The 1980 Tournament Players Championship was a golf tournament in Florida on the PGA Tour, held March 20–23 at Sawgrass Country Club in Ponte Vedra Beach, southeast of Jacksonville. The seventh Tournament Players Championship, it was the fourth at Sawgrass and Lee Trevino won at 278 (−10), one stroke ahead of runner-up Ben Crenshaw.
Defending champion Lanny Wadkins finished thirteen strokes back, in a tie for 45th place.
Venue
This was the fourth of five Tournament Players Championships held at Sawgrass Country Club; it moved to the nearby TPC at Sawgrass Stadium Course in 1982. At the time it was scheduled to be the last at Sawgrass, but early construction delays due to weather caused the championship to return for a fifth and final year in 1981.
Eligibility requirements 1. All designated players
Andy Bean (2), Ben Crenshaw (2), Lee Elder, Raymond Floyd (2), Al Geiberger (2), Bob Gilder, David Graham (2), Lou Graham (2), Hubert Green (2), Mark Hayes, Lon Hinkle (2), Hale Irwin (2), Tom Kite, Wayne Levi (2), Bruce Lietzke, John Mahaffey, Jerry McGee (2), Gil Morgan (2), Larry Nelson (2), Jack Nicklaus, Andy North, Jerry Pate, Calvin Peete (2), Gary Player, Tom Purtzer, Jack Renner (2), Bill Rogers, J. C. Snead, Ed Sneed, Dave Stockton, Curtis Strange (2), Lee Trevino (2), Howard Twitty (2), Bobby Wadkins, Lanny Wadkins (2), Tom Watson (2), Fuzzy Zoeller (2)
2. Winners of major PGA Tour co-sponsored or approved events beginning with the 1979 Players Championship and concluding with the tournament immediately preceding the 1980 Players Championship
Bobby Walzel, Chi-Chi Rodríguez, D. A. Weibring, John Fought, Ed Fiori, George Burns, Craig Stadler, Jeff Mitchell, Jim Colbert, Dave Eichelberger, Johnny Miller
3. The current British Open champion
Seve Ballesteros
4. Leaders in the PGA Tour Official Standings as necessary to complete the field, beginning with the 1979 Players Championship and concluding with the Jackie Gleason-Inverrary Classic, which concludes March 9, 1980
Source:
Field Tommy Aaron, Buddy Allin, George Archer, Wally Armstrong, Seve Ballesteros, Miller Barber, Andy Bean, Don Bies, Mike Brannan, Brad Bryant, George Burns, Bob Byman, George Cadle, Rex Caldwell, Bill Calfee, Jim Chancey, Jim Colbert, Frank Conner, Charles Coody, Ben Crenshaw, Rod Curl, Jim Dent, Bruce Devlin, Terry Diehl, Ed Dougherty, Bob Eastwood, Danny Edwards, David Edwards, David Eger, Dave Eichelberger, Lee Elder, Keith Fergus, Forrest Fezler, Ed Fiori, Bruce Fleisher, Raymond Floyd, John Fought, Rod Funseth, Buddy Gardner, Gibby Gilbert, Bob Gilder, David Graham, Lou Graham, Hubert Green, Jay Haas, Dan Halldorson, Phil Hancock, Morris Hatalsky, Mark Hayes, Dave Hill, Mike Hill, Lon Hinkle, Joe Inman, Hale Irwin, Peter Jacobsen, Barry Jaeckel, Don January, Grier Jones, Tom Kite, Gary Koch, Billy Kratzert, Stan Lee, Wayne Levi, Bruce Lietzke, John Lister, Gene Littler, Mark Lye, John Mahaffey, Bob Mann, Graham Marsh, Fred Marti, Rik Massengale, Terry Mauney, Gary McCord, Mike McCullough, Mark McCumber, Jerry McGee, Pat McGowan, Artie McNickle, Steve Melnyk, Allen Miller, Johnny Miller, Lindy Miller, Jeff Mitchell, Orville Moody, Gil Morgan, Mike Morley, Bob Murphy, Jim Nelford, Larry Nelson, Jack Newton, Jack Nicklaus, Lonnie Nielsen, Andy North, Peter Oosterhuis, Jerry Pate, Eddie Pearce, Calvin Peete, Mark Pfeil, Gary Player, Dan Pohl, Don Pooley, Greg Powers, Tom Purtzer, Dana Quigley, Sammy Rachels, Victor Regalado, Mike Reid, Jack Renner, Chi-Chi Rodríguez, Bill Rogers, Bill Sander, Cesar Sanudo, John Schroeder, Bob Shearer, Jim Simons, Scott Simpson, Tim Simpson, Bob E. Smith, J. C. Snead, Ed Sneed, Craig Stadler, Ken Still, Dave Stockton, Curtis Strange, Ron Streck, Mike Sullivan, Alan Tapie, Doug Tewell, Barney Thompson, Leonard Thompson, Jim Thorpe, Lee Trevino, Howard Twitty, Bobby Wadkins, Lanny Wadkins, Bobby Walzel, Tom Watson, D. A. Weibring, Tom Weiskopf, Kermit Zarley, Bob Zender, Larry Ziegler, Fuzzy Zoeller
Round summaries First round Thursday, March 20, 1980 PlacePlayerScoreTo parT1 Hale Irwin 67 −5 Steve MelnykT3 George Burns 68 −4 Bill Calfee Danny Edwards Joe Inman Peter Jacobsen Mike Morley Ed Sneed Curtis Strange Ron Streck Lee Trevino Source:
Second round Friday, March 21, 1980 PlacePlayerScoreTo parT1 Hale Irwin 67-72=139 −5 Curtis Strange 68-71=139T3 Steve Melnyk 67-73=140 −4 Lee Trevino 68-72=140 Tom Watson 69-71=140T6 John Mahaffey 70-71=141 −3 Gary Player 70-71=141 Greg Powers 72-69=141 J. C. Snead 70-71=141T10 Seve Ballesteros 69-73=142 −2 George Burns 68-74=142 Bill Calfee 68-74=142 Danny Edwards 68-74=142 Peter Jacobsen 68-74=142 Jack Nicklaus 69-73=142 Don Pooley 69-73=142 Mike Reid 70-72=142 Source:
Third round Saturday, March 22, 1980 PlacePlayerScoreTo par1 Lee Trevino 68-72-68=208 −8 2 Hubert Green 72-71-66=209 −7 T3 Gary Player 70-71-69=210 −6 Curtis Strange 68-71-71=210T5 Seve Ballesteros 69-73-69=211 −5 Peter Jacobsen 68-74-69=211 Jack Nicklaus 69-73-69=211 Don Pooley 69-73-69=211T9 Brad Bryant 72-71-69=212 −4 Jay Haas 72-73-67=212 Hale Irwin 67-72-73=212 Tom Watson 69-71-72=212 Source:
Final round Sunday, March 23, 1980 Champion(c) = past champion PlacePlayerScoreTo parMoney ($)1 Lee Trevino 68-72-68-70=278 −10 72,0002 Ben Crenshaw 71-73-69-66=279 −9 43,200T3 Seve Ballesteros 69-73-69-69=280 −8 23,200 Tom Watson 69-71-72-68=280T5 Peter Jacobsen 68-74-69-71=282 −6 14,600 John Mahaffey 70-71-72-69=282 Mike Reid 70-72-72-68=282T8 Danny Edwards 68-74-72-69=283 −5 10,400 Hubert Green 72-71-66-74=283 Jay Haas 72-73-67-71=283 Grier Jones 74-69-72-68=283 Gary Player 70-71-69-73=283 Dan Pohl 73-72-69-69=283 Leaderboard below the top 10PlacePlayerScoreTo parMoney ($)T14 Brad Bryant 72-71-69-72=284 −4 6,400 Jim Colbert 71-73-69-71=284 Charles Coody 69-75-69-71=284 Keith Fergus 70-73-70-71=284 Hale Irwin 67-72-73-72=284 Jack Nicklaus (c) 69-73-69-73=284 Don Pooley 69-73-69-73=28421 Curtis Strange 68-71-71-75=285 −3 4,800T22 Bill Calfee 68-74-73-71=286 −2 4,320 Dan Halldorson 72-74-68-72=286T24 George Burns 68-74-71-74=287 −1 3,165 Bruce Fleisher 71-73-71-72=287 Bruce Lietzke 72-74-74-67=287 Fred Marti 73-73-73-68=287 Rik Massengale 74-71-72-70=287 Mike McCullough 71-76-68-72=287 Steve Melnyk 67-73-76-71=287T31 Gibby Gilbert 70-75-75-68=288 E 2,220 Mike Hill 70-75-71-72=288 Tom Kite 74-72-69-73=288 Johnny Miller 76-71-71-70=288 Gil Morgan 70-78-71-69=288 Bill Rogers 69-77-71-71=288 J. C. Snead 70-71-73-74=288 Howard Twitty 75-70-71-72=288T39 Bob Eastwood 73-75-70-71=289 +1 1,760 Lon Hinkle 70-74-71-74=289T41 Mike Brannan 71-75-75-69=290 +2 1,520 David Graham 70-74-72-74=290 Jerry McGee 71-75-71-73=290 Chi-Chi Rodríguez 70-73-74-73=290T45 Mark Hayes (c) 70-75-75-71=291 +3 1,144 Tim Simpson 70-74-73-74=291 Dave Stockton 73-70-74-74=291 Ron Streck 68-77-70-76=291 Jim Thorpe 72-73-71-75=291 Lanny Wadkins (c) 69-76-72-74=291T51 Andy Bean 71-73-76-72=292 +4 954 Scott Simpson 71-74-77-70=292 Alan Tapie 72-75-72-73=292 Barney Thompson 70-74-77-71=292T55 Jeff Mitchell 71-77-74-71=293 +5 904 Jack Newton 73-75-72-73=293 Greg Powers 72-69-78-74=293 Leonard Thompson 70-76-74-73=293 Tom Weiskopf 73-73-74-73=293T60 Buddy Gardner 70-74-77-73=294 +6 868 Lou Graham 71-77-74-72=294 Joe Inman 68-75-78-73=294 Jim Nelford 74-72-75-73=294T64 Terry Mauney 72-75-72-76=295 +7 840 Bob Murphy 73-75-77-70=295 D. A. Weibring 73-73-75-74=295T67 Lee Elder 73-73-76-74=296 +8 816 Victor Regalado 73-75-75-73=296 Craig Stadler 73-74-70-79=296T70 Rod Funseth 70-76-76-75=297 +9 792 Calvin Peete 73-72-77-75=297 Ed Sneed 68-78-78-73=297T73 John Fought 72-75-77-74=298 +10 772 Lonnie Nielsen 71-73-75-79=298T75 Wally Armstrong 72-76-73-78=299 +11 756 Bob E. Smith 72-76-78-73=29977 Terry Diehl 73-75-82-71=301 +13 75078 Mark Lye 73-74-78-78=303 +15 75079 David Edwards 75-73-80-79=307 +19 750CUT Buddy Allin 74-75=149 +5 George Cadle 74-75=149 Rod Curl 69-80=149 David Eger 75-74=149 Raymond Floyd 73-76=149 Pat McGowan 70-79=149 Andy North 77-72=149 Jerry Pate 72-77=149 Tom Purtzer 74-75=149 Bob Shearer 71-78=149 Bobby Wadkins 70-79=149 Tommy Aaron 75-75=150 +6 Rex Caldwell 73-77=150 Frank Conner 74-76=150 Bruce Devlin 74-76=150 Ed Dougherty 75-75=150 Gene Littler 69-81=150 Bob Mann 73-77=150 Ken Still 78-72=150 Larry Ziegler 73-77=150 Don Bies 72-79=151 +7 Graham Marsh 73-78=151 Mark Pfeil 74-77=151 Sammy Rachels 72-79=151 Jack Renner 76-75=151 Cesar Sanudo 78-73=151 Jim Simons 70-81=151 Miller Barber 75-77=152 +8 Bob Gilder 77-75=152 Phil Hancock 74-78=152 Morris Hatalsky 78-74=152 Barry Jaeckel 75-77=152 Gary Koch 77-75=152 Gary McCord 78-74=152 Mark McCumber 74-78=152 Orville Moody 76-76=152 Peter Oosterhuis 77-75=152 Eddie Pearce 72-80=152 Bob Byman 72-81=153 +9 Jim Chancey 74-79=153 Dave Hill 72-81=153 Billy Kratzert 73-80=153 John Lister 79-74=153 Dana Quigley 74-79=153 Doug Tewell 77-76=153 Kermit Zarley 76-77=153 George Archer 75-79=154 +10 Forrest Fezler 77-77=154 Stan Lee 74-80=154 John Schroeder 76-78=154 Bob Zender 79-75=154 Fuzzy Zoeller 79-75=154 Dave Eichelberger 81-74=155 +11 Mike Sullivan 76-79=155 Don January 77-79=156 +12 Allen Miller 73-83=156 Lindy Miller 77-79=156 Bill Sander 72-85=157 +13 Bobby Walzel 75-84=159 +15 Jim Dent 77-83=160 +16WD Artie McNickle 73 +1 Wayne Levi 76 +4 Ed Fiori DQ Larry Nelson 69-78=147 +3 Mike Morley 68 −4
References
External links The Players Championship website