After the ongoing Arnold Palmer Invitational 2026 outing, PGA Tour will travel to TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida next week for The Players Championship. The 52nd edition of the competition will be played as the circuit pushes to convert it into a major championship.
The latest edition of The Players will see defending champion Rory McIlroy and 2024 champion Scottie Scheffler among the stacked field of 121 golfers. The golfers will take on each other for the $4.5 million winner’s check and the 750 FedEx Cup points on offer. For the unversed, both Scheffler and McIlroy are committed to the event despite teeing up in Orlando this weekend.
The Official World Golf Rankings (OWGR) top-two will be joined by a list of golfers ranked top-50 and above. Big-name players committed to the event includes the likes of Hideki Matsuyama, Wyndham Clark, Matt Fitzpatrick, Patrick Cantlay, Sam Burns, Russell Henley and Ludvig Aberg. PGA Tou’s tournament winners from past two seasons including Tommy Fleetwood, Viktor Hovland, Min Woo Lee, Collin Morikawa, Justin Rose and Xander Schauffele will also be on the field.
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Justin Thomas, who crashed out of the Arnold Palmer Invitational on Friday in his first PGA start since 2025 injury, is committed to The Players. Interestingly, ex-LIV Golf star Brooks Koepka is also eligible to start the unofficial fifth major championship owing to his 2023 PGA Championship title win.
It is pertinent to note that this week’s two PGA Tour event winners – the Arnold Palmer Invitational and the Puerto Rico Open – will also qualify for the Players if they’re not already exempt.
The Players Championship 2026 field
Listed below is the complete field and qualification criteria for the Signature Event at TPC Sawgrass:
Tournament winner in past two seasons
- Michael Brennan
- Jacob Bridgeman
- Brian Campbell
- Nico Echavarria
- Steven Fisk
- Tommy Fleetwood
- Ryan Fox
- Ryan Gerard
- Chris Gotterup
- Ben Griffin
- Brian Harman
- Garrick Higgo
- Viktor Hovland
- Kurt Kitayama
- Min Woo Lee
- Rory McIlroy
- Collin Morikawa
- William Mouw
- Andrew Novak
- Aldrich Potgieter
- Justin Rose
- Xander Schauffele
- Scottie Scheffler
- Adam Schenk
- J.J. Spaun
- Sepp Straka
- Justin Thomas
- Sami Valimaki
- Cameron Young
Winner of the Masters Tournament
- Hideki Matsuyama
Winner of the U.S. Open
- Wyndham Clark
- Matt Fitzpatrick
Winner of the PGA Championship
- Brooks Koepka
Winner of the FedExCup
- Patrick Cantlay
Winner of the World Golf Championship Match Play
- Sam Burns
Winner of the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard or The Genesis Invitational
- Russell Henley
- Ludvig Åberg
Top 100 prior season FedExCup Fall points list
- Corey Conners
- Akshay Bhatia
- Harris English
- Shane Lowry
- Harry Hall
- Robert MacIntyre
- Nick Taylor
- Maverick McNealy
- Sungjae Im
- Michael Kim
- Rickie Fowler
- Taylor Pendrith
- Lucas Glover
- Si Woo Kim
- Sam Stevens
- Denny McCarthy
- Jason Day
- Daniel Berger
- Bud Cauley
- Tom Hoge
- J.T. Poston
- Jhonattan Vegas
- Max Greyserman
- Rico Hoey
- Chris Kirk
- Aaron Rai
- Max McGreevy
- Jordan Spieth
- Patrick Rodgers
- Jake Knapp
- Kevin Yu
- Matti Schmid
- Joe Highsmith
- Stephan Jaeger
- Michael Thorbjornsen
- Emiliano Grillo
- Mackenzie Hughes
- Alex Smalley
- Vince Whaley
- Eric Cole
- Christiaan Bezuidenhout
- Davis Riley
- Davis Thompson
- Matt McCarty
- Keith Mitchell
- Tony Finau
- Rasmus Højgaard
- Mac Meissner
- Cam Davis
- Erik van Rooyen
- Nicolai Højgaard
- Gary Woodland
- Kevin Roy
- Mark Hubbard
- Chad Ramey
- Chandler Phillips
- Ryo Hisatsune
- Thorbjørn Olesen
- Danny Walker
- Takumi Kanaya
- Karl Vilips
Top 100 (medical)
- Lee Hodges
Top 50 Official World Golf Ranking
- Alex Noren
- Marco Penge
- Kristoffer Reitan
- Pierceson Coody
Leading points winner from Korn Ferry Tour
- Johnny Keefer
Below top 10 on current year FedExCup points
- Adam Scott
- Austin Smotherman
- Sahith Theegala
- Taylor Moore
- Andrew Putnam
- Joel Dahmen
- Haotong Li
- Ricky Castillo
- Zecheng Dou
- Jordan Smith
- Sudarshan Yellamaraju
- S.H. Kim
- Max Homa
- Zach Bauchou
- A.J. Ewart
- Matthieu Pavon
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