The 1997 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 24th Players Championship.

Tournament summary Steve Elkington led wire-to-wire, with all four rounds in the sixties, to win his second Players at 272 (−16), a record seven strokes ahead of runner-up Scott Hoch. Elkington's previous win was six years earlier in 1991.

In his first Players, 21-year-old Tiger Woods tied for 31st at 289 (+1); two weeks later, he won the Masters by a record margin.

Defending champion Fred Couples finished thirteen strokes back, in a tie for tenth place.

Venue

This was the sixteenth Players Championship held at the TPC at Sawgrass Stadium Course, and it remained at .

Eligibility requirements 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 1996 Players Championship.

Fred Couples, Paul Stankowski, Nick Faldo, Loren Roberts, Mark O'Meara, Mark Brooks, Phil Mickelson, Corey Pavin, Steve Stricker, Tom Watson, Ernie Els, Steve Jones, John Cook, D. A. Weibring, Scott Hoch, Tom Lehman, Willie Wood, Justin Leonard, Clarence Rose, Guy Boros, Dudley Hart, Ed Fiori???, Fred Funk, Michael Bradley, Tiger Woods, David Ogrin, Jeff Sluman, Steve Elkington, Stuart Appleby

The top 125 PGA Tour members from the final 1996 Official Money List.

Davis Love III, Brad Faxon, David Duval, Kenny Perry, Greg Norman, Tommy Tolles, Vijay Singh, Jeff Maggert, Jim Furyk, Mark Calcavecchia, Duffy Waldorf, Lee Janzen, Woody Austin, Payne Stewart, Bob Tway, Jay Haas, John Huston, Mark McCumber, Tim Herron, Rocco Mediate, Craig Parry, Paul Goydos, Billy Andrade, Colin Montgomerie, Scott McCarron, Nick Price, Tom Purtzer, Jesper Parnevik, David Frost, Billy Mayfair, Fuzzy Zoeller, Jay Don Blake, Craig Stadler, Jerry Kelly, Andrew Magee, Greg Kraft, Russ Cochran, Lennie Clements, John Morse, Kirk Triplett, Tom Kite, Larry Mize, Scott Simpson, Kelly Gibson, Larry Nelson, Nolan Henke, Grant Waite, Glen Day, Emlyn Aubrey, Jim Gallagher Jr., Joey Sindelar, Rick Fehr, Patrick Burke, Steve Lowery, Frank Nobilo, Marco Dawson, Mike Brisky, Gil Morgan, John Adams, Brad Bryant, Robert Gamez, Joel Edwards, Ronnie Black, Len Mattiace, Mike Hulbert, Brandel Chamblee, Paul Azinger, Phil Blackmar, Brad Fabel, Chip Beck, Joe Ozaki, Olin Browne, Jim Carter, Taylor Smith, Doug Martin, Neal Lancaster, David Toms, David Edwards, Mark Wiebe, Wayne Levi, Hal Sutton, Pete Jordan, Lee Rinker, Chris Perry, John Maginnes, Hugh Royer III, John Wilson, Curtis Strange, Blaine McCallister, Scott Gump, Ben Crenshaw, Dave Stockton Jr., John Daly, Omar Uresti, Dan Forsman, Scott Dunlap, Dicky Pride

Winners in the last 10 calendar years of The Players Championship, Masters Tournament, U.S. Open, PGA Championship, and NEC World Series of Golf.

Sandy Lyle, Ian Woosnam, Bernhard Langer, Wayne Grady, Mike Reid, Fulton Allem

British Open winners since 1990.

Eight players, not otherwise eligible, designated by The Players Championship Committee as "special selections."

Costantino Rocca, Sam Torrance, Robert Allenby, Mark McNulty, Masashi Ozaki, Brian Watts

Any players, not otherwise eligible, who are among the top 10 money winners from the 1997 Official Money List through the Bay Hill Invitational

To complete a field of 144 players, those players in order, not otherwise eligible, from the 1997 Official Money List through the Bay Hill Invitational.

Source:

Field Robert Damron, Joe Durant, Donnie Hammond, Brian Henninger, Peter Jacobsen, Don Pooley, Ted Tryba

Round summaries First round Thursday, March 27, 1997 PlacePlayerScoreTo par1 Steve Elkington 66 −6T2 Mark Calcavecchia 67 −5 Russ Cochran David Edwards Tom Lehman Fuzzy Zoeller T7 Billy Andrade 68 −4 Michael Bradley Ernie Els Jay Haas Sandy Lyle Larry Mize Naomichi Ozaki Tom Purtzer Taylor Smith Dave Stockton Source:

Second round Friday, March 28, 1997 PlacePlayerScoreTo par1 Steve Elkington 66-69=135 −92 Larry Mize 68-68=136 −8T3 David Edwards 67-70=137 −7 Tommy Tolles 70-67=137T3 Tom Lehman 67-71=138 −6 Davis Love III 72-66=138 Craig Parry 71-67=138 Brian Watts 70-68=138 T7 Ernie Els 68-71=139 −5 Brad Faxon 70-69=139 Tom Purtzer 68-71=139 Dave Stockton 68-71=139 Kirk Triplett 71-68=139 Fuzzy Zoeller 67-72=139 Source:

Third round Saturday, March 29, 1997 PlacePlayerScoreTo par1 Steve Elkington 66-69-68=203 −132 Scott Hoch 69-71-65=205 −11 T3 Billy Andrade 68-72-68=208 −8 Tom Purtzer 68-71-69=208 5 Kirk Triplett 71-68-70=209 −7 T6 Mark Brooks 72-68-70=210 −6 Larry Mize 68-68-74=210 Tommy Tolles 70-67-73=210T9 Ernie Els 68-71-72=211 −5 Brad Faxon 70-69-72=211 Robert Gamez 70-73-68=211 Tom Lehman 67-71-73=211 Davis Love III 72-66-73=211 Colin Montgomerie 70-70-71=211 Loren Roberts 70-74-67=211 Source:

Final round Sunday, March 30, 1997 Champion(c) = past champion PlacePlayerScoreTo parMoney ($)1 Steve Elkington (c) 66-69-68-69=272 −16 630,0002 Scott Hoch 69-71-65-74=279 −9 378,0003 Loren Roberts 70-74-67-69=280 −8 238,0004 Brad Faxon 70-69-72-70=281 −7 168,0005 Billy Andrade 68-72-68-74=282 −6 140,0006 Tom Lehman 67-71-73-72=283 −5 126,000T7 Mark Brooks 72-68-70-74=284 −4 109,083 Colin Montgomerie 70-70-71-73=284 Tommy Tolles 70-67-73-74=284T10 Russ Cochran 67-74-72-72=285 −3 84,000 Fred Couples (c) 71-74-71-69=285 Ernie Els 68-71-72-74=285 Kirk Triplett 71-68-70-76=285 Leaderboard below the top 10PlacePlayerScoreTo parMoney ($)T14 Stuart Appleby 71-71-70-74=286 −2 54,250 Paul Azinger 72-72-71-71=286 Michael Bradley 68-74-72-72=286 David Edwards 67-70-76-73=286 Fred Funk 71-75-68-72=286 Larry Mize 68-68-74-76=286 Paul Stankowski 73-70-71-72=286 Fuzzy Zoeller 67-72-73-74=286T22 John Cook 73-69-72-73=287 −1 37,800 Craig Parry 71-67-80-69=287T24 Mark Calcavecchia 67-75-71-75=288 E 27,700 Nick Faldo 71-72-73-72=288 Robert Gamez 70-73-68-77=288 Doug Martin 72-71-75-70=288 Len Mattiace 71-72-71-74=288 Nick Price (c) 75-68-74-71=288 Tom Purtzer 68-71-69-80=288T31 Rick Fehr 74-67-75-73=289 +1 20,300 Bernhard Langer 71-73-75-70=289 Chris Perry 74-71-70-74=289 Joey Sindelar 71-73-73-72=289 Vijay Singh 71-69-74-75=289 Tiger Woods 71-73-72-73=289T37 Nolan Henke 72-73-73-72=290 +2 15,400 Lee Janzen (c) 73-73-74-70=290 Pete Jordan 72-74-73-71=290 Justin Leonard 71-71-70-78=290 Brian Watts 70-68-74-78=290 Willie Wood 74-71-70-75=290T43 David Duval 74-69-74-74=291 +3 11,550 Jay Haas 68-76-74-73=291 Mark McNulty 71-73-69-78=291 Costantino Rocca 74-69-73-75=291 Duffy Waldorf 71-70-75-75=291T48 Peter Jacobsen 75-71-73-73=292 +4 9,345 Omar Uresti 73-69-72-78=292T50 Masashi Ozaki 70-76-71-76=293 +5 8,610 Dave Stockton Jr. 68-71-77-77=293 Hal Sutton (c) 70-71-74-78=293T53 Phil Blackmar 71-74-74-75=294 +6 7,953 Robert Damron 69-72-78-75=294 Jim Furyk 71-74-70-79=294 Andrew Magee 71-71-76-76=294 Gil Morgan 71-72-73-78=294 Greg Norman (c) 71-72-72-79=294 Taylor Smith 68-73-76-77=294 Tom Watson 70-71-79-74=29461 Glen Day 70-72-76-77=295 +7 7,630T62 Jay Don Blake 73-72-72-79=296 +8 7,490 Mike Hulbert 70-71-77-78=296 Mike Reid 71-74-74-77=296T65 Scott Gump 71-75-72-79=297 +9 7,280 Steve Lowery 73-72-74-78=297 Naomichi Ozaki 68-74-74-81=297T68 John Huston 72-70-77-79=298 +10 7,105 Don Pooley 71-74-71-82=298T70 Jim Gallagher Jr. 72-74-75-78=299 +11 6,930 Sandy Lyle (c) 68-74-77-80=299 Mark O'Meara 73-72-76-78=29973 Mike Brisky 71-71-80-79=301 +13 6,79074 John Wilson 70-74-79-79=302 +14 6,72075 Lee Rinker 74-72-77-81=304 +16 6,650CUT Emlyn Aubrey 74-73=147 +3 Jim Carter 72-75=147 Kelly Gibson 71-76=147 Brian Henninger 75-72=147 Neal Lancaster 74-73=147 Billy Mayfair 74-73=147 Rocco Mediate 72-75=147 Corey Pavin 75-72=147 Payne Stewart 69-78=147 Bob Tway 74-73=147 John Adams 74-74=148 +4 Olin Browne 73-75=148 Marco Dawson 74-74=148 Joel Edwards 71-77=148 Tom Kite (c) 75-73=148 Greg Kraft 73-75=148 John Maginnes 74-74=148 Scott Simpson 71-77=148 Jeff Sluman 78-70=148 Ted Tryba 72-76=148 Mark Wiebe 74-74=148 Brandel Chamblee 73-76=149 +5 Lennie Clements 74-75=149 Dudley Hart 76-73=149 Scott McCarron 73-76=149 John Morse 74-75=149 Kenny Perry 73-76=149 Craig Stadler 73-76=149 Steve Stricker 74-75=149 Sam Torrance 78-71=149 Grant Waite 78-71=149 Paul Goydos 77-73=150 +6 Donnie Hammond 74-76=150 Steve Jones 73-77=150 David Ogrin 77-73=150 Jesper Parnevik 75-75=150 Dicky Pride 75-75=150 Woody Austin 76-75=151 +7 Scott Dunlap 75-76=151 Joe Durant 73-78=151 Dan Forsman 76-75=151 Tim Herron 75-76=151 Mark McCumber (c) 77-74=151 Ronnie Black 78-74=152 +8 Larry Nelson 73-79=152 Frank Nobilo 74-78=152 Hugh Royer III 77-75=152 Brad Bryant 75-78=153 +9 Wayne Levi 76-77=153 Phil Mickelson 77-76=153 David Toms 77-76=153 D. A. Weibring 77-76=153 Jerry Kelly 79-75=154 +10 Jeff Maggert 76-78=154 Blaine McCallister 74-80=154 Clarence Rose 74-80=154 Wayne Grady 80-75=155 +11 Curtis Strange 81-74=155 Brad Fabel 78-78=156 +12 Fulton Allem 80-77=157 +13 Chip Beck 77-80=157 Robert Allenby 83-77=160 +16 Ben Crenshaw 81-79=160WD Guy Boros 74 +2 John Daly 76 +4 Ian Woosnam 76 Patrick Burke 80 +8 David Frost 81 +9DQ Davis Love III (c) 72-66-73=211 −5

References

External links The Players Championship website