What Is the Lowest Score Ever Shot at The Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass?
First played in 1974, The Players Championship has long been seen as golf’s unofficial fifth major championship, perhaps more so since the tournament received a permanent home at famed TPC Sawgrass in 1982.
Annually boasting one of the biggest purses and strongest fields of the year, The Players Championship is the flagship event on the PGA Tour and features a historic list of winners, a list that includes Jack Nicklaus, Lee Trevino, Raymond Floyd, Calvin Peete, Fred Couples, Tom Kite, Davis Love III, Nick Price, Greg Norman, David Duval, Tiger Woods, Adam Scott, Phil Mickelson, Sergio Garcia, Rickie Fowler, Rory McIlroy, Justin Thomas, and Cameron Smith, among others.
As mentioned, The Players Championship was first played at TPC Sawgrass in 1982, meaning eight editions were played at other venues. However, neither the lowest single-round score nor the lowest 72-hole score in tournament history occurred at those locales. So everything you see below took place on Pete Dye’s famous design.
So without further ado, let’s get to it.
What is the lowest round ever shot at TPC Sawgrass during The Players Championship?
The lowest single-round score on the par-72 TPC Sawgrass layout is a 10-under round of 62, which Tom Hoge shot during the third round of the 2023 edition of The Players Championship. On a day when scoring conditions were ideal and many players went low, the North Carolina native went the lowest, making 10 birdies and no bogeys to set the record.
Prior to Hoge’s 62, the lowest single-round score at the Stadium Course was a 9-under 63, a record formerly shared by nine players. The first to do it was Fred Couples in 1992, while the last to hit the number was Dustin Johnson in 2022.
It should be noted, however, that in 2020, Hideki Matsuyama shot 63 in the first round, only to have it go to waste as the tournament was canceled after 18 holes due to COVID-19. So while not official, he certainly still deserves recognition for a phenomenal round of golf.
Of the nine players to officially shoot 63, four went on to win the tournament. Here’s a quick look at the complete list.
| Year | Player | Round | Finish |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1992 | Fred Couples | 3rd | T13 |
| 1994 | Greg Norman | 1st | 1 |
| 2013 | Roberto Castro | 1st | T19 |
| 2014 | Martin Kaymer | 1st | 1 |
| 2016 | Jason Day | 1st | 1 |
| 2016 | Colt Knost | 2nd | T3 |
| 2018 | Webb Simpson | 2nd | 1 |
| 2018 | Brooks Koepka | 4th | T11 |
| 2022 | Dustin Johnson | 4th | T9 |
What is the lowest 72-hole score at The Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass?
As for the lowest 72-hole score at The Players Championship, that record belongs to one of the four players who shot 63 and won the tournament, that being Greg Norman in 1994.
After opening his week with the 9-under 63, Norman, at that time the top-ranked player in the world, shot 5-under 67 each of the next three days to finish at 24-under, breaking the previous record set by Nick Price in 1993 by a whopping six strokes — at least the record at TPC Sawgrass.
In 1976, just the third edition of the tournament, Jack Nicklaus shot 19-under on the East Course at Inverrary Country Club.
Since Norman’s record-setting week in ’94, the lowest 72-hole score at The Players Championship has been 18-under. Fred Couples hit the mark in 1996, and Webb Simpson matched it in 2018.
