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  • 21 Aug, 2019

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1977 Tournament Players Championship

The 1977 Tournament Players Championship was a golf tournament in Florida on the PGA Tour, held March 17–20 at Sawgrass Country Club in Ponte Vedra Beach, southeast of Jacksonville. The fourth Tournament Players Championship, it was the first of five consecutive at Sawgrass, which had agreed a multi-year with the PGA Tour in 1976.

Mark Hayes was the champion in windy conditions at 289 (+1), two strokes ahead of runner-up Mike McCullough. McCullough and Tom Watson were the co-leaders after the third round, with Hayes a stroke back. Defending champion Jack Nicklaus finished four strokes back, in a tie for fifth place.

Bob Menne set the tour's 72-hole record for fewest putts with 99, but tied for 47th at 303 (+15). The record had been 102 putts, by Bert Yancey in 1966 at his victory in the final Portland Open Invitational.

Venue

This was the first of five Tournament Players Championships held at Sawgrass Country Club; it moved to the nearby TPC at Sawgrass Stadium Course in 1982. The venues for the first three editions in Georgia, Texas, and south Florida were familiar to most of the participants as those courses had recently hosted multiple PGA Tour events; this was the first tour event at Sawgrass.

Round summaries

First round

Thursday, March 17, 1977

Place Player Score To par
1 United States Mike McCullough 66 −6
T3 United States Don Bies 68 −4
United States Raymond Floyd
United States Tom Watson
T6 Australia Bruce Devlin 69 −3
United States Billy Kratzert
United States Ed Sabo
United States J. C. Snead
T10 Australia Hubert Green 71 −1
England Peter Oosterhuis
United States John Schroeder

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Second round

Friday, March 18, 1977

Place Player Score To par
1 United States Mike McCullough 66-74=140 −4
2 United States Tom Watson 68-74=142 −2
T3 United States Raymond Floyd 68-76=144 E
United States Bob E. Smith 73-71=144
5 United States J. C. Snead 69-76=145 +1
6 United States Mark Hayes 72-74=146 +2
T7 United States Jack Nicklaus 73-74=147 +3
United States Bill Rogers 75-72=147
United States Tom Weiskopf 75-72=147
United States Larry Ziegler 74-73=147

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Third round

Saturday, March 19, 1977

Place Player Score To par
T1 United States Mike McCullough 66-74-76=216 E
United States Tom Watson 68-74-74=216
3 United States Mark Hayes 72-74-71=217 +1
T4 United States Raymond Floyd 68-76-74=218 +2
United States Hale Irwin 72-77-69=218
6 United States Jack Nicklaus 73-74-72=219 +3
T7 Australia Bruce Devlin 69-79-72=220 +4
United States J. C. Snead 69-76-75=220
T9 United States Danny Edwards 75-76-70=221 +5
United States Tom Jenkins 75-75-71=221
United States Larry Nelson 74-74-73=221

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Final round

Sunday, March 20, 1977

Place Player Score To par Money ($)
1 United States Mark Hayes 72-74-71-72=289 +1 60,000
2 United States Mike McCullough 66-74-76-75=291 +3 34,200
T3 Australia Bruce Devlin 69-79-72-72=292 +4 17,700
United States Hale Irwin 72-77-69-74=292
T5 Australia Graham Marsh 73-77-72-71=293 +5 10,900
United States Jack Nicklaus 73-74-72-74=293
United States Tom Watson 68-74-74-77=293
T8 United States Steve Melnyk 73-76-73-72=294 +6 8,150
United States Larry Nelson 74-74-73-73=294
United States Bill Rogers 75-72-76-71=294

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