After a brief Spring swing through the South, the PGA Tour returns to Florida this week for the "5th Major." The 2012 Players Championship tees off on Thursday morning, with what is often considered the best field on Tour all season. TPC Sawgrass is one of the top stops for players from all Tours, and usually eclipses the majors and WGC events when it comes to World Ranked players in attendance.
This year is no different, as the Tour comes to Sawgrass red-hot after last week's thrilling playoff at Quail Hollow. Rickie Fowler, coming off his first American Tour win, will play early Thursday with Tiger Woods and Hunter Mahan in a super group. Woods has just one win at THE PLAYERS, and has withdrawn in his past two appearances at Sawgrass. Mahan, meanwhile, is having as good a year on Tour as any American, with two marquee victories under his belt and a lead in the FedEx Cup standings. But while that group may have the most familiar name in the game, this tournament is loaded from start to finish.
Television coverage will be extended for this venerable tournament, with Golf Channel beginning its broadcast at 1:00 p.m. ET on Thursday and going all the way up to 7:00 p.m. ET. Thursday afternoon coverage will likely focus on two specific groups, playing back-to-back and going off at 1:39 and 1:49 p.m. The first will feature No.1 player in the world Luke Donald, defending FedEx Cup Champion Bill Haas, and superstar Lee Westwood. Playing right behind them will be Rory McIlroy, newly minted Hall-of-Famer Phil Mickelson, and Steve Stricker. Of course, all these groups are filled with the top talent in the game, vying for the largest purse in golf.
First wave off No. 1 tee:
| 7:15 am | Mallinger, John | Tringale, Cameron | Adams, Blake |
| 7:26 am | Romero, Andres | Overton, Jeff | Gillis, Tom |
| 7:36 am | Perez, Pat | Baird, Briny | Thompson, Michael |
| 7:47 am | Ogilvy, Geoff | Singh, Vijay | Verplank, Scott |
| 7:57 am | Atwal, Arjun | Cabrera, Angel | Harrington, Padraig |
| 8:08 am | Frazar, Harrison | Baddeley, Aaron | Leonard, Justin |
| 8:18 am | Snedeker, Brandt | Crane, Ben | Watney, Nick |
| 8:29 am | Oosthuizen, Louis | Day, Jason | Poulter, Ian |
| 8:39 am | Pettersson, Carl | Points, D.A. | Garrigus, Robert |
| 8:50 am | Kirk, Chris | Bradley, Michael | Palmer, Ryan |
| 9:00 am | Levin, Spencer | Hearn, David | Haas, Hunter |
| 9:11 am | Maggert, Jeff | Merrick, John | Mathis, David |
First wave off No. 10 tee:
| 7:15 am | Couch, Chris | Chalmers, Greg | DeLaet, Graham |
| 7:26 am | Trahan, D.J. | DiMarco, Chris | Driscoll, James |
| 7:36 am | Streelman, Kevin | Jobe, Brandt | Blanks, Kris |
| 7:47 am | Molder, Bryce | Woodland, Gary | Hoffman, Charley |
| 7:57 am | Slocum, Heath | Bettencourt, Matt | Gay, Brian |
| 8:08 am | McNeill, George | Na, Kevin | Piercy, Scott |
| 8:18 am | Choi, K.J. | Clark, Tim | Garcia, Sergio |
| 8:29 am | Simpson, Webb | Bradley, Keegan | Kuchar, Matt |
| 8:39 am | Fowler, Rickie | Mahan, Hunter | Woods, Tiger |
| 8:50 am | O'Hair, Sean | Toms, David | Stenson, Henrik |
| 9:00 am | Matteson, Troy | Holmes, J.B. | Henry, J.J. |
| 9:11 am | Campbell, Chad | Pampling, Rod | Mayfair, Billy |
Second wave off No. 1 tee:
| 12:25 pm | Reavie, Chez | Stadler, Kevin | Teater, Josh |
| 12:36 pm | Herron, Tim | Walker, Jimmy | Kang, Sung |
| 12:46 pm | Van Pelt, Bo | Chappell, Kevin | Barnes, Ricky |
| 12:57 pm | Sabbatini, Rory | Yang, Y.E. | Kelly, Jerry |
| 1:07 pm | Stallings, Scott | Furyk, Jim | Love III, Davis |
| 1:18 pm | Vegas, Jhonattan | Byrd, Jonathan | Villegas, Camilo |
| 1:28 pm | Rose, Justin | Kaymer, Martin | Scott, Adam |
| 1:39 pm | Donald, Luke | Haas, Bill | Westwood, Lee |
| 1:49 pm | McIlroy, Rory | Mickelson, Phil | Stricker, Steve |
| 2:00 pm | Moore, Ryan | Casey, Paul | Cauley, Bud |
| 2:10 pm | Senden, John | Bae, Sang-Moon | Gainey, Tommy |
| 2:21 pm | Leishman, Marc | Killeen, J.J. | Quiros, Alvaro |
Second wave off No. 10 tee:
| 12:25 pm | Pernice Jr., Tom | de Jonge, Brendon | Duke, Ken |
| 12:36 pm | O'Hern, Nick | Stroud, Chris | Dyson, Simon |
| 12:46 pm | Rollins, John | Molinari, Francesco | Wi, Charlie |
| 12:57 pm | Jacobson, Fredrik | Glover, Lucas | Goosen, Retief |
| 1:07 pm | Steele, Brendan | Immelman, Trevor | Allenby, Robert |
| 1:18 pm | Laird, Martin | Cink, Stewart | Howell III, Charles |
| 1:28 pm | McDowell, Graeme | Johnson, Zach | Els, Ernie |
| 1:39 pm | Dufner, Jason | Curtis, Ben | Stanley, Kyle |
| 1:49 pm | Huh, John | Wilson, Mark | Wagner, Johnson |
| 2:00 pm | Ogilvie, Joe | Estes, Bob | Davis, Brian |
| 2:10 pm | Imada, Ryuji | Karlsson, Robert | Hanson, Peter |
| 2:21 pm | Every, Matt | Knost, Colt | English, Harris |
For real-time leaderboard updates throughout the tournament, visit Golf.com.
We'll keep you up to date with all the latest news and updates for this tournament in this StoryStream, but you can head to Waggle Room or the SB Nation golf hub page for more on the PLAYERS.