The 2021 Players Championship was the 48th Players Championship and was played March 11–14 at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. It was the fortieth edition held at the Stadium Course; the 2020 tournament was canceled after the first round in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Justin Thomas shot a four-under 68 in the final round for 274 (−14) to win his first Players, one stroke ahead of runner-up Lee Westwood, the 54-hole leader. Defending champion Rory McIlroy (2019) missed the 36-hole cut.
Venue
Course layout
Source:
Field
The field consists of 154 players meeting various criteria; they include tournament winners on the PGA Tour since the previous Players Championship, recent winners of major championships, The Players and World Golf Championships, and leading players in the FedEx Cup standings from the current and preceding seasons. The field was expanded from the usual 144 with the late decision to include the top 125 players from the 2019–20 FedEx Cup standings.
Eligibility criteria
This list details the eligibility criteria for the 2021 Players Championship and the players who qualified under them; any additional criteria under which players were eligible is indicated in parentheses.
1. Winners of official PGA Tour events since the last completed Players Championship (2019)
Daniel Berger (15,17) Patrick Cantlay (13,15,17) Paul Casey (15,17) Cameron Champ (15) Stewart Cink Corey Conners (15) Bryson DeChambeau (5,12,13,15,17) Tyler Duncan (15) Dylan Frittelli (15) Sergio García (2,15,17) Brian Gay (15) Branden Grace (15) Lanto Griffin (15,17) Tyrrell Hatton (12,15,17) Jim Herman (15) Max Homa (14,15,17) Viktor Hovland (15,17) Im Sung-jae (15,17) Dustin Johnson (2,5,8,15,17) Kang Sung-hoon (15) Kim Si-woo (3,15) Kevin Kisner (9,15,17) Jason Kokrak (15,17) Martin Laird Andrew Landry (15) Nate Lashley (15) Marc Leishman (15,17) Shane Lowry (4,15,17) Graeme McDowell (15) Rory McIlroy (3,11,12,15,17) Collin Morikawa (6,8,15,17) Sebastián Muñoz (15) Kevin Na (15,17) Joaquín Niemann (15,17) Carlos Ortiz (15,17) Ryan Palmer (15,17) Pan Cheng-tsung (15) J. T. Poston (15) Jon Rahm (13,15,17) Chez Reavie (15) Patrick Reed (2,8,15,17) Adam Scott (14,15,17) Webb Simpson (3,15,17) Cameron Smith (15,17) Robert Streb (15) Hudson Swafford (15) Nick Taylor (15) Justin Thomas (6,10,15,17) Michael Thompson (15) Brendon Todd (15,17) Richy Werenski (15) Gary Woodland (5,15,17)
Harris English (15,17), Brooks Koepka (5,6,10,15,17), Matthew Wolff (15,17) and Tiger Woods (2,7,15) did not play.
2. Recent winners of the Masters Tournament (2016–2020) Danny Willett did not play.
3. Recent winners of The Players Championship (2015–2019)
Jason Day (6,15,17) Rickie Fowler (15)
4. Recent winners of The Open Championship (2015–2019)
Zach Johnson (15) Francesco Molinari (12) Jordan Spieth (5,15) Henrik Stenson
5. Recent winners of the U.S. Open (2015–2020)
6. Recent winners of the PGA Championship (2015–2020)
Jimmy Walker
7. Recent winners of the Tour Championship (2017–2018)
Xander Schauffele (11,15,17)
8. Recent winners of the WGC Championship (2018–2021)
Phil Mickelson (15)
9. Recent winners of the WGC Match Play (2018–2019)
Bubba Watson (15)
10. Recent winners of the WGC Invitational (2017–2020) Hideki Matsuyama (15,17)
11. Recent winners of the WGC-HSBC Champions (2017–2019) Justin Rose (17) did not play.
12. Recent winners of the Arnold Palmer Invitational (2018–2021)
13. Recent winners of the Memorial Tournament (2017–2020)
Jason Dufner
14. Recent winners of the Genesis Invitational (2020–2021)
15. The top 125 players who earned the most FedEx Cup points from the start of the 2019–20 season to February 29, 2021
An Byeong-hun
Abraham Ancer (17) Ryan Armour Keegan Bradley Sam Burns Wyndham Clark Austin Cook Joel Dahmen Cameron Davis Tony Finau (17) Matt Fitzpatrick (17) Tommy Fleetwood (17) Lucas Glover Talor Gooch Emiliano Grillo Adam Hadwin James Hahn Brian Harman Scott Harrington Russell Henley Harry Higgs Bo Hoag Charley Hoffman Tom Hoge Billy Horschel (17) Mackenzie Hughes Charles Howell III Mark Hubbard Matt Jones Chris Kirk Russell Knox Matt Kuchar (17) Danny Lee Lee Kyoung-hoon Luke List Adam Long Peter Malnati Denny McCarthy Tyler McCumber Maverick McNealy Troy Merritt Matthew NeSmith Alex Norén Henrik Norlander Louis Oosthuizen (17) Pat Perez Scott Piercy Ian Poulter Doc Redman Patrick Rodgers Rory Sabbatini Scottie Scheffler (17) Robby Shelton Kyle Stanley Brendan Steele Sepp Straka Kevin Streelman Brian Stuard Vaughn Taylor Cameron Tringale Harold Varner III Aaron Wise Zhang Xinjun