2006 Players Championship

The 2006 Players Championship was a golf tournament in Florida on the PGA Tour, held March 23–26 at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, southeast of Jacksonville. It was the 33rd Players Championship.

Tournament summary
Stephen Ames shot a final round 67 and completed the biggest win of his career by a comfortable margin, six strokes ahead of runner-up Retief Goosen. Ames was the 54-hole leader by a stroke over Sergio García and Vijay Singh.

A month earlier at the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship, Ames lasted only ten holes in the first round, falling to Tiger Woods 9&8.

Defending champion Fred Funk finished thirteen strokes back, in a tie for sixteenth place.

This was the final Players held in March until 2019; it moved to mid-May in 2007. The Players was moved back to March starting 2019 as the PGA Championship moves from August to May from 2019 onwards.

Venue
This was the 25th Players Championship held at the TPC at Sawgrass Stadium Course; five yards were added this year and its length was 7098 yd.

Eligibility requirements
Winners of PGA Tour co-sponsored or approved tournaments, whose victories are considered official, since the previous year's Players Championship.

Phil Mickelson, Tiger Woods, Peter Lonard, Vijay Singh, Tim Petrovic, Ted Purdy, Justin Leonard, Bart Bryant, Sergio García, Michael Campbell, Pádraig Harrington, Jim Furyk, Sean O'Hair, Jason Bohn, Ben Crane, Retief Goosen, Vaughn Taylor, Brad Faxon, Olin Browne, Mark Calcavecchia, Jason Gore, Robert Gamez, K. J. Choi, Wes Short Jr., Lucas Glover, Carl Pettersson, Heath Slocum, Stuart Appleby, David Toms, Chad Campbell, J. B. Holmes, Arron Oberholser, Rory Sabbatini, Geoff Ogilvy, Kirk Triplett, Luke Donald, Rod Pampling

The top 125 finishers on the 2005 Official PGA Tour money list.

Fred Funk, Davis Love III, Adam Scott, Scott Verplank, Tim Clark, Billy Mayfair, Brandt Jobe, Tim Herron, Charles Howell III, Shigeki Maruyama, Joe Ogilvie, Fred Couples, Zach Johnson, José María Olazábal, John Daly, Stewart Cink, Tom Lehman, Ernie Els, Tom Pernice Jr., Bo Van Pelt, Darren Clarke, Jonathan Kaye, Justin Rose, Mike Weir, Greg Owen, Jerry Kelly, Mark Hensby, Ryan Palmer, Jeff Brehaut, Pat Perez, Robert Allenby, Woody Austin, Billy Andrade, Kevin Na, Jeff Sluman, Bob Tway, Joey Sindelar, Dudley Hart, Joe Durant, J. L. Lewis, Carlos Franco, Charles Warren, Aaron Baddeley, Harrison Frazar, Brett Quigley, Scott McCarron, Arjun Atwal, Stephen Ames, Bernhard Langer, Steve Lowery, Ian Poulter, J. J. Henry, Daniel Chopra, Tag Ridings, Bob Estes, Loren Roberts, Steve Flesch, Freddie Jacobson, John Senden, Brian Davis, John Rollins, James Driscoll, Kevin Sutherland, Dean Wilson, D. J. Trahan, Hank Kuehne, Stephen Leaney, Jeff Maggert, Robert Damron, Corey Pavin, Jesper Parnevik, Doug Barron, Jonathan Byrd, Craig Barlow, Rich Beem, Rocco Mediate, Brian Gay, Richard S. Johnson, Hidemichi Tanaka, Patrick Sheehan, Todd Fischer, John Huston, Ryuji Imada, Tommy Armour III, Kent Jones, Craig Parry, Nick Price

For the duration of their exemption, PGA Tour members who earned a Tournament Winner exemption prior to March 1, 2004.

'''Winners of the Players Championship, Masters, U.S. Open, British Open, and PGA Championship from the 1996 to 1997 and from 2001 to 2005. Beginning with 1998, winners will be eligible for five years.'''

Nick Faldo, Steve Jones, Mark Brooks, Craig Perks, Shaun Micheel, David Duval, Ben Curtis, Todd Hamilton

Winners of the NEC World Series in the last years 10 years (1996–1997).

Winners of the Tour Championship in the last three years (2003–2005).

Winners of the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship in the last years (2004–2006).

Winners of the WGC-NEC Invitational and WGC-American Express Championship in the last three years (2003–2005).

Any player(s), not otherwise eligible, among the top 50 leaders from the Official World Golf Ranking through the Bay Hill Invitational.

Colin Montgomerie, David Howell, Henrik Stenson, Ángel Cabrera, Nick O'Hern, Paul McGinley, Thomas Bjørn, Lee Westwood, Miguel Ángel Jiménez, Shingo Katayama

Any player(s), not otherwise eligible, among the top 10 leaders from the 2006 Official PGA Tour Money List through the Bay Hill Invitational.

'''If necessary to complete a field of 144 players, PGA Tour members from the 2006 Official PGA Tour Money List below 10th position through the Bay Hill Invitational, in order of their positions on such list. '''

Camilo Villegas, Nathan Green

Sources:

First round
Thursday, March 23, 2006 Source:

Second round
Friday, March 24, 2006 Source:

Third round
Saturday, March 25, 2006 Source:

Final round
Sunday, March 26, 2006 Source:

Scorecard
Cumulative tournament scores, relative to par
 * {|class="wikitable" span = 50 style="font-size:85%;


 * style="background:Red; width:10px;"|
 * Eagle
 * style="background:Pink; width:10px;"|
 * Birdie
 * style="background:PaleGreen; width:10px;"|
 * Bogey
 * style="background:Green; width:10px;"|
 * Double bogey
 * style="background:Olive; width:10px;"|
 * Triple bogey+
 * }
 * }