Groupings and tee times for the opening round of The Players, the PGA Tour’s flagship event held at TPC Sawgrass in Florida, have been released.
The Featured Groups were announced on Sunday, with Rory McIlroy hoping to overcome a back issue to partner Xander Schauffele and Hideki Matsuyama in the late-early half of the draw.
That threeball is due to begin at 1.42pm local time (5.42pm UK time) on Thursday, with world No 1 Scottie Scheffler on the opposite side of the draw and beginning at 8.52am (12.52pm UK time) alongside FedExCup champion Tommy Fleetwood and 2021 winner Justin Thomas.
Tommy Fleetwood partners Scottie Scheffler and Justin Thomas for the first two rounds
Other notable pairings include Ludvig Åberg partnering FedExCup leader Collin Morikawa and Si Woo Kim (12.40pm UK time), while Viktor Hovland goes out alongside Russell Henley and Ryder Cup team-mate Bob MacIntyre (1.04pm UK time).
Last week’s Arnold Palmer Invitational winner Akshay Bhatia is in a threeball with Tony Finau and Brooks Koepka, returning to the event for the first time since 2022 (12.28pm UK time), while Justin Rose is in the afternoon wave alongside Chris Gotterup and Min Woo Lee (5.54pm UK time).
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Highlights from the final round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational from Bay Hill, where Akshay Bhatia claimed play-off victory
Thursday’s R1 tee times
All UK time; USA unless stated
Starting from Hole One
1140 Mark Hubbard, Thorbjorn Olesen (Den), Mac Meissner
1152 Bud Cauley, Vince Whaley, Chandler Phillips
1204 Emiliano Grillo (Arg), Christiaan Bezuidenhout (Rsa), Max Greyserman
1216 Kevin Yu, Cam Davis (Aus), Gary Woodland
1228 Ricky Castillo, Ryan Gerard, Patrick Cantlay
1240 Adam Schenk, Garrick Higgo (Rsa), Matt McCarty
1252 Brian Harman, Maverick McNealy, Davis Riley
1304 Sami Valimaki (Fin), Lucas Glover, Matt Fitzpatrick (Eng)
1316 Michael Brennan, Harris English, JT Poston
1328 Haotong Li (Chn), Zecheng Dou (Chn), Jordan Smith (Eng)
1630 Lee Hodges, Andrew Putnam, Sam Stevens
1642 Erik van Rooyen (Rsa), Keith Mitchell, Michael Kim
1654 Taylor Moore, Joel Dahmen, Ryo Hisatsune (Jpn)
1706 Jacob Bridgeman, Ben Griffin, Adam Scott (Aus)
1718 JJ Spaun, Sepp Straka (Aut), Shane Lowry (Irl)
1730 Sahith Theegala, Rickie Fowler, Jordan Spieth
1742 Xander Schauffele, Rory McIlroy (NIrl), Hideki Matsuyama (Jpn)
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Watch Rory McIlroy’s best shots from his 2025 Players Championship win as he looks to defend his title this week at TPC Sawgrass
1754 Chris Gotterup, Justin Rose (Eng), Min Woo Lee (Aus)
1806 Brian Campbell, Karl Vilios (Aus), Aaron Rai (Eng)
1818 Matti Schmid (Ger), Max McGreevy, Takumi Kanaya (Jpn)
1830 Zach Bauchou, Sudarshan Yellamaraju (Can), A.J Ewart (Can)
Starting from Hole 10
1140 Mackenzie Hughes (Can), Eric Cole, Rico Hoey (Phi)
1152 Max Homa, Daniel Berger, Michael Thorbjornsen
1204 Rasmus Hojgaard (Den), Danny Walker, Kristoffer Reitan (Nor)
1216 Jhonattan Vegas (Ven), Taylor Pendrith (Can), Alex Noren (Swe)
1228 Akshay Bhatia, Brooks Koepka, Tony Finau
1240 Collin Morikawa, Ludvig Åberg (Swe), Si Woo Kim (Kor)
1252 Scottie Scheffler, Tommy Fleetwood (Eng), Justin Thomas
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The Sky Sports Golf Podcast team discuss what could happen to Scottie Scheffler if he can’t resolve his current frustrations in his game
1304 Viktor Hovland (Nor), Russell Henley, Bob MacIntyre (Sco)
1316 Aldrich Potgeiter (Rsa), Jake Knapp, Sungjae Im (Kor)
1328 Patton Kizzire, Seamus Power (Ire), Johnny Keefer
1630 Tom Hoge, Denny McCarthy, Nicolai Hojgaard (Den)
1642 Patrick Rodgers, Kevin Roy, Marco Penge (Eng)
1654 Chad Ramey, Alex Smalley, Pierceson Coody
1706 Kurt Kitayama, Harry Hall (Eng), Stephan Jaeger (Ger)
1718 Keegan Bradley, Ryan Fox (Nzl), Chris Kirk
1730 Andrew Novak, Nick Taylor (Can), Wyndham Clark
1742 Steven Fisk, William Mouw, Joe Highsmith
1754 Cameron Young, Davis Thompson, Sam Burns
1806 Nico Echavarria (Col), Jason Day (Aus), Corey Conners (Can)
1818 Matthieu Pavon (Fra), SH Kim (Kor), Austin Smotherman
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It’s 25 years since Tiger Woods won his first Players Championship. On his way to winning at TPC Sawgrass he hit one of the most iconic putts in Tour history, making birdie at the par-3 17th during the third round
When is The Players live on Sky Sports?
Sky Sports Golf will once again be the home of The Players, with over 40 hours of live golf across the four days and a host of extra live programming available during tournament week.
‘Live from The Players’ brings you the latest news from TPC Sawgrass from 1pm on Tuesday and 11.30am on Wednesday, ahead of live tournament coverage starting on Thursday.
Featured Groups will be available on Sky Sports+ throughout the week, along with Featured Holes, with bonus feeds to enjoy on top of the feeds available each week during PGA Tour coverage.
Coverage begins at 11.30am on Thursday and Friday before starting at 1pm over the weekend, with highlights and additional shows on Sky Sports Golf. Get Sky Sports or stream with no contract.
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