2002 Players Championship

Golf tournament

TPC Sawgrass

Location in the United States

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TPC Sawgrass

Location in Florida

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The 2002 Players Championship was a golf tournament in Florida on the PGA Tour, held March 21–24 at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, southeast of Jacksonville. It was the 29th Players Championship.

Unheralded Craig Perks gained his only career win on the PGA Tour, two strokes ahead of runner-up Stephen Ames.^[1]^[2] In the last three holes, Perks chipped in twice; for eagle at 16 and for par at 18. In between, he made a 25-foot (7.6 m) birdie putt on the Island Green; he had only two pars in the last fourteen holes.^[1]^[3]

Starting the year at 256 in the world rankings, Perks moved from 203 to 64 with the win.^[3]^[4]

Defending champion Tiger Woods finished seven strokes back, in a tie for fourteenth place.

Venue

This was the 21st Players Championship held at the TPC at Sawgrass Stadium Course and it remained at 7,093 yards (6,486 m).

Field

Fulton Allem, Robert Allenby, Stephen Ames, Billy Andrade, Stuart Appleby, Woody Austin, Paul Azinger, Briny Baird, Craig Barlow, Cameron Beckman, Rich Beem, Notah Begay III, David Berganio Jr., Thomas Bjørn, Jay Don Blake, Mark Brooks, Olin Browne, Ángel Cabrera, Mark Calcavecchia, Michael Campbell, Jim Carter, Greg Chalmers, Brandel Chamblee, K. J. Choi, Stewart Cink, Michael Clark II, Darren Clarke, John Cook, Fred Couples, John Daly, Robert Damron, Glen Day, Chris DiMarco, Scott Dunlap, Joe Durant, David Duval, Joel Edwards, Steve Elkington, Ernie Els, Bob Estes, Nick Faldo, Niclas Fasth, Brad Faxon, Steve Flesch, Dan Forsman, Carlos Franco, Harrison Frazar, David Frost, Ed Fryatt, Fred Funk, Jim Furyk, Sergio García, Brian Gay, Brent Geiberger, Matt Gogel, Retief Goosen, David Gossett, Paul Gow, Jay Haas, Pádraig Harrington, Dudley Hart, J. P. Hayes, J. J. Henry, Tim Herron, Glen Hnatiuk, Scott Hoch, Charles Howell III, John Huston, Lee Janzen, Miguel Ángel Jiménez, Brandt Jobe, Per-Ulrik Johansson, Steve Jones, Shingo Katayama, Jonathan Kaye, Jerry Kelly, Skip Kendall, Tom Kite, Greg Kraft, Matt Kuchar, Neal Lancaster, Bernhard Langer, Paul Lawrie, Ian Leggatt, Tom Lehman, Justin Leonard, J. L. Lewis, Frank Lickliter, Davis Love III, Steve Lowery, Jeff Maggert, Shigeki Maruyama, Len Mattiace, Bob May, Billy Mayfair, Scott McCarron, Paul McGinley, Rocco Mediate, Phil Mickelson, Larry Mize, Colin Montgomerie, Michael Muehr, Frank Nobilo, Greg Norman, Mark O'Meara, Geoff Ogilvy, José María Olazábal, Jesper Parnevik, Craig Parry, Carl Paulson, Dennis Paulson, Corey Pavin, David Peoples, Craig Perks, Tom Pernice Jr., Kenny Perry, Nick Price, Brett Quigley, Chris Riley, Loren Roberts, Rory Sabbatini, Tom Scherrer, Adam Scott, Scott Simpson, Joey Sindelar, Vijay Singh, Jeff Sluman, Chris Smith, Jerry Smith, Mike Sposa, Craig Stadler, Paul Stankowski, Steve Stricker, Kevin Sutherland, Hal Sutton, Esteban Toledo, David Toms, Kirk Triplett, Bob Tway, Scott Verplank, Grant Waite, Duffy Waldorf, Brian Watts, Mike Weir, Lee Westwood, Jay Williamson, Garrett Willis, Tiger Woods, Kaname Yokoo

Round summaries

First round

Thursday, March 21, 2002

Place	Player	Score	To par
1	Phil Mickelson	64	−8
2	Chris DiMarco	66	−6
3	Scott Hoch	67	−5
T4	David Duval	68	−4
T4	Nick Faldo	68	−4
T6	Robert Allenby	69	−3
	Stuart Appleby
	Mark Calcavecchia
	Brian Gay
	David Gossett
	Jerry Kelly
	Steve Lowery
	Carl Paulson
	Jeff Sluman
	Steve Stricker
	David Toms

Second round

Friday, March 22, 2002
Saturday, March 23, 2002

Place	Player	Score	To par
T1	Carl Paulson	69-69=138	−6
T1	Jeff Sluman	69-69=138	−6
T3	Mark Calcavecchia	69-70=139	−5
	Phil Mickelson	64-75=139
	Craig Perks	71-68=139
6	Michael Campbell	72-68=140	−4
T7	Chris DiMarco	66-75=141	−3
	Nick Faldo	68-73=141
	Rocco Mediate	71-70=141
	David Toms	69-72=141

Third round

Saturday, March 23, 2002

Place	Player	Score	To par
1	Carl Paulson	69-69-69=207	−9
2	Craig Perks	71-68-69=208	−8
T3	Rocco Mediate	71-70-69=210	−6
T3	Jeff Sluman	69-69-72=210	−6
T5	David Toms	69-72-70=211	−5
T5	Mike Weir	70-73-68=211	−5
T7	Billy Andrade	73-69-70=212	−4
	Mark Calcavecchia	69-70-73=212
	Scott Hoch	67-77-68=212
T10	Nick Faldo	68-73-72=213	−3
	Sergio García	70-72-71=213
	Steve Lowery	69-73-71=213
	Shigeki Maruyama	72-72-69=213
	Tiger Woods	71-72-70=213

Source:^[5]

Final round

Sunday, March 24, 2002

Craig Perks chipped in on the 16th and 18th holes to win the championship, his only PGA Tour victory. His lone putt in the last three holes was a 28-foot birdie putt on the 17th.^[6]

Champion

Place	Player	Score	To par	Money ($)
1	Craig Perks	71-68-69-72=280	−8	1,080,000
2	Stephen Ames	74-69-72-67=282	−6	648,000
3	Rocco Mediate	71-70-69-73=283	−5	408,000
T4	Billy Andrade	73-69-70-72=284	−4	226,200
	Sergio García	70-72-71-71=284
	Scott Hoch	67-77-68-72=284
	Carl Paulson	69-69-69-77=284
	Jeff Sluman	69-69-72-74=284
T9	John Huston	73-69-73-70=285	−3	168,000
T9	Nick Price (c)	74-71-71-69=285	−3	168,000

Leaderboard below the top 10
Place	Player	Score	To par	Money ($)
T11	Robert Allenby	69-73-72-72=286	−2	138,000
	Michael Campbell	72-68-74-72=286
	Jerry Kelly	69-76-74-67=286
T14	Jim Furyk	71-72-71-73=287	−1	102,000
	Retief Goosen	71-71-72-73=287
	Jeff Maggert	72-72-71-72=287
	Shigeki Maruyama	72-72-69-74=287
	Tiger Woods (c)	71-72-70-74=287
T19	Steve Stricker	69-74-71-74=288	E	78,000
	David Toms	69-72-70-77=288
	Mike Weir	70-73-68-77=288
T22	Thomas Bjørn	74-72-75-68=289	+1	55,700
	Carlos Franco	75-69-72-73=289
	Pádraig Harrington	70-72-77-70=289
	Bernhard Langer	75-71-72-71=289
	Steve Lowery	69-73-71-76=289
	Chris Riley	71-74-74-70=289
T28	Stuart Appleby	69-74-75-72=290	+2	38,212
	K. J. Choi	71-75-73-71=290
	David Duval (c)	68-75-72-75=290
	Tim Herron	71-73-74-72=290
	Tom Lehman	73-71-74-72=290
	Phil Mickelson	64-75-75-76=290
	Bob Tway	74-68-77-71=290
	Scott Verplank	71-75-73-71=290
T36	Ángel Cabrera	71-72-73-75=291	+3	26,437
	Glen Day	71-75-73-72=291
	Chris DiMarco	66-75-74-76=291
	Brad Faxon	71-73-74-73=291
	Tom Kite (c)	72-71-79-69=291
	Bob May	73-70-73-75=291
	José María Olazábal	73-73-71-74=291
	Craig Stadler	71-72-72-76=291
T44	Rich Beem	72-74-80-66=292	+4	18,648
	Ernie Els	76-69-79-68=292
	Bob Estes	70-74-78-70=292
	Harrison Frazar	73-71-71-77=292
	Justin Leonard (c)	72-74-72-74=292
T49	Briny Baird	71-74-74-74=293	+5	14,430
	Jim Carter	74-72-73-74=293
	Brandel Chamblee	74-69-78-72=293
	Nick Faldo	68-73-72-80=293
	Jay Haas	71-71-74-77=293
	Dudley Hart	71-72-72-78=293
	Frank Lickliter	76-70-73-74=293
	Loren Roberts	72-71-73-77=293
T57	Mark Brooks	72-70-74-78=294	+6	13,440
	Jonathan Kaye	72-72-77-73=294
	Craig Parry	72-73-72-77=294
T60	Joel Edwards	70-72-75-78=295	+7	13,080
	Charles Howell III	71-74-78-72=295
	Kenny Perry	73-71-76-75=295
T63	Steve Elkington (c)	74-68-77-77=296	+8	12,600
	Brian Gay	69-76-80-71=296
	J. L. Lewis	74-70-71-81=296
	Colin Montgomerie	70-76-72-78=296
	Scott Simpson	72-72-76-76=296
68	Neal Lancaster	73-71-75-78=297	+9	12,240
T69	Mark Calcavecchia	69-70-73-86=298	+10	11,940
	David Gossett	69-72-78-79=298
	Len Mattiace	71-75-71-81=298
	Tom Pernice Jr.	70-75-78-75=298
73	Esteban Toledo	73-72-78-76=299	+11	11,640
74	Robert Damron	74-71-80-75=300	+12	11,520
75	David Frost	71-75-75-82=303	+15	11,400
CUT	Fulton Allem	73-74=147	+3
	Woody Austin	73-74=147
	Stewart Cink	73-74=147
	John Cook	76-71=147
	John Daly	76-71=147
	Joe Durant	73-74=147
	Dan Forsman	73-74=147
	Shingo Katayama	72-75=147
	Ian Leggatt	74-73=147
	Davis Love III (c)	73-74=147
	Paul McGinley	75-72=147
	Larry Mize	70-77=147
	Mark O'Meara	74-73=147
	Vijay Singh	76-71=147
	Paul Stankowski	76-71=147
	Hal Sutton (c)	73-74=147
	Brian Watts	74-73=147
	Olin Browne	73-75=148	+4
	Glen Hnatiuk	76-72=148
	Jesper Parnevik	74-74=148
	David Peoples	70-78=148
	Jerry Smith	70-78=148
	Kevin Sutherland	79-69=148
	Kirk Triplett	76-72=148
	Grant Waite	71-77=148
	Jay Don Blake	74-75=149	+5
	Darren Clarke	76-73=149
	Fred Funk	76-73=149
	Lee Janzen (c)	77-72=149
	Per-Ulrik Johansson	72-77=149
	Steve Jones	75-74=149
	Greg Kraft	73-76=149
	Geoff Ogilvy	76-73=149
	Duffy Waldorf	77-72=149
	Jay Williamson	71-78=149
	Paul Azinger	72-78=150	+6
	Scott Dunlap	78-72=150
	Brent Geiberger	72-78=150
	J. J. Henry	75-75=150
	Billy Mayfair	76-74=150
	Scott McCarron	75-75=150
	Joey Sindelar	80-70=150
	Lee Westwood	75-75=150
	Brett Quigley	73-78=151	+7
	Tom Scherrer	74-77=151
	Adam Scott	77-74=151
	Notah Begay III	80-72=152	+8
	Fred Couples (c)	78-74=152
	Niclas Fasth	76-76=152
	Matt Gogel	74-78=152
	J. P. Hayes	73-79=152
	Paul Lawrie	73-79=152
	Greg Norman (c)	74-78=152
	Craig Barlow	76-77=153	+9
	Paul Gow	79-74=153
	Miguel Ángel Jiménez	72-81=153
	Corey Pavin	78-75=153
	Rory Sabbatini	77-76=153
	Mike Sposa	74-79=153
	Garrett Willis	76-77=153
	Cameron Beckman	80-74=154	+10
	Michael Clark II	73-81=154
	Steve Flesch	78-76=154
	Skip Kendall	81-73=154
Dennis Paulson	77-77=154
Chris Smith	76-78=154
Kaname Yokoo	79-75=154
Ed Fryatt	79-76=155	+11
Frank Nobilo	78-77=155	+11
Brandt Jobe	80-77=157	+13
Greg Chalmers	76-82=158	+14
WD	Matt Kuchar	73	+1
WD	David Berganio Jr.
DQ	Michael Muehr	81	+9

Source:^[7]

Scorecard

Final round

Hole	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18
Par	4	5	3	4	4	4	4	3	5	4	5	4	3	4	4	5	3	4
Perks	−7	−7	−7	−7	−8	−7	−8	−7	−6	−6	−7	−6	−7	−6	−5	−7	−8	−8
Ames	−1	−2	−2	−2	−3	−3	−3	−3	−4	−5	−6	−7	−6	−6	−7	−7	−7	−6
Mediate	−6	−6	−5	−5	−5	−4	−4	−4	−3	−2	−3	−4	−3	−3	−3	−5	−5	−5
Andrade	−4	−4	−4	−5	−5	−6	−6	−6	−6	−6	−6	−6	−6	−5	−5	−5	−4	−4
García	−3	−3	−2	−2	−3	−3	−3	−3	−3	−3	−4	−4	−4	−4	−4	−5	−5	−4
Hoch	−4	−4	−4	−5	−5	−5	−5	−5	−5	−5	−5	−6	−6	−5	−5	−5	−5	−4
Paulson	−10	−10	−9	−8	−7	−6	−6	−5	−6	−6	−5	−5	−4	−4	−4	−5	−5	−4
Sluman	−6	−7	−6	−6	−6	−6	−6	−5	−5	−5	−5	−5	−6	−4	−4	−5	−5	−4
Toms	−5	−5	−5	−5	−4	−4	−3	−4	−3	−4	−3	−2	−2	−2	E	E	E	E
Weir	−4	−5	−5	−6	−6	−6	−6	−6	−6	−5	−5	−5	−4	−3	−3	−2	E	E

Cumulative tournament scores, relative to par

Eagle

Birdie

Bogey

Double Bogey

Source:^[8]

References

^ ^a ^b Van Sickle, Gary (April 1, 2002). "Pitched battle". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved April 28, 2017.
^ "Drama marks Perks' first title rum". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). Associated Press. March 25, 2002. p. 2E.
^ ^a ^b "A million Perks for TPC champ". Sarasota Herald-Tribune. (Florida). Associated Press. March 25, 2002. p. 1C.
^ "2002: Week 12" (PDF). Official World Golf Ranking. March 24, 2002. Retrieved April 30, 2002.^{[permanent dead link]}
^ "Players Championship". Sunday Morning Star. (Wilmington, North Carolina). March 24, 2002. p. 2C.
^ "2002 Champion Craig Perks". Retrieved July 18, 2020.
^ "Past Results 1974 – present". PGA Tour. Archived from the original on September 1, 2020. Retrieved March 1, 2020.
^ "The Players Championship". ESPN. Retrieved October 4, 2018.