Players Championship field: A dive into what makes it the deepest on the PGA Tour

The Players Championship is billed by the PGA Tour annually as the deepest field in golf.

Every one of the 144 pros every year at the Players Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass has either won a Tour event in the past 12 months, a major or The Players in the past five years or is among the top 125 players on the previous year’s FedEx Cup points list, among the leaders on this year’s points list, unless otherwise eligible, or among the top 50 on the World Golf Rankings.

This year’s field is no different:

• The 2025 Players had 48 of the top-50 players in the world, and all of the top 10, led by two-time defending champion Scottie Scheffler.

• There are eight past Players champions who have combined for nine victories: Scheffler (2023, 2024), Justin Thomas (2021), Rory McIlroy (2019), Si Woo Kim (2017), Jason Day (2016), Rickie Fowler (2015), Matt Kuchar (2012), Adam Scott (2004).

• There are eight past FedExCup champions who have combined for 10 victories: Scheffler (2024), Viktor Hovland (2023), Rory McIlroy (2016, 2019, 2022), Patrick Cantlay (2021), Justin Rose (2018), Thomas (2017), Jordan Spieth (2015) and Billy Horschel (2014).

• Players who have combined to win 35 of the past 37 PGA Tour events. Karl Vilips is the most recent with his victory on Sunday in the Puerto Rico Open. All 11 Tour winners this season are present.

• Led by Scheffler, the 2024 Masters champion, and Xander Schauffele, who won the PGA and British Open last year, there are 17 major champions.

• The current PGA Tour FedEx Cup points list and money list have 98 of the top-100 in the field.

Then there are the guys daring to dream this week. Twenty-five are in their first Players, with eight as Tour rookies. Only one first-timer has made The Players his first Tour title, Craig Perks in 2002, and the best finish for a first-timer as a rookie was by David Lingmerth with a tie for second in 2013.

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Players Championship: The deepest field in golf starts with PGA Tour winners