Weekly notes: Langer makess 23rd PLAYERS start, and more

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• The field at this week's PLAYERS features 101 competitors who have won on the PGA TOUR. All told, the field has won 414 PGA TOUR titles.

• The field also includes 25 players who have won major championships.

Condon/PGA TOUR

Bernhard Langer and Davis Love III are inching closer to the record for career starts at THE PLAYERS Championship.

• With the exception of the injured Tiger Woods, every player who has won since the start of the 2007 season is on hand. That's 47 of the 48 players who have won during that time span.

• Fourteen players will make their PLAYERS debut this week -- Ryan Armour, Soren Hansen, Richard Johnson, Matt Jones, George McNeill, John Merrick, Jeff Overton, Andres Romero, Kevin Stadler, Richard Sterne, Nicholas Thompson, Johnson Wagner, Charlie Wi and Tim Wilkinson.

• Since THE PLAYERS began in 1974, 29 countries have been represented in the field.

• When Tim Wilkinson tees it up this week he will become the 13th lefthander to compete in THE PLAYERS joining Sam Adams, Eric Axley, Greg Chalmers, Russ Cochran, Steve Flesch, Ernie Gonzalez, Richard Green, Phil Mickelson, Nick O'Hern, Bubba Watson, Mike Weir and Kevin Wentworth.

• No player has successfully defended his title at THE PLAYERS. In fact, no defending champ has finished better than a tie for fifth -- Jack Nicklaus (1977), Tom Kite (1990) and Hal Sutton (2001). Only six of the previous 34 winners of this event have finished in the top 10 in the year following their victory.

• There have only been two playoffs in the 34-year history of the event. The last one was in 1987 when Sandy Lyle defeated Jeff Sluman. No event on TOUR has gone longer without a playoff.

• The first two aces in PLAYERS history on the 17th hole were recorded by Brad Fabel in 1986 and Brian Claar in 1991. They have something else in common, too -- they are both Rules Officials now. Fabel works on the PGA TOUR while Claar works on the Nationwide Tour.

• This week will mark the 23rd start in the event for both Bernhard Langer and Davis Love III. The record is 28 by Ben Crenshaw, Jay Haas and Tom Kite.

• Only one European Tour player has ever claimed THE PLAYERS -- Sandy Lyle in 1987. Europe will have strong representation in the field with the following players entered -- Paul Casey, Alex Cejka, Daniel Chopra, Brian Davis, Luke Donald, Nicklas Fasth, Sergio Garcia, Mathias Gronberg, Soren Hansen, Padraig Harrington, Fredrik Jacobson, Miguel Angel Jimenez, Richard Johnson, Bernhard Langer, Jose Maria Olazabal, Jesper Parnevik, Carl Pettersson, Ian Poulter, Justin Rose, Henrik Stenson and Lee Westwood.

• Six father-son duos have competed in THE PLAYERS -- Butch and Briny Baird, Julius and Guy Boros, Al and Brent Geiberger, Jay and Bill Haas, Jack and Gary Nicklaus and Dave and Dave Stockton Jr. When Kevin Stadler tees it up this week, he and his father, Craig, will become the seventh father-son duo to play in the tournament.

• The youngest player in the field this week is 22-year old Anthony Kim, the winner last week at the Wachovia Championship. The oldest player is Fred Funk, the 2005 PLAYERS champion, who will turn 52 on June 14.