Advertisement

World's top players vie for Players title

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla., March 24 (UPI) -- World No. 1 Tiger Woods and defending champion Davis Love III lead the field in the tournament nicknamed the "fifth major" -- the Players Championship.

The tournament opens Thursday at Sawgrass with a top prize of $1.17 million and 48 of the world's top 50 players in contention.

Advertisement

Woods had his worst result in five years in last week's Bay Hill Invitational, finishing 46th.

"Every player has their hot streaks, has their lows," said Woods, who had won at Bay Hill four straight years.

Love shot an 8-under-par 64 to win the Players title by six strokes last year over Jay Haas and Padraig Harrington.

Also competing this week are Chad Campbell, who won at Bay Hill, and Colin Montgomerie of Scotland, the winner Sunday at the Caltex Masters in Singapore.

Vijayh Singh, Phil Mickelsen, Ernie Els, Mike Weir, John Daly, Stuart Appleby, Shigeki Maruyama and Darren Clarke are among other conenders.

Advertisement

The only two missing from the world's top 50 will be Jim Furyk, out with a wrist injury, and Rocco Mediate, who withdrew because of back pain.

Latest Headlines