The 1998 Players Championship was a golf tournament in Florida on the PGA Tour, held at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, southeast of Jacksonville. It was the 25th Players Championship.
Tournament summary Defending champion Steve Elkington withdrew on Monday night, citing complications after sinus surgery. He was the first defending champion that did not compete since Jerry Pate in 1983. In addition, Greg Norman, the 1994 champion, withdrew prior to the first round with a shoulder injury.
Lee Janzen, who won the tournament three years previous, held the lead after third round. However, he shot a final round 79 and fell to eighteenth. Journeyman Len Mattiace took advantage, surging into the lead. However, he scored a quintuple-bogey at the par-3 17th hole to end his chances. He birdied the final hole though to finish in the top five. Five strokes back, Justin Leonard shot a final round 67 to win at 278 (−10), two ahead of runners-up Glen Day and Tom Lehman.
Venue
This was the seventeenth Players Championship held at the TPC at Sawgrass Stadium Course; it was extended this year to , an increase of .
Field 1. All winners of PGA Tour events awarding official money and official victory status in the preceding 12 months, concluding with the Bay Hill Invitational and dating from the 1997 Players Championship
Phil Blackmar Michael Bradley Mark Calcavecchia Stewart Cink Fred Couples David Duval Ernie Els Brad Faxon David Frost Tim Herron Gabriel Hjertstedt Scott Hoch John Huston Steve Jones Justin Leonard Davis Love III Billy Mayfair Scott McCarron Phil Mickelson Frank Nobilo Jesper Parnevik Nick Price Billy Ray Brown Loren Roberts Scott Simpson Vijay Singh David Toms Tiger Woods
2. The top 125 PGA Tour players from the final 1997 Official Money List
John Adams Fulton Allem Billy Andrade Stuart Appleby Paul Azinger Doug Barron Ronnie Black Guy Boros Mike Brisky Mark Brooks Olin Browne Tom Byrum Jim Carter Brandel Chamblee Michael Christie Darren Clarke Lennie Clements Russ Cochran John Cook Robert Damron Glen Day Jay Don Blake Joe Durant David Edwards Bob Estes Brad Fabel Nick Faldo Rick Fehr Dan Forsman Fred Funk Jim Furyk Robert Gamez Brent Geiberger Kelly Gibson Paul Goydos Scott Gump Jay Haas Donnie Hammond Dudley Hart Nolan Henke Brian Henninger P. H. Horgan III Mike Hulbert Lee Janzen Pete Jordan Jerry Kelly Skip Kendall Tom Kite Neal Lancaster Tom Lehman Frank Lickliter Steve Lowery Andrew Magee Jeff Maggert Doug Martin Len Mattiace Rocco Mediate Larry Mize Colin Montgomerie Larry Nelson David Ogrin Mark O'Meara Joe Ozaki Craig Parry Steve Pate Chris Perry Kenny Perry Don Pooley Mike Reid Lee Rinker Larry Rinker Clarence Rose Joey Sindelar Jeff Sluman Mike Springer Craig Stadler Mike Standly Paul Stankowski Payne Stewart David Sutherland Kevin Sutherland Hal Sutton Phil Tataurangi Tommy Tolles Kirk Triplett Ted Tryba Bob Tway Omar Uresti Grant Waite Duffy Waldorf Tom Watson Mark Wiebe Willie Wood
3. Winners in the last 10 calendar years of The Players Championship, Masters Tournament, U.S. Open, PGA Championship, and NEC World Series of Golf
Ben Crenshaw John Daly Wayne Grady Bernhard Langer Sandy Lyle José María Olazábal Mark McCumber Corey Pavin Tom Purtzer Curtis Strange Ian Woosnam
4. British Open winners since 1990
5. Up to eight players, not otherwise eligible, designated by The Players Championship Committee as "special selections"
Retief Goosen Per-Ulrik Johansson Shigeki Maruyama Masashi Ozaki Costantino Rocca Lee Westwood
6. Any players, not otherwise eligible, who are among the top 10 money winners from the 1998 Official Money List through the Bay Hill Invitational
7. To complete a field of 144 players, those players in order, not otherwise eligible, from the 1998 Official Money List through the Bay Hill Invitational
Stephen Ames Tommy Armour III Trevor Dodds Bruce Lietzke Steve Stricker Scott Verplank
Source:
Round summaries First round Thursday, March 26, 1998 PlacePlayerScoreTo par1 Glen Day 66 −6 T2 Fred Couples 67 −5 Rocco Mediate 4 Jerry Kelly 68 −4 T5 Mark Calcavecchia 69 −3 Ben Crenshaw David Duval David Frost Nolan Henke Per-Ulrik Johansson Bruce Lietzke Jeff Maggert Len Mattiace Billy Mayfair Phil Mickelson Naomichi Ozaki Source:
Second round Friday, March 27, 1998 PlacePlayerScoreTo parT1 Lee Janzen 70-67=137 −7 Naomichi Ozaki 69-68=1372 Tom Kite 72-66=138 −6 T3 Glen Day 66-73=139 −5 Jerry Kelly 68-71=139 Bruce Lietzke 69-70=139T6 Fred Couples 67-73=140 −4 David Frost 69-71=140 Scott Gump 72-68=140 Jeff Maggert 69-71=140 Len Mattiace 69-71=140 Rocco Mediate 67-73=140 Source:
Third round Saturday, March 28, 1998 PlacePlayerScoreTo par1 Lee Janzen 70-67-69=206 −10 2 Glen Day 66-73-70=209 −7 3 Justin Leonard 72-69-70=211 −5 T4 Mark Calcavecchia 69-75-68=212 −4 Scott Hoch 73-69-70=212 Tom Lehman 72-70-70=212 Len Mattiace 69-71-72=212 Phil Mickelson 69-73-70=212T9 Fred Couples 67-73-73=213 −3 Ernie Els 71-72-70=213 David Frost 69-71-73=213 Bruce Lietzke 69-70-74=213 Billy Mayfair 69-75-69=213 Naomichi Ozaki 69-68-76=213 Nick Price 71-72-70=213 Craig Stadler 71-70-72=213 Omar Uresti 72-71-70=213 Lee Westwood 74-71-68=213 Source:
Final round Sunday, March 29, 1998 Champion(c) = past champion PlacePlayerScoreTo parMoney ($)1 Justin Leonard 72-69-70-67=278 −10 720,000T2 Glen Day 66-73-70-71=280 −8 352,000 Tom Lehman 72-70-70-68=2804 Mark Calcavecchia 69-75-68-69=281 −7 192,000T5 Scott Hoch 73-69-70-70=282 −6 146,000 Len Mattiace 69-71-72-70=282 Lee Westwood 74-71-68-69=282T8 Phil Mickelson 69-73-70-71=283 −5 116,000 Nick Price (c) 71-72-70-70=283 Payne Stewart 72-71-75-65=283 Leaderboard below the top 10PlacePlayerScoreTo parMoney ($)T11 Ernie Els 71-72-70-71=284 −4 96,000 Scott Verplank 71-71-72-70=284T13 John Cook 71-73-71-70=285 −3 77,333 Lee Janzen (c) 70-67-69-79=285 Bruce Lietzke 69-70-74-72=285T16 John Daly 71-70-76-69=286 −2 66,000 David Sutherland 72-73-69-72=286T18 Doug Barron 71-72-74-70=287 −1 48,685 David Duval 69-77-70-71=287 Nick Faldo 75-69-70-73=287 Naomichi Ozaki 69-68-76-74=287 Hal Sutton (c) 74-69-74-70=287 Bob Tway 72-71-75-69=287 Omar Uresti 72-71-70-74=287T25 Dudley Hart 74-70-71-73=288 E 30,533 Steve Jones 71-71-73-73=288 Tom Kite (c) 72-66-78-72=288 José María Olazábal 72-74-70-72=288 Jesper Parnevik 72-72-72-72=288 Lee Rinker 72-73-72-71=288T31 Tommy Armour III 71-75-71-72=289 +1 24,250 Jerry Kelly 68-71-77-73=289 Larry Mize 73-73-73-70=289 Craig Stadler 71-70-72-76=289T35 Billy Andrade 70-74-75-71=290 +2 18,885 Brad Faxon 71-73-72-74=290 Jim Furyk 70-75-73-72=290 Scott McCarron 72-72-71-75=290 Kirk Triplett 71-71-73-75=290 Tom Watson 71-74-71-74=290 Tiger Woods 72-73-73-72=290T42 Brandel Chamblee 72-73-76-70=291 +3 12,560 Stewart Cink 71-73-74-73=291 Fred Couples (c) 67-73-73-78=291 Bob Estes 72-70-74-75=291 David Frost 69-71-73-78=291 Billy Mayfair 69-75-69-78=291 Mark O'Meara 70-75-72-74=291 Steve Pate 71-71-74-75=291 Kevin Sutherland 72-70-73-76=291T51 Michael Bradley 74-72-76-70=292 +4 9,626 Jeff Maggert 69-71-76-76=292 Steve Stricker 74-72-70-76=292T54 Scott Gump 72-68-76-77=293 +5 9,200 Per-Ulrik Johansson 69-74-78-72=293 Vijay Singh 72-71-75-75=293T57 Paul Goydos 72-70-80-72=294 +6 8,920 Nolan Henke 69-73-77-75=294 Davis Love III (c) 73-72-69-80=294 Rocco Mediate 67-73-77-77=294T61 Joey Sindelar 73-69-81-72=295 +7 8,680 Ted Tryba 70-74-72-79=295T63 Robert Gamez 74-72-77-73=296 +8 8,480 Frank Nobilo 72-72-75-77=296 Grant Waite 76-70-75-75=296T66 Phil Blackmar 72-74-76-75=297 +9 8,280 Brian Henninger 73-72-73-79=29768 Skip Kendall 74-72-73-79=298 +10 8,160T69 Fred Funk 73-73-75-78=299 +11 8,040 Donnie Hammond 71-75-72-81=299T71 Larry Rinker 78-67-81-74=300 +12 7,880 Mark Wiebe 76-69-76-79=300CUT Stuart Appleby 72-75=147 +3 Robert Damron 71-76=147 Brad Fabel 75-72=147 Brent Geiberger 74-73=147 John Huston 72-75=147 Shigeki Maruyama 74-73=147 Larry Nelson 74-73=147 Mike Reid 74-73=147 David Toms 71-76=147 Willie Wood 73-74=147 Fulton Allem 74-74=148 +4 Ronnie Black 70-78=148 Mark Brooks 73-75=148 David Edwards 73-75=148 Kelly Gibson 75-73=148 P. H. Horgan III 76-72=148 Colin Montgomerie 74-74=148 David Ogrin 74-74=148 Corey Pavin 75-73=148 Chris Perry 72-76=148 Don Pooley 75-73=148 Curtis Strange 78-70=148 Retief Goosen 71-78=149 +5 Tim Herron 74-75=149 Neal Lancaster 76-73=149 Frank Lickliter 77-72=149 Steve Lowery 71-78=149 Sandy Lyle (c) 74-75=149 Kenny Perry 74-75=149 Loren Roberts 75-74=149 Mike Standly 73-76=149 Phil Tataurangi 75-74=149 Tommy Tolles 77-72=149 John Adams 74-76=150 +6 Ben Crenshaw 69-81=150 Rick Fehr 77-73=150 Gabriel Hjertstedt 74-76=150 Doug Martin 74-76=150 Jeff Sluman 74-76=150 Duffy Waldorf 75-75=150 Russ Cochran 72-79=151 +7 Jay Haas 74-77=151 Bernhard Langer 80-71=151 Craig Parry 73-78=151 Clarence Rose 76-75=151 Mike Brisky 80-72=152 +8 Olin Browne 78-74=152 Trevor Dodds 76-76=152 Mike Hulbert 73-79=152 Pete Jordan 73-79=152 Andrew Magee 71-81=152 Costantino Rocca 76-76=152 Michael Christie 81-72=153 +9 Darren Clarke 74-79=153 Scott Simpson 75-78=153 Tom Byrum 79-75=154 +10 Mark McCumber (c) 77-77=154 Masashi Ozaki 77-77=154 Tom Purtzer 77-77=154 Guy Boros 75-80=155 +11 Stephen Ames 71-85=156 +12 Joe Durant 75-81=156 Wayne Grady 76-81=157 +13 Billy Ray Brown 81-77=158 +14 Jim Carter 78-81=159 +15 Lennie Clements 78-81=159 Mike Springer 79-81=160 +16 Paul Azinger 80-81=161 +17WD Paul Stankowski 75 +3 Jay Don Blake 78 +6 Dan Forsman 78 Ian Woosnam
References
External links The Players Championship website