Get all your news in one place.

100’s of premium titles.
One app.

Start reading

Get all your news in one place.

100’s of premium titles. One news app.

Start reading

Golf Monthly

Sport

Mike Hall

Full Field Revealed For The Players Championship

Rory McIlroy Players Championship The Players Championship PGA Tour Scottie Scheffler the PGA Tour JJ Spaun Brooks Koepka LIV Golf

Rory McIlroy with The Players Championship trophy .

After three signature events in recent weeks, the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, the Genesis Invitational and the Arnold Palmer Invitational, the PGA Tour season has well and truly taken flight.

However, for any fan not yet immersed in the 2026 season, that will surely change with the arrival of an event that, for many, is a Major in all but name. The Players Championship isn’t one of the Tour’s Signature Events, but it is its flagship tournament, and in 2026, it is being held for the 52nd time. As it has done every year since 1982, the tournament takes place at TPC Sawgrass, where most of the world’s best players will assemble for the chance to win the famous trophy as well as a prize money of $4.5m from the overall purse of $25m. Various categories qualify players for the tournament, providing they meet PGA Tour eligibility requirements to compete, including winners of PGA Tour events since the last edition, recent Major winners, and the top 100 in the previous season’s FedEx Cup points list. As a result, all but a few of the world’s best players will be teeing it up in Florida.

JJ Spaun lost in a playoff to Rory McIlroy a year ago (Image credit: Getty Images)

Despite withdrawing from the Arnold Palmer Invitational before the third round because of a back injury, Rory McIlroy is expected to be fit to defend his title. A year ago, he beat JJ Spaun in a Monday playoff to take the title for the second time. Spaun, who went on to win the US Open last year, also plays. Another recent winner of The Players Championship in the field is World No.1 Scottie Scheffler, who took the title in both 2023 and 2024.McIlroy and Scheffler are the only two players in the field capable of matching Jack Nicklaus’ record of titles at the event. He won it for the third time in 1978.

Scottie Scheffler is looking for his third Players Championship title (Image credit: Getty Images)

There’s no place for 2022 winner Cameron Smith as he is now a LIV Golfer, but 2021 champion Justin Thomas is in the field to make only his second PGA Tour appearance since returning after being sidelined for four months following back surgery. Other big names in the field include FedEx Cup champion Tommy Fleetwood, and a host of players who have won on the PGA Tour already this season, including Scheffler, Chris Gotterup, Justin Rose, Collin Morikawa and Akshay Bhatia. The likes of two-time Major winner Xander Schauffele, 2021 Masters champion Hideki Matsuyama, and one of the breakout stars of 2025, Ben Griffin, play too.Other notable names in the field include Ludvig Aberg, Viktor Hovland, Adam Scott, Shane Lowry, Patrick Cantlay, Russell Henley and Robert MacIntyre. Brooks Koepka is also in the Players Championship field for the first time since 2022 following his return to the PGA Tour from LIV Golf, where he will be hoping to improve on a best finish of T11 at the event, which he achieved in 2018.

Brooks Koepka will be hoping for his first top-10 finish (Image credit: Getty Images)

The American qualified as a result of winning the PGA Championship while on LIV Golf in 2023. One notable absentee is two-time champion Tiger Woods. He is still recovering from back surgery. However, even if he were fit to play, he wouldn't qualify for the tournament as his exemption following his 2019 Masters win expired last year. Below is the full field for the 2026 Players Championship.