72=291
72	Troy Merritt	68-71-76-77=292	+4	19,600
73	Nick Taylor	72-70-72-79=293	+5	19,400
74	Alex Čejka	69-73-79-78=299	+11	19,200
75	Scott Stallings	71-72-82-76=301	+13	19,000
CUT	Daniel Berger	71-74=145	+1
	Jason Bohn	71-74=145
	Keegan Bradley	77-68=145
	Gonzalo Fernández-Castaño	74-71=145
	Morgan Hoffmann	76-69=145
	Brooks Koepka	78-67=145
	Jason Kokrak	69-76=145
	Matt Kuchar (c)	73-72=145
	Spencer Levin	70-75=145
	Ryan Moore	73-72=145
	Michael Putnam	72-73=145
	Justin Rose	71-74=145
	Brendan Steele	73-72=145
	Bernd Wiesberger	77-68=145
	Ricky Barnes	69-77=146	+2
	Jason Dufner	73-73=146
	Harris English	75-71=146
	Billy Hurley III	74-72=146
	Bernhard Langer	73-73=146
	Danny Lee	73-73=146
	Justin Leonard (c)	73-73=146
	Jeff Overton	69-77=146
	Andrew Svoboda	71-75=146
	Jimmy Walker	71-75=146
	Boo Weekley	73-73=146
	Lee Westwood	76-70=146
	Danny Willett	72-74=146
	Steven Bowditch	77-70=147	+3
	Ben Crane	71-76=147
	John Huh	74-73=147
	Shane Lowry	73-74=147
	Hunter Mahan	72-75=147
	Scott Piercy	73-74=147
	Brandt Snedeker	69-78=147
	Jordan Spieth	75-72=147
	Shawn Stefani	77-70=147
	Michael Thompson	73-74=147
	Stewart Cink	76-72=148	+4
	Thongchai Jaidee	73-75=148
	Anirban Lahiri	76-72=148
	William McGirt	75-73=148
	Noh Seung-yul	73-75=148
	Andrés Romero	72-76=148
	Kevin Chappell	77-72=149	+5
	Brian Davis	75-74=149
	Adam Hadwin	75-74=149
	Phil Mickelson (c)	73-76=149
	Ryan Palmer	77-72=149
	Kevin Streelman	75-74=149
	Nick Watney	78-71=149
	Jason Day	69-81=150	+6
	Will MacKenzie	75-75=150
	Tim Wilkinson	73-77=150
	Brice Garnett	76-75=151	+7
	Retief Goosen	78-73=151
	Matt Jones	75-76=151
	Sean O'Hair	76-76=152	+8
	Camilo Villegas	78-74=152
	Luke Donald	77-76=153	+9
	Robert Garrigus	75-78=153
	Brian Stuard	74-79=153
	Daniel Summerhays	75-78=153
	Gary Woodland	79-74=153
	Aaron Baddeley	78-77=155	+11
Jonas Blixt	77-80=157	+13
WD	Ángel Cabrera	75	+3
	Carl Pettersson	77	+5
	Paul Casey	79	+7
	Darren Clarke

Source:^[9]

Scorecard

Final round

Hole	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18
Par	4	5	3	4	4	4	4	3	5	4	5	4	3	4	4	5	3	4
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

Eagle

Birdie

Bogey

Double bogey

Source:^[10]

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 (his fifth on the 17th hole in six attempts for the week) to win the title.^[1] The birdies were a first for the Players; its four previous playoffs, all sudden-death, had no under-par scoring.

Place	Player	Country	Three-hole		Sudden-death		Money ($)
			Score	To par	Score	To par
1	Rickie Fowler	5-2-4=11	−1	2	−1	1,800,000
T2	Kevin Kisner	5-2-4=11	−1	3	E	880,000
	Sergio García	5-3-5=13	+1

• García just missed his birdie putt on 18 to continue; his one-handed tap-in did not drop and it was scored a bogey.

Source:^[10]

Scorecard

Hole	16	17	18	17
Par	5	3	4	3
Fowler	E	−1	−1	−2
Kisner	E	−1	−1	−1
García	E	E	+1

Cumulative playoff scores, relative to par

Birdie

Bogey

Source:^[8][10]

References

External links

• The Players Championship website