The Players Championship – held each May at the Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida – brings together most of the world’s top golfers each year. Indeed, the tournament's field is so elite that the event is often referred to as “the fifth major.” The PGA Tour, which runs the tournament, offers a number of avenues by which top professional players can qualify for The Players Championship.
• Winners of PGA TOUR cosponsored or approved tournaments, whose victories are considered official, since the previous season’s PLAYERS Championship.
• Gold Medal Winner of the Men’s Golf Competition at the 2016 Olympic Games. (This is a one (1) year exemption).
• The top 125 players from the 2015-2016 FedExCup Points List.
• Winners of the Masters Tournament in the last five seasons (2013-2017).
• Winners of THE PLAYERS Championship, U.S. Open, The Open Championship and PGA Championship in the last five seasons (2012-2016).
• Winners of the TOUR Championship in the last three seasons (2014-2016).
• Winners of the WGC-Dell Match Play and WGC-Mexico Championship in the last three seasons (2015-2017).
• Winners of the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational in the last three seasons (2014-2016).
• Winners of the WGC-HSBC Champions in the last three seasons (2014-2016).
• The top 50 players from the Official World Golf Ranking through the Zurich Classic.
• The top 10 players from the 2016-2017 FedExCup Points List through the Zurich Classic.
• Winners of the Arnold Palmer Invitational and the Memorial Tournament in the last three seasons beginning with the 2015 winners.
• The winner of the previous year’s Constellation SENIOR PLAYERS Championship.
• The leading money winner from the 2016 Top 25 Web.com Tour Regular season players using combined money earned on the Official Web.com Tour Regular Season Money List and money earned in the Web.com Tour Finals and leading money winner from the 2016 Web.com Tour Finals.
• If necessary to complete a field of 144 players, PGA TOUR members from the 2016-2017 FedExCup Points List below 10th position through the Zurich Classic, in order of their positions on such list.