The Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass: Tee times, pairings for Sunday’s final round

The Players Championship is as wide open as it’s ever been with 30 players within five shots of the leader (the previous mark was 20 players back in 1982). Chris Kirk is the 54-hole pacesetter at 10-under, so he’ll anchor the tee sheet on Sunday afternoon at TPC Sawgrass. But the reality is that there will be multiple players who probably hold the lead or a share of the lead throughout Sunday, and they may come from waaayyy down the tee sheet because of this clustered leaderboard.

Tiger Woods said on Friday night that he felt anyone who made the cut still had a chance to win. With 18 fewer holes to work with, about half of the remaining field is still in play and going to bed thinking they have a chance. It’s likely the scoring conditions are a bit more difficult on Sunday, but the third round showed that a precise tee-to-green game and a hot putter can lead to a huge jump up the leaderboard.

Justin Thomas set a new Players record with 10 birdies, which resulted in the round of the tournament so far, a 7-under 65. Thomas had a 10:20 a.m. tee time on Saturday, but after rocketing 41 spots up the leaderboard with his round, he’ll be out in the third-to-last group on Sunday. That kind of move is definitely possible on Sunday, and because so many players are within five shots, it’s likely we get a major charge and round of 66 from down the board.

One tee time that’s not within range but definitely packs the most star power is the 8:55 a.m. duo of Tiger Woods and Dustin Johnson. Both of these guys show up every week expecting to contend, so we might see them zip through what amounts to a meaningless final round on Sunday. Woods double bogeyed multiple par-5s in one round for the first time ever in his decorated career on Saturday. He started the weekend with a shaky game and a slim chance -- a yanked drive left and double bogey at the 2nd hole wiped out that chance early in the third round. There would be no Thomas-like charge.

Tiger and DJ will be done with their round before NBC goes live at 2 p.m. ET, but you’ll still be able to watch their entire round on a PGATour.com “Featured Groups” stream. That stream picks one tee time each morning, and this duo was really a no-brainer, even if they have no chance at winning and might not care about their final 18 holes.

Rory McIlroy is probably the most high-profile chaser of the immense group within five shots of Kirk. He’s a little further back at 6-under, but his game has been sharp through three rounds. On Saturday, he hit every fairway and every green in regulation on the back nine. But he can’t make a damn putt outside of five feet right now -- there have only been two over his last 25 holes (via Golf Channel). If that putter gets rolling early, he’ll make his move on the leaders. McIlroy tees off at 12:45 p.m. ET with Brian Harman.

Here’s the full tee sheet for Sunday’s final round: