The 1998 Players Championship was a golf tournament in Florida on the PGA Tour, held March 26–29 at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, southeast of Jacksonville. It was the 25th Players Championship.

Tournament summary

Defending champion Steve Elkington withdrew on Monday night, citing complications after sinus surgery. He was the first defending champion that did not compete since Jerry Pate in 1983. In addition, Greg Norman, the 1994 champion, withdrew prior to the first round with a shoulder injury.

Lee Janzen, who won the tournament three years previous, held the lead after third round. However, he shot a final round 79 and fell to eighteenth. Journeyman Len Mattiace took advantage, surging into the lead. However, he scored a quintuple-bogey at the par-3 17th hole to end his chances. He birdied the final hole though to finish in the top five. Five strokes back, Justin Leonard shot a final round 67 to win at 278 (−10), two ahead of runners-up Glen Day and Tom Lehman.

Venue

This was the seventeenth Players Championship held at the TPC at Sawgrass Stadium Course; it was extended this year to 6,950 yards (6,355 m), an increase of 54 yards (49 m).

Field

1. All winners of PGA Tour events awarding official money and official victory status in the preceding 12 months, concluding with the Bay Hill Invitational and dating from the 1997 Players Championship

2. The top 125 PGA Tour players from the final 1997 Official Money List

3. Winners in the last 10 calendar years of The Players Championship, Masters Tournament, U.S. Open, PGA Championship, and NEC World Series of Golf

4. British Open winners since 1990

5. Up to eight players, not otherwise eligible, designated by The Players Championship Committee as "special selections"

6. Any players, not otherwise eligible, who are among the top 10 money winners from the 1998 Official Money List through the Bay Hill Invitational

7. To complete a field of 144 players, those players in order, not otherwise eligible, from the 1998 Official Money List through the Bay Hill Invitational

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Round summaries

First round

Thursday, March 26, 1998

Place	Player	Score	To par
1	Glen Day	66	−6
T2	Fred Couples	67	−5
	Rocco Mediate
4	Jerry Kelly	68	−4
T5	Mark Calcavecchia	69	−3
	Ben Crenshaw
	David Duval
	David Frost
	Nolan Henke
	Per-Ulrik Johansson
	Bruce Lietzke
	Jeff Maggert
	Len Mattiace
	Billy Mayfair
	Phil Mickelson
	Naomichi Ozaki

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Second round

Friday, March 27, 1998

Place	Player	Score	To par
T1	Lee Janzen	70-67=137	−7
	Naomichi Ozaki	69-68=137
2	Tom Kite	72-66=138	−6
T3	Glen Day	66-73=139	−5
	Jerry Kelly	68-71=139
	Bruce Lietzke	69-70=139
T6	Fred Couples	67-73=140	−4
	David Frost	69-71=140
	Scott Gump	72-68=140
	Jeff Maggert	69-71=140
	Len Mattiace	69-71=140
	Rocco Mediate	67-73=140

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Third round

Saturday, March 28, 1998

Place	Player	Score	To par
1	Lee Janzen	70-67-69=206	−10
2	Glen Day	66-73-70=209	−7
3	Justin Leonard	72-69-70=211	−5
T4	Mark Calcavecchia	69-75-68=212	−4
	Scott Hoch	73-69-70=212
	Tom Lehman	72-70-70=212
	Len Mattiace	69-71-72=212
	Phil Mickelson	69-73-70=212
T9	Fred Couples	67-73-73=213	−3
	Ernie Els	71-72-70=213
	David Frost	69-71-73=213
	Bruce Lietzke	69-70-74=213
	Billy Mayfair	69-75-69=213
	Naomichi Ozaki	69-68-76=213
	Nick Price	71-72-70=213
	Craig Stadler	71-70-72=213
	Omar Uresti	72-71-70=213
	Lee Westwood	74-71-68=213

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Final round

Sunday, March 29, 1998

Champion

(c) = past champion

Place	Player	Score	To par	Money ($)
1	Justin Leonard	72-69-70-67=278	−10	720,000
T2	Glen Day	66-73-70-71=280	−8	352,000
	Tom Lehman	72-70-70-68=280
4	Mark Calcavecchia	69-75-68-69=281	−7	192,000
T5	Scott Hoch	73-69-70-70=282	−6	146,000
	Len Mattiace	69-71-72-70=282
	Lee Westwood	74-71-68-69=282
T8	Phil Mickelson	69-73-70-71=283	−5	116,000
	Nick Price (c)	71-72-70-70=283
	Payne Stewart	72-71-75-65=283

Leaderboard below the top 10
Place	Player	Score	To par	Money ($)
T11	Ernie Els	71-72-70-71=284	−4	96,000
	Scott Verplank	71-71-72-70=284
T13	John Cook	71-73-71-70=285	−3	77,333
	Lee Janzen (c)	70-67-69-79=285
	Bruce Lietzke	69-70-74-72=285
T16	John Daly	71-70-76-69=286	−2	66,000
	David Sutherland	72-73-69-72=286
T18	Doug Barron	71-72-74-70=287	−1	48,685
	David Duval	69-77-70-71=287
	Nick Faldo	75-69-70-73=287
	Naomichi Ozaki	69-68-76-74=287
	Hal Sutton (c)	74-69-74-70=287
	Bob Tway	72-71-75-69=287
	Omar Uresti	72-71-70-74=287
T25	Dudley Hart	74-70-71-73=288	E	30,533
	Steve Jones	71-71-73-73=288
	Tom Kite (c)	72-66-78-72=288
	José María Olazábal	72-74-70-72=288
	Jesper Parnevik	72-72-72-72=288
	Lee Rinker	72-73-72-71=288
T31	Tommy Armour III	71-75-71-72=289	+1	24,250
	Jerry Kelly	68-71-77-73=289
	Larry Mize	73-73-73-70=289
	Craig Stadler	71-70-72-76=289
T35	Billy Andrade	70-74-75-71=290	+2	18,885
	Brad Faxon	71-73-72-74=290
	Jim Furyk	70-75-73-72=290
	Scott McCarron	72-72-71-75=290
	Kirk Triplett	71-71-73-75=290
	Tom Watson	71-74-71-74=290
	Tiger Woods	72-73-73-72=290
T42	Brandel Chamblee	72-73-76-70=291	+3	12,560
	Stewart Cink	71-73-74-73=291
	Fred Couples (c)	67-73-73-78=291
	Bob Estes	72-70-74-75=291
	David Frost	69-71-73-78=291
	Billy Mayfair	69-75-69-78=291
	Mark O'Meara	70-75-72-74=291
	Steve Pate	71-71-74-75=291
	Kevin Sutherland	72-70-73-76=291
T51	Michael Bradley	74-72-76-70=292	+4	9,626
	Jeff Maggert	69-71-76-76=292
	Steve Stricker	74-72-70-76=292
T54	Scott Gump	72-68-76-77=293	+5	9,200
	Per-Ulrik Johansson	69-74-78-72=293
	Vijay Singh	72-71-75-75=293
T57	Paul Goydos	72-70-80-72=294	+6	8,920
	Nolan Henke	69-73-77-75=294
	Davis Love III (c)	73-72-69-80=294
	Rocco Mediate	67-73-77-77=294
T61	Joey Sindelar	73-69-81-72=295	+7	8,680
	Ted Tryba	70-74-72-79=295
T63	Robert Gamez	74-72-77-73=296	+8	8,480
	Frank Nobilo	72-72-75-77=296
	Grant Waite	76-70-75-75=296
T66	Phil Blackmar	72-74-76-75=297	+9	8,280
	Brian Henninger	73-72-73-79=297
68	Skip Kendall	74-72-73-79=298	+10	8,160
T69	Fred Funk	73-73-75-78=299	+11	8,040
	Donnie Hammond	71-75-72-81=299
T71	Larry Rinker	78-67-81-74=300	+12	7,880
	Mark Wiebe	76-69-76-79=300
CUT	Stuart Appleby	72-75=147	+3
	Robert Damron	71-76=147
	Brad Fabel	75-72=147
	Brent Geiberger	74-73=147
	John Huston	72-75=147
	Shigeki Maruyama	74-73=147
	Larry Nelson	74-73=147
	Mike Reid	74-73=147
	David Toms	71-76=147
	Willie Wood	73-74=147
	Fulton Allem	74-74=148	+4
	Ronnie Black	70-78=148
	Mark Brooks	73-75=148
	David Edwards	73-75=148
	Kelly Gibson	75-73=148
	P. H. Horgan III	76-72=148
	Colin Montgomerie	74-74=148
	David Ogrin	74-74=148
	Corey Pavin	75-73=148
	Chris Perry	72-76=148
	Don Pooley	75-73=148
	Curtis Strange	78-70=148
	Retief Goosen	71-78=149	+5
	Tim Herron	74-75=149
	Neal Lancaster	76-73=149
	Frank Lickliter	77-72=149
	Steve Lowery	71-78=149
	Sandy Lyle (c)	74-75=149
	Kenny Perry	74-75=149
	Loren Roberts	75-74=149
	Mike Standly	73-76=149
	Phil Tataurangi	75-74=149
	Tommy Tolles	77-72=149
	John Adams	74-76=150	+6
	Ben Crenshaw	69-81=150
	Rick Fehr	77-73=150
	Gabriel Hjertstedt	74-76=150
	Doug Martin	74-76=150
	Jeff Sluman	74-76=150
	Duffy Waldorf	75-75=150
	Russ Cochran	72-79=151	+7
	Jay Haas	74-77=151
	Bernhard Langer	80-71=151
	Craig Parry	73-78=151
	Clarence Rose	76-75=151
	Mike Brisky	80-72=152	+8
	Olin Browne	78-74=152
	Trevor Dodds	76-76=152
	Mike Hulbert	73-79=152
	Pete Jordan	73-79=152
	Andrew Magee	71-81=152
	Costantino Rocca	76-76=152
	Michael Christie	81-72=153	+9
	Darren Clarke	74-79=153
	Scott Simpson	75-78=153
	Tom Byrum	79-75=154	+10
	Mark McCumber (c)	77-77=154
	Masashi Ozaki	77-77=154
	Tom Purtzer	77-77=154
	Guy Boros	75-80=155	+11
	Stephen Ames	71-85=156	+12
	Joe Durant	75-81=156
	Wayne Grady	76-81=157	+13
	Billy Ray Brown	81-77=158	+14
Jim Carter	78-81=159	+15
Lennie Clements	78-81=159
Mike Springer	79-81=160	+16
Paul Azinger	80-81=161	+17
WD	Paul Stankowski	75	+3
	Jay Don Blake	78	+6
	Dan Forsman	78
	Ian Woosnam

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