With the close of the final round of The Players Championship on Sunday, the clock began ticking for the 2024 tournament.
That’s when the PGA Tour’s crown jewel event will be associated with another kind of precious metal: gold.
The Players will turn 50 years old next year. Had it not been for the COVID-19 pandemic canceling the 2020 tournament, this year would have been the 50th Players.
That means the Gold Man Trophy for winning what the Tour markets as “Our Gold Standard” will be awarded next year during the Golden Anniversary.
That’s a lot of AU going on at the same time.
“It’s hard to believe that we are just shy of the event’s 50th anniversary,” PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan said to open his news conference last week at The Players media center. “It is remarkable, absolutely remarkable to reflect on the tournament’s history and continued growth … including a world-class field that is consistently amongst the strongest in golf. I think it’s going to be an awesome year, moment in time, to reflect on the rich history and tradition of this championship, of our champions, of the uniqueness of this golf course, the democratic nature of it, the advancements that we’ve made through The Players Championship, for our Tour and the game.”
More (from the Florida Times-Union): A hole-by-hole guide to the home of TPC Sawgrass Stadium Course
Tournament rotated at first
The Players was launched in 1974 as the Tournament Players Championship. The Tour’s first commissioner, Joe Dey, and his successor, Deane Beman, believed the PGA Tour should have its own major championship, with the four accepted majors at the time run by other organizations: the Masters by the Augusta National Golf Club, the U.S. Open by the United States Golf Association, the PGA Championship by the PGA of America and the British Open by the Royal and Ancient Golf Club.
The first Players rotated for three years, starting at the Atlanta Country Club when Jack Nicklaus won the first of his record three Players Championships with a final-round 67, rallying from three shots behind J.C. Snead.
The first Players rotated for three years, starting at the Atlanta Country Club when Jack Nicklaus won the first of his record three Players Championships with a final-round 67, rallying from three shots behind J.C. Snead.
Nicklaus would go on to win every two years through 1978, at Inverrary in Fort Lauderdale in 1976 and then at the Sawgrass Country Club in 1978, after the…
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