The 1978 Tournament Players Championship was a golf tournament in Florida on the PGA Tour, held March 16–19 at Sawgrass Country Club in Ponte Vedra Beach, southeast of Jacksonville. The fifth Tournament Players Championship, it was the second at Sawgrass and Jack Nicklaus won his third TPC title at 289 (+1), one stroke ahead of runner-up Lou Graham. Both shot in the windy final round and Nicklaus went without a birdie.
This was the fourth consecutive start for Nicklaus in 1978 that ended with a top-two finish: two wins and two second places. Four months later in July, he won his third Open Championship to become the first to win the TPC and a major title in the same calendar year, later joined by and
Defending champion Mark Hayes finished eleven strokes back, in a tie for 28th place.
Venue
This was the second of five Tournament Players Championships held at Sawgrass Country Club; it moved to the nearby TPC at Sawgrass Stadium Course in 1982.
Eligibility requirements All designated players Winners of major PGA Tour co-sponsored or approved events beginning with the 1977 Tournament Players Championship and concluding with the tournament immediately preceding the 1978 TPC The current British Open champion Leaders In PGA Tour Official Standings as necessary to complete the field, beginning with the 1977 Tournament Players Championship and concluding with the tournament scheduled to end on the Sunday immediately preceding the 1978 TPC, the Florida Citrus Open
Source:
Field Tommy Aaron, Sam Adams, Wally Armstrong, Butch Baird, Miller Barber, Andy Bean, Frank Beard, Don Bies, Homero Blancas, George Burns, George Cadle, Rex Caldwell, Bill Calfee, Billy Casper, Antonio Cerda Jr., Jim Colbert, Bobby Cole, Frank Conner, Charles Coody, Ben Crenshaw, Rod Curl, Jim Dent, Bruce Devlin, Terry Diehl, Ed Dougherty, Bob Eastwood, Danny Edwards, Dave Eichelberger, Lee Elder, Randy Erskine, Keith Fergus, Forrest Fezler, Raymond Floyd, Rod Funseth, Gibby Gilbert, Bob Gilder, David Graham, Lou Graham, Hubert Green, Gary Groh, Jay Haas, Phil Hancock, Morris Hatalsky, Dale Hayes, Mark Hayes, Jerry Heard, Mike Hill, Lon Hinkle, Joe Inman, Hale Irwin, Don Iverson, Peter Jacobsen, Barry Jaeckel, Don January, Tom Jenkins, Grier Jones, Tom Kite, George Knudson, Gary Koch, Billy Kratzert, Stan Lee, Wayne Levi, Bruce Lietzke, John Lister, Gene Littler, Lyn Lott, Mark Lye, John Mahaffey, Bill Mallon, Roger Maltbie, Graham Marsh, Fred Marti, Rik Massengale, Gary McCord, Mike McCullough, Jerry McGee, Mac McLendon, Artie McNickle, Steve Melnyk, Allen Miller, Johnny Miller, Jeff Mitchell, Florentino Molina, Orville Moody, Gil Morgan, Mike Morley, Bob Murphy, Larry Nelson, Dwight Nevil, Bobby Nichols, Jack Nicklaus, Andy North, Peter Oosterhuis, Arnold Palmer, Jerry Pate, Bob Payne, Eddie Pearce, Calvin Peete, Mark Pfeil, Gary Player, Don Pooley, Joe Porter, Tom Purtzer, Sammy Rachels, Victor Regalado, Mike Reid, Jack Renner, Chi Chi Rodriguez, Bill Rogers, John Schlee, John Schroeder, Tom Shaw, Bob Shearer, Dan Sikes, Jim Simons, Tim Simpson, Bob E. Smith, J. C. Snead, Ed Sneed, Craig Stadler, Ken Still, Dave Stockton, Curtis Strange, Ron Streck, Alan Tapie, Steve Taylor, Doug Tewell, Barney Thompson, Leonard Thompson, Lee Trevino, Howard Twitty, Bobby Wadkins, Lanny Wadkins, Art Wall Jr., Bobby Walzel, Tom Watson, Tom Weiskopf, Bob Wynn, Kermit Zarley, Bob Zender, Larry Ziegler, Fuzzy Zoeller
Round summaries
First round Thursday, March 16, 1978 PlacePlayerScoreTo parT1 Ben Crenshaw 70 −2 Gibby Gilbert Gary Groh Jack Nicklaus Victor Regalado John Schroeder Bobby WadkinsT8 Lou Graham 71 −1 Joe Inman Artie McNickle Larry Nelson Source:
Second round Friday, March 17, 1978 PlacePlayerScoreTo parT1 Ben Crenshaw 70-71=141 −3 Lou Graham 71-70=141 Jack Nicklaus 70-71=141 4 Larry Nelson 71-72=143 −1 5 John Mahaffey 72-72=144 ET6 Mike Morley 72-73=145 +1 Andy North 74-71=145 John Schroeder 70-75=145 T9 Sam Adams 74-72=146 +2 David Graham 72-74=146 Joe Inman 71-75=146 Artie McNickle 71-75=146 Mac McLendon 72-74=146 Florentino Molina 72-74=146 Peter Oosterhuis 73-73=146 Source:
Third round Saturday, March 18, 1978 PlacePlayerScoreTo par1 Jack Nicklaus 70-71-73=214 −2 2 Lou Graham 71-70-74=215 −1T3 Ben Crenshaw 70-71-77=218 +2 Larry Nelson 71-72-75=218 T5 John Mahaffey 72-72-75=219 +3 Andy North 74-71-74=219 T7 Lon Hinkle 75-72-74=221 +5 Mike McCullough 77-75-69=221 Peter Oosterhuis 73-73-75=221 John Schroeder 70-75-76=221 Bob Shearer 74-75-72=221 Bob Zender 75-73-73=221 Source:
Final round Sunday, March 19, 1978 Champion(c) = past champion PlacePlayerScoreTo parMoney ($)1 Jack Nicklaus (c) 70-71-73-75=289 +1 60,0002 Lou Graham 71-70-74-75=290 +2 34,2003 Lon Hinkle 75-72-74-70=291 +3 21,300T4 Ben Crenshaw 70-71-77-74=292 +4 11,700 Larry Nelson 71-72-75-74=292 Andy North 74-71-74-73=292 John Schroeder 70-75-76-71=2928 Jim Colbert 74-74-74-72=294 +6 8,850T9 Hubert Green 76-77-71-71=295 +7 7,500 Peter Oosterhuis 73-73-75-74=295 Victor Regalado 70-79-76-70=295 Leaderboard below the top 10PlacePlayerScoreTo parMoney ($)T12 Jerry Heard 73-78-71-74=296 +8 5,460 John Mahaffey 72-72-75-77=296 Mike McCullough 77-75-69-75=296 Florentino Molina 72-74-76-74=296 Bobby Wadkins 70-79-73-74=296T17 Lee Elder 75-76-75-71=297 +9 4,200 Phil Hancock 73-74-75-75=297 Jerry Pate 76-76-75-70=297T20 Danny Edwards 75-73-75-75=298 +10 2,892 David Graham 72-74-78-74=298 Graham Marsh 73-76-73-76=298 Mac McLendon 72-74-76-76=298 Gil Morgan 73-77-76-72=298 John Schlee 77-73-75-73=298 Bob Shearer 74-75-72-77=29827 Rod Funseth 74-73-78-74=299 +11 2,310T28 Andy Bean 73-78-76-73=300 +12 1,791 Keith Fergus 73-75-82-70=300 Gibby Gilbert 70-77-79-74=300 Mark Hayes (c) 73-77-77-73=300 Joe Inman 71-75-79-75=300 Tom Kite 74-77-78-71=300 Lyn Lott 75-76-78-71=300 Gary Player 74-73-77-76=300 Alan Tapie 73-75-82-70=300 Kermit Zarley 75-77-73-75=300 Bob Zender 75-73-73-79=300T39 Sam Adams 74-72-77-78=301 +13 1,290 Fred Marti 72-79-77-73=301 Leonard Thompson 74-76-79-72=301T42 Frank Conner 75-74-75-78=302 +14 1,082 Morris Hatalsky 74-79-74-75=302 Hale Irwin 75-75-75-77=302 Billy Kratzert 75-76-75-76=302T46 Miller Barber 78-74-76-75=303 +15 975 Bobby Cole 72-79-81-71=303 Charles Coody 73-76-74-80=303 Don January 73-74-79-77=303T50 Mike Morley 72-73-79-80=304 +16 945 Mark Pfeil 74-75-78-77=304T52 Bob Eastwood 79-72-82-72=305 +17 910 Peter Jacobsen 74-76-80-75=305 Artie McNickle 71-75-82-77=305 Bill Rogers 73-75-79-78=305 Jim Simons 73-80-79-73=305T57 Jay Haas 76-76-76-78=306 +18 860 Steve Melnyk 76-75-79-76=306 Mike Reid 76-77-75-78=306 Ron Streck 75-78-77-76=306 Tom Weiskopf 73-80-74-79=30662 Chi Chi Rodriguez 73-77-80-77=307 +19 830T63 Wayne Levi 74-75-82-77=308 +20 810 Allen Miller 74-73-79-82=308 Art Wall Jr. 73-79-77-79=308T66 Don Bies 76-77-81-75=309 +21 770 Rex Caldwell 75-76-80-78=309 Gary Groh 70-77-79-83=309 Gary McCord 77-75-77-80=309 Jerry McGee 76-76-75-82=309T71 Tom Shaw 76-75-83-76=310 +22 750 J. C. Snead 74-77-82-77=310T73 Rod Curl 75-78-82-76=311 +23 750 John Lister 76-76-81-78=311T75 Homero Blancas 74-77-84-77=312 +24 750 Howard Twitty 78-75-81-78=312T77 Forrest Fezler 76-75-82-80=313 +25 750 Arnold Palmer 74-78-76-85=313CUT George Burns 79-75=154 +10 Dave Eichelberger 78-76=154 Raymond Floyd 77-77=154 Mike Hill 76-78=154 Rik Massengale 73-81=154 Dwight Nevil 78-76=154 Sammy Rachels 77-77=154 Steve Taylor 76-78=154 Tom Watson 76-78=154 Bill Calfee 79-76=155 +11 Billy Casper 77-78=155 Jim Dent 74-81=155 Terry Diehl 78-77=155 Tom Jenkins 77-78=155 Bruce Lietzke 77-78=155 Jeff Mitchell 74-81=155 Joe Porter 76-79=155 Tom Purtzer 75-80=155 Jack Renner 75-80=155 Dan Sikes 74-81=155 Ed Sneed 76-79=155 Wally Armstrong 77-79=156 +12 Butch Baird 78-78=156 Don Iverson 81-75=156 Grier Jones 79-77=156 Orville Moody 74-82=156 Bob Payne 75-81=156 Dave Stockton 79-77=156 Curtis Strange 83-73=156 Doug Tewell 79-77=156 Bobby Walzel 78-78=156 Bruce Devlin 76-81=157 +13 Barry Jaeckel 76-81=157 Gary Koch 77-80=157 Stan Lee 80-77=157 Mark Lye 78-79=157 Roger Maltbie 79-78=157 Eddie Pearce 80-77=157 Don Pooley 74-83=157 Bob E. Smith 74-83=157 Bobby Nichols 77-81=158 +14 Barney Thompson 76-82=158 Larry Ziegler 79-79=158 Tommy Aaron 83-76=159 +15 Bob Gilder 74-85=159 George Knudson 80-79=159 Johnny Miller 77-82=159 Frank Beard 80-80=160 +16 Antonio Cerda Jr. 82-78=160 Randy Erskine 75-85=160 Dale Hayes 77-83=160 Bob Murphy 78-82=160 Ken Still 80-80=160 Fuzzy Zoeller 77-83=160 Lanny Wadkins 79-82=161 +17 Calvin Peete 81-81=162 +18 Tim Simpson 81-81=162 Bob Wynn 76-86=162 Ed Dougherty 78-85=163 +19 Craig Stadler 79-85=164 +20 Bill Mallon 84-85=169 +25 George Cadle 81-89=170 +26WD Lee Trevino 75-78=153 +9 Gene Littler
References
External links The Players Championship website