The 1983 Tournament Players Championship was a golf tournament in Florida on the PGA Tour, held March 24–28 at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, southeast of Jacksonville. It was the tenth Tournament Players Championship.

Heavy rains on Thursday delayed the start until Friday, with the final two rounds planned for Sunday. Thunderstorms on Sunday morning allowed only the third round to be completed, and the final round was held on Monday.

Hal Sutton, age 24, came from four strokes back with a final round 69 to win his second tour event, one stroke ahead of runner-up Bob Eastwood. Later in the year, Sutton won his only major title, the PGA Championship in August at Riviera.

Defending champion Jerry Pate withdrew before the start, due to a lingering neck injury.

Sutton became the youngest champion of the TPC, formerly Mark Hayes, 27 in 1977. It was only for a year, as Fred Couples was five months younger at his win in 1984.

Venue

This was the second Tournament Players Championship held at the TPC at Sawgrass Stadium Course and it remained at . Despite refinements in the past year, the Pete Dye-designed course continued to be scrutinized by many.

Eligibility requirements Top 125 players on Final 1982 Official Money List Players who appear in Top 25 on 1983 Official Money List as of March 14, 1981 Leading 1982 Official Money Winner on the Senior PGA Tour All designated players Any foreign player who meets the requirements of a designated Player, whether or not he is a PGA Tour member Past winners of the Tournament Players Championship, World Series of Golf, PGA Championship, Masters Tournament and U.S. Open since 1973 Three "special selections," as determined by TPC Committee

Source:

Field John Adams, Isao Aoki, George Archer, Seve Ballesteros, Miller Barber, Andy Bean, Chip Beck, Woody Blackburn, Jim Booros, Bill Britton, Brad Bryant, George Burns, Bob Byman, Rex Caldwell, Antonio Cerda Jr., Bobby Clampett, Lennie Clements, Jim Colbert, Bobby Cole, Frank Conner, Charles Coody, John Cook, Fred Couples, Ben Crenshaw, Jim Dent, Bruce Devlin, Terry Diehl, Mike Donald, Bob Eastwood, Danny Edwards, David Edwards, Dave Eichelberger, Lee Elder, Nick Faldo, Keith Fergus, Forrest Fezler, Ed Fiori, Bruce Fleisher, Raymond Floyd, John Fought, Al Geiberger, Gibby Gilbert, Bob Gilder, David Graham, Lou Graham, Thomas Gray, Hubert Green, Jay Haas, Gary Hallberg, Dan Halldorson, Phil Hancock, Morris Hatalsky, Vance Heafner, Lon Hinkle, Scott Hoch, Mike Holland, Joe Inman, Hale Irwin, Peter Jacobsen, Barry Jaeckel, Tom Jenkins, Tom Kite, Gary Koch, Wayne Levi, Bruce Lietzke, Pat Lindsey, Mark Lye, John Mahaffey, Roger Maltbie, Mike McCullough, Mark McCumber, Pat McGowan, Mark McNulty, Steve Melnyk, Allen Miller, Johnny Miller, Jeff Mitchell, Larry Mize, Gil Morgan, Jodie Mudd, Bob Murphy, Tsuneyuki Nakajima, Jim Nelford, Larry Nelson, Jack Nicklaus, Mike Nicolette, Greg Norman, Tim Norris, Andy North, Mark O'Meara, Peter Oosterhuis, Arnold Palmer, Calvin Peete, Mark Pfeil, Dan Pohl, Don Pooley, Greg Powers, Tom Purtzer, Victor Regalado, Mike Reid, Jack Renner, Bill Rogers, Clarence Rose, Bob Shearer, Jim Simons, Scott Simpson, Tim Simpson, J. C. Snead, Ed Sneed, Craig Stadler, Payne Stewart, Curtis Strange, Ron Streck, Mike Sullivan, Hal Sutton, Doug Tewell, Leonard Thompson, Jim Thorpe, Lee Trevino, Howard Twitty, Tommy Valentine, Bobby Wadkins, Lanny Wadkins, Denis Watson, Tom Watson, D. A. Weibring, Tom Weiskopf, Larry Ziegler, Fuzzy Zoeller Defending champion Jerry Pate withdrew due to a lingering neck injury.

Round summaries First round Friday, March 25, 1983

Rain washed out play on Thursday, and the final two rounds were rescheduled for Sunday. PlacePlayerScoreTo par1 Bruce Lietzke 68 −4 T2 Bobby Clampett 69 −3 John Cook Bob Eastwood Mark McCumber Leonard Thompson T7 Ben Crenshaw 70 −2 Danny Edwards Raymond Floyd Peter Oosterhuis Tom Weiskopf Source:

Second round Saturday, March 26, 1983

With two rounds planned for Sunday, the cut was set at 149 (+5), reducing the field to 67. The eight players on 150, who would normally have made the cut, received prize money. PlacePlayerScoreTo par1 John Cook 69-70=139 −5 T2 Bobby Clampett 69-72=141 −3 Peter Jacobsen 73-68=141 Don Pooley 71-70=141 J. C. Snead 71-70=141 6 Bob Murphy 72-70=142 −2 T7 Lennie Clements 73-70=143 −1 Vance Heafner 72-71=143 Bruce Lietzke 68-75=143 Tsuneyuki Nakajima 71-72=143 Source:

Third round Sunday, March 27, 1983

Officials had hoped to complete the event with 36 holes on Sunday. Thunderstorms in the morning delayed play for three hours, and the final round was moved to Monday. PlacePlayerScoreTo par1 John Cook 69-70-71=210 −6 2 Bobby Clampett 69-72-70=211 −5 3 Vance Heafner 72-71-69=212 −4 T4 Ben Crenshaw 70-74-69=213 −3 Peter Jacobsen 73-68-72=213 Don Pooley 71-70-72=213 T7 Bruce Lietzke 68-75-71=214 −2 Hal Sutton 73-71-70=214 9 Bob Eastwood 69-75-71=215 −1 T10 Keith Fergus 74-71-71=216 E Ed Fiori 72-73-71=216 Gil Morgan 74-72-70=216 Tsuneyuki Nakajima 71-72-73=216 J. C. Snead 71-70-75=216 Source:

Final round Monday, March 28, 1983 Champion(c) = past champion PlacePlayerScoreTo parMoney ($)1 Hal Sutton 73-71-70-69=283 −5 126,0002 Bob Eastwood 69-75-71-69=284 −4 75,600T3 John Cook 69-70-71-75=285 −3 36,400 Bruce Lietzke 68-75-71-71=285 John Mahaffey 72-74-72-67=285T6 Vance Heafner 72-71-69-74=286 −2 24,325 Doug Tewell 72-74-70-70=286T8 Ed Fiori 72-73-71-71=287 −1 21,000 Curtis Strange 72-75-70-70=287T10 Bobby Clampett 69-72-70-77=288 E 17,500 Ben Crenshaw 70-74-69-75=288 Don Pooley 71-70-72-75=288 Leaderboard below the top 10PlacePlayerScoreTo parMoney ($)T13 Keith Fergus 74-71-71-73=289 +1 13,533 Wayne Levi 72-74-71-72=289 Larry Mize 72-76-72-69=289T16 Peter Jacobsen 73-68-72-77=290 +2 11,200 Johnny Miller 73-73-73-71=290 Tsuneyuki Nakajima 71-72-73-74=290T19 Lennie Clements 73-70-74-74=291 +3 8,785 Jack Nicklaus (c) 73-76-68-74=291 Tom Purtzer 71-73-76-71=291 Tom Watson 75-74-70-72=291T23 Terry Diehl 73-71-75-73=292 +4 6,440 Raymond Floyd (c) 70-76-72-74=292 Barry Jaeckel 73-71-74-74=292 Gil Morgan 74-72-70-76=292T27 Danny Edwards 70-77-73-73=293 +5 4,970 Bruce Fleisher 73-75-75-70=293 Tom Kite 72-75-73-73=293 Mike McCullough 74-74-73-72=293 Leonard Thompson 69-76-74-74=293T32 Joe Inman 72-72-74-76=294 +6 4,142 Bob Murphy 72-70-77-75=294 J. C. Snead 71-70-75-78=294T35 John Adams 74-74-76-71=295 +7 3,304 Seve Ballesteros 72-75-70-78=295 David Edwards 72-75-73-75=295 Nick Faldo 74-74-72-75=295 Bob Gilder 72-73-74-76=295 David Graham 73-72-74-76=295 Calvin Peete 73-73-77-72=29542 Allen Miller 75-74-72-75=296 +8 2,730T43 Isao Aoki 75-74-75-73=297 +9 2,244 Frank Conner 73-75-75-74=297 Dave Eichelberger 76-73-73-75=297 Gary Koch 77-71-79-70=297 Tim Norris 74-74-76-73=297 Peter Oosterhuis 70-78-73-76=297T49 Charles Coody 76-72-79-71=298 +10 1,727 Hale Irwin 75-72-72-79=298 Mark McCumber 69-77-75-77=298 Mark O'Meara 71-77-74-76=298 Bobby Wadkins 72-75-74-77=298T54 Arnold Palmer 77-72-76-74=299 +11 1,617 Jim Thorpe 73-75-77-74=299T56 Al Geiberger (c) 72-74-74-80=300 +12 1,568 Gibby Gilbert 72-74-75-79=300 Lon Hinkle 74-73-73-80=300 Ron Streck 71-77-76-76=300 Tom Weiskopf 70-77-81-72=300T61 Jim Nelford 72-77-72-80=301 +13 1,519 Scott Simpson 75-74-76-76=301T63 Greg Norman 71-77-76-78=302 +14 1,498 Craig Stadler 74-74-70-84=30265 Mark Pfeil 71-75-81-77=304 +16 1,47066 Jim Colbert 72-77-83-73=305 +17 1,456WD Mike Nicolette 73-71-79=223 +7 1,442T68 Jim Dent 75-75=150 +6 1,379 Tom Jenkins 79-71=150 Roger Maltbie 71-79=150 Bill Rogers 74-76=150 Bob Shearer 78-72=150 Jim Simons 73-77=150 Lee Trevino (c) 77-73=150 Howard Twitty 78-72=150CUT Chip Beck 75-76=151 +7 Thomas Gray 76-75=151 Hubert Green 74-77=151 Scott Hoch 77-74=151 Pat Lindsey 78-73=151 Mark McNulty 73-78=151 Dan Pohl 76-75=151 Clarence Rose 76-75=151 Ed Sneed 75-76=151 Brad Bryant 75-77=152 +8 George Burns 78-74=152 Rex Caldwell 71-81=152 Lee Elder 77-75=152 Forrest Fezler 78-74=152 John Fought 76-76=152 Dan Halldorson 78-74=152 Phil Hancock 77-75=152 Steve Melnyk 79-73=152 Tim Simpson 75-77=152 George Archer 75-78=153 +9 Antonio Cerda Jr. 74-79=153 Jack Renner 78-75=153 Miller Barber 77-77=154 +10 Woody Blackburn 75-79=154 Bruce Devlin 76-78=154 Mike Donald 78-76=154 Gary Hallberg 76-78=154 Morris Hatalsky 76-78=154 Pat McGowan 80-74=154 D. A. Weibring 80-74=154 Andy North 77-78=155 +11 Tommy Valentine 73-82=155 Andy Bean 73-83=156 +12 Bill Britton 79-77=156 Mark Lye 74-82=156 Payne Stewart 78-78=156 Lanny Wadkins (c) 76-80=156 Denis Watson 79-78=157 +13 Mike Reid 82-76=158 +14 Jeff Mitchell 81-78=159 +15 Larry Ziegler 75-84=159 Jodie Mudd 78-82=160 +16 Jim Booros 82-79=161 +17 Bob Byman 80-81=161 Mike Holland 75-86=161 Larry Nelson 83-78=161 Greg Powers 84-78=162 +18 Fuzzy Zoeller 82-80=162 Victor Regalado 83-80=163 +19 Bobby Cole 86-79=165 +21 Fred Couples 81-84=165WD Lou Graham 77 +5 Jay Haas 80 +8DQ Mike Sullivan 76 +4

References

External links The Players Championship website