| Tournament information | |
|---|---|
| Dates | March 26–29,1998 |
| Location | Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida 30°11′53″N81°23′38″W / 30.198°N 81.394°W /30.198; -81.394 |
| Course(s) | TPC Sawgrass, Stadium Course |
| Tour | PGA Tour |
| Statistics | |
| Par | 72 |
| Length | 6,950 yards (6,355 m)[1] |
| Field | 144 players, 72 after cut |
| Cut | 146 (+2) |
| Prize fund | $4.0 million |
| Winner's share | $720,000 |
| Champion | |
 Justin Leonard | |
| 278 (−10) | |
| Location map | |
The1998 Players Championship was agolf tournament inFlorida on thePGA Tour, heldMarch 26–29 atTPC Sawgrass inPonte Vedra Beach, southeast ofJacksonville. It was the 25thPlayers Championship.
Defending championSteve Elkington withdrew on Monday night, citing complications after sinus surgery.[2][3] He was the first defending champion that did not compete sinceJerry Pate in1983.[2] In addition,Greg Norman, the1994 champion, withdrew prior to the first round with a shoulder injury.[4]
Lee Janzen, who won the tournament three years previous, held the lead after third round. However, he shot a final round 79 and fell to eighteenth. JourneymanLen Mattiace took advantage, surging into the lead. However, he scored a quintuple-bogey at the par-3 17th hole to end his chances. He birdied the final hole though to finish in the top five.[5][6] Five strokes back,Justin Leonard shot a final round 67 to win at 278 (−10), two ahead of runners-upGlen Day andTom Lehman.[7]
This was the seventeenth Players Championship held at the TPC at Sawgrass Stadium Course; it was extended this year to 6,950 yards (6,355 m),[1] an increase of 54 yards (49 m).
1. All winners ofPGA Tour events awarding official money and official victory status in the preceding 12 months, concluding with theBay Hill Invitational and dating from the1997 Players Championship
2. The top 125 PGA Tour players from the final 1997 Official Money List[8]
3. Winners in the last 10 calendar years ofThe Players Championship,Masters Tournament,U.S. Open,PGA Championship, andNEC World Series of Golf
4.British Open winners since 1990
5. Up to eight players, not otherwise eligible, designated by The Players Championship Committee as "special selections"
6. Any players, not otherwise eligible, who are among the top 10 money winners from the 1998 Official Money List through the Bay Hill Invitational
7. To complete a field of 144 players, those players in order, not otherwise eligible, from the 1998 Official Money List through the Bay Hill Invitational
Source:[9]
Thursday, March 26, 1998
Friday, March 27, 1998
| Place | Player | Score | To par |
|---|---|---|---|
| T1 | Lee Janzen | 70-67=137 | −7 |
 Naomichi Ozaki | 69-68=137 | ||
| 2 | Tom Kite | 72-66=138 | −6 |
| T3 | Glen Day | 66-73=139 | −5 |
| Jerry Kelly | 68-71=139 | ||
| Bruce Lietzke | 69-70=139 | ||
| T6 | Fred Couples | 67-73=140 | −4 |
 David Frost | 69-71=140 | ||
| Scott Gump | 72-68=140 | ||
| Jeff Maggert | 69-71=140 | ||
| Len Mattiace | 69-71=140 | ||
| Rocco Mediate | 67-73=140 |
Source:[11]
Saturday, March 28, 1998
| Place | Player | Score | To par |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lee Janzen | 70-67-69=206 | −10 |
| 2 | Glen Day | 66-73-70=209 | −7 |
| 3 | Justin Leonard | 72-69-70=211 | −5 |
| T4 | Mark Calcavecchia | 69-75-68=212 | −4 |
| Scott Hoch | 73-69-70=212 | ||
| Tom Lehman | 72-70-70=212 | ||
| Len Mattiace | 69-71-72=212 | ||
| Phil Mickelson | 69-73-70=212 | ||
| T9 | Fred Couples | 67-73-73=213 | −3 |
| Ernie Els | 71-72-70=213 | ||
| David Frost | 69-71-73=213 | ||
| Bruce Lietzke | 69-70-74=213 | ||
| Billy Mayfair | 69-75-69=213 | ||
| Naomichi Ozaki | 69-68-76=213 | ||
 Nick Price | 71-72-70=213 | ||
| Craig Stadler | 71-70-72=213 | ||
| Omar Uresti | 72-71-70=213 | ||
 Lee Westwood | 74-71-68=213 |
Source:[12]
Sunday, March 29, 1998
| Champion |
| (c) = past champion |
| Place | Player | Score | To par | Money ($) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Justin Leonard | 72-69-70-67=278 | −10 | 720,000 |
| T2 | Glen Day | 66-73-70-71=280 | −8 | 352,000 |
| Tom Lehman | 72-70-70-68=280 | |||
| 4 | Mark Calcavecchia | 69-75-68-69=281 | −7 | 192,000 |
| T5 | Scott Hoch | 73-69-70-70=282 | −6 | 146,000 |
| Len Mattiace | 69-71-72-70=282 | |||
| Lee Westwood | 74-71-68-69=282 | |||
| T8 | Phil Mickelson | 69-73-70-71=283 | −5 | 116,000 |
| Nick Price (c) | 71-72-70-70=283 | |||
| Payne Stewart | 72-71-75-65=283 |
| Leaderboard below the top 10 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Place | Player | Score | To par | Money ($) | |
| T11 | Ernie Els | 71-72-70-71=284 | −4 | 96,000 | |
| Scott Verplank | 71-71-72-70=284 | ||||
| T13 | John Cook | 71-73-71-70=285 | −3 | 77,333 | |
| Lee Janzen (c) | 70-67-69-79=285 | ||||
| Bruce Lietzke | 69-70-74-72=285 | ||||
| T16 | John Daly | 71-70-76-69=286 | −2 | 66,000 | |
| David Sutherland | 72-73-69-72=286 | ||||
| T18 | Doug Barron | 71-72-74-70=287 | −1 | 48,685 | |
| David Duval | 69-77-70-71=287 | ||||
| Nick Faldo | 75-69-70-73=287 | ||||
| Naomichi Ozaki | 69-68-76-74=287 | ||||
| Hal Sutton (c) | 74-69-74-70=287 | ||||
| Bob Tway | 72-71-75-69=287 | ||||
| Omar Uresti | 72-71-70-74=287 | ||||
| T25 | Dudley Hart | 74-70-71-73=288 | E | 30,533 | |
| Steve Jones | 71-71-73-73=288 | ||||
| Tom Kite (c) | 72-66-78-72=288 | ||||
 José María Olazábal | 72-74-70-72=288 | ||||
 Jesper Parnevik | 72-72-72-72=288 | ||||
| Lee Rinker | 72-73-72-71=288 | ||||
| T31 | Tommy Armour III | 71-75-71-72=289 | +1 | 24,250 | |
| Jerry Kelly | 68-71-77-73=289 | ||||
| Larry Mize | 73-73-73-70=289 | ||||
| Craig Stadler | 71-70-72-76=289 | ||||
| T35 | Billy Andrade | 70-74-75-71=290 | +2 | 18,885 | |
| Brad Faxon | 71-73-72-74=290 | ||||
| Jim Furyk | 70-75-73-72=290 | ||||
| Scott McCarron | 72-72-71-75=290 | ||||
| Kirk Triplett | 71-71-73-75=290 | ||||
| Tom Watson | 71-74-71-74=290 | ||||
| Tiger Woods | 72-73-73-72=290 | ||||
| T42 | Brandel Chamblee | 72-73-76-70=291 | +3 | 12,560 | |
| Stewart Cink | 71-73-74-73=291 | ||||
| Fred Couples (c) | 67-73-73-78=291 | ||||
| Bob Estes | 72-70-74-75=291 | ||||
| David Frost | 69-71-73-78=291 | ||||
| Billy Mayfair | 69-75-69-78=291 | ||||
| Mark O'Meara | 70-75-72-74=291 | ||||
| Steve Pate | 71-71-74-75=291 | ||||
| Kevin Sutherland | 72-70-73-76=291 | ||||
| T51 | Michael Bradley | 74-72-76-70=292 | +4 | 9,626 | |
| Jeff Maggert | 69-71-76-76=292 | ||||
| Steve Stricker | 74-72-70-76=292 | ||||
| T54 | Scott Gump | 72-68-76-77=293 | +5 | 9,200 | |
| Per-Ulrik Johansson | 69-74-78-72=293 | ||||
 Vijay Singh | 72-71-75-75=293 | ||||
| T57 | Paul Goydos | 72-70-80-72=294 | +6 | 8,920 | |
| Nolan Henke | 69-73-77-75=294 | ||||
| Davis Love III (c) | 73-72-69-80=294 | ||||
| Rocco Mediate | 67-73-77-77=294 | ||||
| T61 | Joey Sindelar | 73-69-81-72=295 | +7 | 8,680 | |
| Ted Tryba | 70-74-72-79=295 | ||||
| T63 | Robert Gamez | 74-72-77-73=296 | +8 | 8,480 | |
 Frank Nobilo | 72-72-75-77=296 | ||||
| Grant Waite | 76-70-75-75=296 | ||||
| T66 | Phil Blackmar | 72-74-76-75=297 | +9 | 8,280 | |
| Brian Henninger | 73-72-73-79=297 | ||||
| 68 | Skip Kendall | 74-72-73-79=298 | +10 | 8,160 | |
| T69 | Fred Funk | 73-73-75-78=299 | +11 | 8,040 | |
| Donnie Hammond | 71-75-72-81=299 | ||||
| T71 | Larry Rinker | 78-67-81-74=300 | +12 | 7,880 | |
| Mark Wiebe | 76-69-76-79=300 | ||||
| CUT |  Stuart Appleby | 72-75=147 | +3 | ||
| Robert Damron | 71-76=147 | ||||
| Brad Fabel | 75-72=147 | ||||
| Brent Geiberger | 74-73=147 | ||||
| John Huston | 72-75=147 | ||||
| Shigeki Maruyama | 74-73=147 | ||||
| Larry Nelson | 74-73=147 | ||||
| Mike Reid | 74-73=147 | ||||
| David Toms | 71-76=147 | ||||
| Willie Wood | 73-74=147 | ||||
| Fulton Allem | 74-74=148 | +4 | |||
| Ronnie Black | 70-78=148 | ||||
| Mark Brooks | 73-75=148 | ||||
| David Edwards | 73-75=148 | ||||
| Kelly Gibson | 75-73=148 | ||||
| P. H. Horgan III | 76-72=148 | ||||
 Colin Montgomerie | 74-74=148 | ||||
| David Ogrin | 74-74=148 | ||||
| Corey Pavin | 75-73=148 | ||||
| Chris Perry | 72-76=148 | ||||
| Don Pooley | 75-73=148 | ||||
| Curtis Strange | 78-70=148 | ||||
| Retief Goosen | 71-78=149 | +5 | |||
| Tim Herron | 74-75=149 | ||||
| Neal Lancaster | 76-73=149 | ||||
| Frank Lickliter | 77-72=149 | ||||
| Steve Lowery | 71-78=149 | ||||
| Sandy Lyle (c) | 74-75=149 | ||||
| Kenny Perry | 74-75=149 | ||||
| Loren Roberts | 75-74=149 | ||||
| Mike Standly | 73-76=149 | ||||
| Phil Tataurangi | 75-74=149 | ||||
| Tommy Tolles | 77-72=149 | ||||
| John Adams | 74-76=150 | +6 | |||
| Ben Crenshaw | 69-81=150 | ||||
| Rick Fehr | 77-73=150 | ||||
| Gabriel Hjertstedt | 74-76=150 | ||||
| Doug Martin | 74-76=150 | ||||
| Jeff Sluman | 74-76=150 | ||||
| Duffy Waldorf | 75-75=150 | ||||
| Russ Cochran | 72-79=151 | +7 | |||
| Jay Haas | 74-77=151 | ||||
 Bernhard Langer | 80-71=151 | ||||
| Craig Parry | 73-78=151 | ||||
| Clarence Rose | 76-75=151 | ||||
| Mike Brisky | 80-72=152 | +8 | |||
| Olin Browne | 78-74=152 | ||||
 Trevor Dodds | 76-76=152 | ||||
| Mike Hulbert | 73-79=152 | ||||
| Pete Jordan | 73-79=152 | ||||
| Andrew Magee | 71-81=152 | ||||
 Costantino Rocca | 76-76=152 | ||||
| Michael Christie | 81-72=153 | +9 | |||
 Darren Clarke | 74-79=153 | ||||
| Scott Simpson | 75-78=153 | ||||
| Tom Byrum | 79-75=154 | +10 | |||
| Mark McCumber (c) | 77-77=154 | ||||
| Masashi Ozaki | 77-77=154 | ||||
| Tom Purtzer | 77-77=154 | ||||
| Guy Boros | 75-80=155 | +11 | |||
 Stephen Ames | 71-85=156 | +12 | |||
| Joe Durant | 75-81=156 | ||||
| Wayne Grady | 76-81=157 | +13 | |||
| Billy Ray Brown | 81-77=158 | +14 | |||
| Jim Carter | 78-81=159 | +15 | |||
| Lennie Clements | 78-81=159 | ||||
| Mike Springer | 79-81=160 | +16 | |||
| Paul Azinger | 80-81=161 | +17 | |||
| WD | Paul Stankowski | 75 | +3 | ||
| Jay Don Blake | 78 | +6 | |||
| Dan Forsman | 78 | ||||
 Ian Woosnam | |||||
Source:[13]
