THE PLAYERS Championship

THE PLAYERS Championship
Tournament Players Club at Sawgrass
Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida
March 21-27, 2005

Round four began at 10:20 a.m. Monday with the final groups leaving the opening tee at 12:40 p.m.

A Look at FRED FUNK, 2005 winner of THE PLAYERS Championship
Official World Golf Ranking: 59 (prior to this week)
2005 PGA TOUR Starts-Made Cuts: 9/7 (including this week)
2005 PGA TOUR Best Finish prior to this week: T7 Nissan Open
Last Top-10: T7 at the 2005 Nissan Open
Career PLAYERS Championship Starts/Made Cuts: 15/13
Career PLAYERS Championship Top-10s (Best Finish): 2 (1 in 2005, T10 in 2004)

Brent Geiberger withdrew from the fourth round after three holes due to a rib injury.
Thomas Bjorn withdrew after 12 holes during Monday's third round due to a back injury.

After days of rain, golfers were greeted with cooler temperatures and lots of wind. The thermometer reached 72 degrees with winds WNW 20-25 mph, gusting to 35 mph.

Best rounds of the final round: Tom Lehman (68), Ernie Els (69), Steve Lowery (69) and Brett Quigley (69).

 Final standings of the top-5 players in the world:
1) Vijay Singh 67-74-71-72-284   (-4)  T12 
2) Tiger Woods 70-73-75-75-293   (+5)  T53
3)  Ernie Els 71-71-74-69-285  (-3)  T17
4) Phil Mickelson 70-68-77-75-290 (+2)  T40
5) Retief Goosen 69-70-69-76-284  (-4)  T12

Number of over-par rounds this week:
Round 1:    13
Round 2:    16
Round 3:    47
Round 4:    70 (13 rounds at par-or-better)

Making his 14th consecutive start in THE PLAYERS Championship, Tom Lehman charged up the leaderboard Monday with a final-round 68 to get to 8-under 280 for the week. Lehman got off to a quick start with birdies at Nos. 2, 4, 5, and 6 to get into contention. His 68 was the best round of the day when the scoring average for the par-72 layout was 76.497.
 
Joey Sindelar (T17) made a nice turnaround after starting his opening round Thursday with four consecutive bogeys. Sindelar rallied to shoot a 2-under 70 the first day. He added scores of 71-70-74 and wound up at 3-under 285 (T17) this week. This is Sindelar's 20th start at THE PLAYERS Championship and his 15th cut made. His only top-10 finish was a T10 in 1999.

Tiger Woods posted rounds of 70-73-75-75, marking the first time since the 2004 Bay Hill Invitational (67-74-74-73) that he has carded three consecutive over-par rounds. 

Tiger Woods birdied his final hole of the tournament and finished T53 this week, his lowest finish in a PGA TOUR event since he was a T56 at the 1999 Bay Hill Invitational.  Woods wound up 3-over par, the first time he's been over-par on the PGA TOUR since he wound up +10 at the 2004 U. S. Open. His 293 total is his highest score in nine years at THE PLAYERS Championship. Woods' previous high at TPC Sawgrass was a 291 back in 1999.

With their finishes this week, Fred Funk (1), Luke Donald (T2) and Tom Lehman (T2) all move into the top-10 on the season money list and thus qualify for The Masters tournament in two weeks. Those getting bumped out of the top-10 were Kenny Perry (m/c), Stuart Appleby (m/c) and Padraig Harrington (m/c).

Fred Funk's winning total of 9-under 279 is the highest winning score on the 2005 PGA TOUR.

This was the third Monday finish at THE PLAYERS Championship in the last six years. Other Monday finishes came in 2000 and 2001.

Round three resumed at 7:17 a.m. on Monday and finally came to an end at 12:26 p.m. Players were not re-paired between the third and fourth rounds. The fourth round began at 10:20 a.m. while the third round was still being played. The last time a third round carried over to a Monday on the PGA TOUR was the 2004 Shell Houston Open when the third round officially came to an end at 10:01 a.m. and the final round was completed that day, as well.

During Sunday's completion of round 3, Bob Tway came into the par-3 17th island hole at 7-under par for the tournament. When he left, he had dropped from T10 to T72 and sat at 2-over par for the tournament. Tway knocked four balls into the water and finished the hole with the highest score in tournament history, a 12, unseating Robert Gamez from the distinction by a stroke. Gamez posted an 11 during the 1990 third round.

The 12 by Bob Tway on the par-3 17th hole matched the highest score on a hole at the TPC at Sawgrass in tournament history. Phillip Hancock posted a 12 on the par-4 fourth hole during the first round of the 1985 tournament.

Second-year pro Zach Johnson led a group of 17 first-time participants at THE PLAYERS Championship. Johnson (76-283) tied for 8th place with J. L. Lewis, Davis Love III and defending champion Adam Scott.

The scoring average of 3.780 (.780-over par) on the par-3 17th hole during Monday's fourth round at THE PLAYERS Championship was the second-highest in tournament history. During the first round of the 1984 tournament, the hole averaged 3.853 for the round.

The scoring average of 4.823 (.823-over par) on the par-4 18th hole during Monday's fourth round at THE PLAYERS Championship was the second-highest in tournament history. During the fourth round of the 1983 tournament, the hole averaged 4.848 for the round.

The scoring average of 76.512 (4.512-over par) for the final round Monday is the highest-scoring final-round in THE PLAYERS Championship history. The previous high was 75.256 in 1999.

The scoring average of 76.512 (4.512-over par) for the final round Monday is the highest-scoring single round ever at THE PLAYERS Championship. The previous high of 76.194 came in the opening round in 2000

Scoring Averages for this week:  Front 9 Back 9 Total Cumulative
 Round One  35.993 35.877 71.870
 Round Two  35.832 35.531 71.364     71.619
 Round Three  36.277 37.193 73.470     72.227
 Round Four  37.707 38.805 76.512     72.841 

There were no bogey-free rounds during round three or round four after the field posted 12 during the first two rounds.

No. 17 H20 totals for THE PLAYERS Championship: 70 in the water for the 4 rounds.
Round  H20
1          7    [Paul Casey, Kenny Perry, Steve Allan, Neal Lancaster,
Tim Clark (2), Craig Barlow]
2          9   [Hank Kuehne, Neal Lancaster, Vaughn Taylor, Bob Tway (2),
                              Thomas Bjorn, Ted Purdy, Padraig Harrington, Jim Furyk]
3          26 [Aaron Baddeley, Heath Slocum, Briny Baird, Brett Quigley, Jay Williamson, Tag Ridings (2), Thomas Bjorn, Shigeki Maruyama, Brent Geiberger, Davis Love III, Padraig Harrington, Robert Damron, Shaun Micheel, Phil Mickelson (2), Bob Tway (4), Dudley Hart, Stewart Cink, Zach Johnson, Vaughn Taylor, Lee Westwood (2)]
4          28 [Steve Jones (2), Frank Lickliter (2), Shaun Micheel, Mike Weir, Kent Jones, Mark Hensby, Heath Slocum, Tiger Woods, Robert Damron, Tommy Armour III, Robert Gamez, Cameron Beckman, Ted Purdy, Sergio Garcia (2), David Toms, Retief Goosen, Daniel Chopra, Phil Mickelson, Adam Scott, Zach Johnson, Dudley Hart, Shigeki Maruyama (2), Kirk Triplett and Nick Price.
    
Jonathan Byrd was the closest to the hole on No. 17 during the fourth round, hitting his shot from 137 yards to 4-feet, 11 inches. Byrd made the birdie putt.