Players Championship field 2014: Tiger’s gone, but loaded list of qualifiers wait for TPC Sawgrass

The best argument for THE PLAYERS Championship as golf’s fifth major is the strength of its field. The folks at the PGA Tour have done their best to market and hype their marquee event, and its grown in stature over the past decade. There’s been some backlash to that hype, and Pete Dye’s TPC Sawgrass design is not without its critics. But whether it’s the enormous purse, the spot on the schedule, or the venue, THE PLAYERS continues to draw a loaded field, comprised of guys from both sides of the Atlantic (it’s not an officially sanctioned Euro Tour event like the four majors).

This year, 46 of the top 50 players in the world will be in attendance at TPC Sawgrass. The four absentees are Tiger Woods, Jason Day, Victor Dubuisson, and Miguel Angel Jimenez. Woods and Day are both nursing injuries, and the Tour not having the defending champ for its biggest event of the season is obviously a huge blow. Tiger changes everything, and the Tour’s been struggling a bit all year with Woods gone and other superstars not closing on the weekends. This had never been a favorite course or event for Woods, but last year’s contretemps playing alongside Sergio and then his Sunday fireworks to take over the lead made it one of the best weekends on the Tour in a long time.

Tiger’s absence was obviously expected as soon as he announced his back surgery at the end of March. But Day is one of those younger players who should be out on Tour contending week-to-week and is always in the hunt at the biggest tournaments of the year. The trajectory for a huge season seemed set in February with his WGC title in Arizona, but a thumb injury has completely halted all that for the Aussie who’s still inside the top 5 in the world rankings. It’s unclear why Dubuisson took a pass, other than the mercurial Frenchman perhaps not holding the tourney in such esteem or having better things to do. The Mechanic, Miguel Angel Jimenez, was married back home in Spain this past weekend and so he could care less about showing up in north Florida. The “most interesting golfer in the world” has better things to do and we’re worse off for it this week.

While the field is a solid 144 players strong, getting a berth is definitely more difficult than the usual weekly game on the PGA Tour. Like the four majors, there are several ways to qualify but most guys make it by winning a tournament over the past calendar year, or by virtue of their spot in the FedExCup rankings or World Golf Rankings.

The last player to get into the field was J.B. Holmes, who just needed eight FedExCup points on Sunday at the Wells Fargo Championship. Holmes did that and more, getting the win at Quail Hollow to secure a berth this week, at the 2014 PGA Championship, the 2015 Masters, and several more tournaments in the second half of the season. He bumps Ryo Ishikawa to first alternate status. Here are the 144 players holding a spot in golf’s fifth major:

There are 20 different countries represented, with 93 of the 144 players from the United States.

And here is your list of alternates. It’s unlikely we dip into this list beyond Ishikawa, if at all.

It was just a year ago that Singh dropped his bomb of a lawsuit on the Tour right at their biggest event at their home course, so they’re probably not too upset to see him down the alternates list at the start of the week.

There’s no Tiger, so of course the tournament loses its luster for many casual sports fans who only tune in to golf to see Woods. But whether you think the event is overhyped or a contrivance, you can’t argue against the strength of the field, which is considered the deepest of the year. The Tour needs a big name to come through, and given the recent winner’s list at this event, we should get that on Sunday.