Diaz
The Players' Best
Jaime Diaz ranks the best players in the history of the Players Championship
May 11, 2011
The Players Championship is a bit like the U.S. Open. Because of the difficulty and quirkiness of the course, it's usually feast or famine. Especially since it permanently moved to TPC Sawgrass in 1982, no player has been able to notch consistently high finishes, with Nick Price's nine top 10s including a victory in 1993 being the best cumulative record. But the measure of success is winning, and the five players below are the only multiple winners in the tournaments 38-year history.
1. Jack Nicklaus
Nicklaus is the only three-time winner of the event, with all the victories coming on different courses. In the inaugural tournament he won at Inverrary, closing with a 67 to beat J.C. Snead by two. In 1976, he beat Snead again, this time by three at the Atlanta CC. But when he edged Lou Graham by one shot in 1978 at Sawgrass CC, it was the tournament at its hardest. Only one round in the 60s was posted all week, and Nicklaus' final-round 75 was without a birdie. His final total was one-over par 289, the highest winning score in tournament history. Nicklaus went on to post only one other top ten in the event, and never finished better than 17th once the tournament moved to the TPC Sawgrass.
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- Davis Love III,
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- My Five,
- Jaime Diaz
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