2008 Players Championship
The 2008 Players Championship was a golf tournament in Florida on the PGA Tour, held May 8–11 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.[1][2]
| Tournament information | |
|---|---|
| Dates | May 8–11, 2008 |
| Location | Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida 30.198°N 81.394°W |
| Course(s) | TPC at Sawgrass |
| Tour(s) | PGA Tour |
| Statistics | |
| Par | 72 |
| Length | 7,215 yards (6,597 m) |
| Field | 144 players, 74 after cut |
| Cut | 147 (+3) |
| Prize fund | $9.5 million |
| Winner's share | $1.71 million |
| Champion | |
 Sergio García | |
| 283 (−5), playoff | |
| Location Map | |
  TPC Sawgrass Location in the United States  TPC Sawgrass Location in Florida | |
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 7,215 yards (6,597 m).
Course layout
| 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 | n/a | 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
Michael Allen, 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
Source:[3]
Second round
Friday, May 9, 2008
| Place | Player | Country | Score | To par |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenny Perry |  United States | 68-70=138 | −6 |
| T2 | Sergio García | Spain | 66-73=139 | −5 |
| Paul Goydos | United States | 68-71=139 | ||
| Bernhard Langer |  Germany | 72-67=139 | ||
| 5 | Anthony Kim | United States | 70-70=140 | −4 |
| 6 | Boo Weekley | United States | 70-71=141 | −3 |
| T7 | Stephen Ames | .svg.png.webp){kind=small} Canada | 74-68=142 | −2 |
| Briny Baird | United States | 71-71=142 | ||
| Fred Couples | United States | 70-72=142 | ||
| Ben Crane | United States | 70-72=142 | ||
| John Merrick | United States | 70-72=142 | ||
| Kevin Stadler | United States | 70-72=142 |
Source:[4]
Third round
Saturday, May 10, 2008
| Place | Player | Country | Score | To par |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Paul Goydos | United States | 68-71-70=209 | −7 |
| 2 | Kenny Perry | United States | 68-70-72=210 | −6 |
| 3 | Sergio García | Spain | 66-73-73=212 | −4 |
| T4 | Bernhard Langer | Germany | 72-67-75=214 | −2 |
| Phil Mickelson | United States | 70-73-71=214 | ||
| Jeff Quinney | United States | 71-73-70=214 | ||
| T7 | Stuart Appleby | .svg.png.webp){kind=small} Australia | 72-72-71=215 | −1 |
| Briny Baird | United States | 71-71-73=215 | ||
| J. B. Holmes | United States | 72-72-71=215 | ||
| Greg Kraft | United States | 75-72-68=215 | ||
| Tom Lehman | United States | 73-73-69=215 | ||
| Tim Petrovic | United States | 73-73-69=215 | ||
| Boo Weekley | United States | 70-71-74=215 |
Source:[5]
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 (+9). 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 15-foot (4.6 m) par putt to win on the final hole, forcing a sudden-death playoff.[2]
| Champion |
| (c) = past champion |
| Place | Player | Country | Score | To par | Money ($) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| T1 | Sergio García | Spain | 66-73-73-71=283 | −5 | Playoff |
| Paul Goydos | United States | 68-71-70-74=283 | |||
| 3 | Jeff Quinney | United States | 71-73-70-70=284 | −4 | 646,000 |
| 4 | Briny Baird | United States | 71-71-73-72=287 | −1 | 456,000 |
| 5 | Stephen Ames (c) | Canada | 74-68-74-72=288 | E | 380,000 |
| T6 | Ben Crane | United States | 70-72-75-72=289 | +1 | 307,562 |
| Ernie Els |  South Africa | 72-71-74-72=289 | |||
| Tom Lehman | United States | 73-73-69-74=289 | |||
| Brett Quigley | United States | 70-76-72-71=289 | |||
| T10 | Chad Campbell | United States | 73-72-77-68=290 | +2 | 218,500 |
| J. B. Holmes | United States | 72-72-71-75=290 | |||
| Greg Kraft | United States | 75-72-68-75=290 | |||
| Henrik Stenson |  Sweden | 73-71-75-71=290 | |||
| Dean Wilson | United States | 74-72-75-69=290 |
Source:[6]
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 |
| 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 |
| Ames | E | E | E | +2 | +2 | +2 | +1 | +1 | E | −1 | −1 | −1 | −1 | −1 | −2 | −2 | −2 | E |
| 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
Birdie Bogey Double bogey Triple bogey+
Source:[7]
Playoff
At the first playoff hole, the infamous par-3 17th, Goydos' went first and his tee shot found water. Garcia stayed dry, stopping 4 feet (1.2 m) 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.[1] It was the first playoff at the Players Championship since 1987 and the first to start at the 17th hole.[2]
| Place | Player | Country | Score | To par | Money ($) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sergio García | Spain | 3 | E | 1,710,000 |
| 2 | Paul Goydos | United States | 5 | +2 | 1,026,000 |
References
- Bamberger, Michael (May 19, 2008). "A Fresh Breeze". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved May 9, 2016.
- Ferguson, Doug (May 12, 2008). "Garcia wins Players Championship". Victoria Advocate. Texas. Associated Press. p. C1.
- "Golf: Players Championship - First round scores". Tuscaloosa News. Alabama. Associated Press. May 9, 2008. p. 2C.
- "Youth gives way at Players". Tuscaloosa News. Alabama. Associated Press. May 10, 2008. p. 5C.
- "Goydos takes control at Players". Tuscaloosa News. Alabama. Associated Press. May 11, 2008. p. 5C.
- "Past Results 1974 – present". PGA Tour. Retrieved March 1, 2020.
- "The Players Championship". ESPN. Retrieved September 14, 2015.