Largest Come-from-Behind Wins in The Players Championship

The golfer who trailed by the most after the third round but went on to win The Players Championship was six strokes off the lead when the final round began. And then he had to survive a three-man playoff to claim the victory.

That golfer was Raymond Floyd, and it was the 1981 Players Championship — the last one played before the tournament moved to its permanent home at TPC Sawgrass (Stadium Course) the following year. (The 1981 tournament took place at Sawgrass Country Club.)

The Record: 6 Strokes, Raymond Floyd, 1981

Floyd was fighting uphill each round of the 1981 Players, trailing by four following Round 1. After the second round, he was seven behind. And after the third, Floyd trailed by six strokes.

The leader was Barry Jaeckel, who shared or held the lead all three rounds. Jaeckel began the final round three ahead of the second-place golfers, Dan Halldorson, John Mahaffey and Jim Simons, with Curtis Strange four back.

But in that final round, Jaeckel scored 74, Strange 70 and Floyd 68. Those three finished 72 holes tied at 285. The three-way playoff was sudden death, and Floyd needed only a par on the first hole to win it. It was the first playoff in the tournament's history (The Players was first played in 1974).

The victory made Floyd the first golfer to win The Players Championship after having won the previous week's PGA Tour event, too. In Floyd's case, he was coming off a win in the Doral-Eastern Open.

The List: Biggest Final-Round Comebacks in Players Championship

These are the largest 54-hole deficits for golfers who came from behind in the final round to win The Players Championship:

• 6 strokes — Raymond Floyd, 1981 (played at Sawgrass Country Club)
• 5 strokes — Justin Leonard, 1998 (at TPC Sawgrass Stadium Course)
• 5 strokes — Henrik Stenson, 2009 (at TPC Sawgrass Stadium Course)
• 5 strokes — Scottie Scheffler, 2024 (at TPC Sawgrass Stadium Course)

Like Floyd in 1981, Scheffler in 2024 was coming off a win the previous week (the Arnold Palmer Invitational in his case). More significantly, Scheffler was the defending champion in 2024, and he became the first back-to-back winner in Players Championship history.

In 1998, Leonard was five off Lee Janzen's 54-hole lead, but scored 67 in the final round while Janzen ballooned to 79. In 2009, Stenson was five behind Alex Cejka when the final round began, then scored 66 while Cejka had a 79.

Related articles:

• Players Championship scoring records
• Worst scores at island green in Players Championship
• Full list of Players Championship winners

Sources:
PGA Tour. Official Media Guide The Players 2025, Timeline History, Championship Records, and The Players Championship Summaries.