Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler have dominated the Players Championship over the last three years. The PGA Tour’s flagship event hasn’t had a “breakthrough” winner since Cameron Smith’s 2022 win propelled him up the world rankings and set the stage for his Open Championship win later that summer.
But the 2026 edition was set up to have a different kind of winner after three years of the world’s best hoisting the trophy — no matter how it ended.
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Twenty-six-year-old Ludvig Åberg entered Sunday at TPC Sawgrass with a three-shot lead over 24-year-old Michael Thorbjornsen. Åberg grabbed the Players Championship lead with a sizzling 9-under 63 on Friday, and he backed that up with a 71 on Saturday to put himself on the cusp of the biggest win of his young career.
“I think about winning a lot,” Åberg said on Saturday, “I think a lot about what it would look like, what it would feel like. I think a lot about the different scenarios that might happen, and I did that in college, when I turned pro, and I still do it. I think I’m trying to embrace it. I’m trying to be okay with all those things that comes with it, which is why we play golf. We spend so much time practicing, playing, training, preparing, so why wouldn’t we think of what it would actually mean to win? So naturally that’s what I’m going to do tonight. But does it change anything for me tomorrow? I don’t think so.”
Åberg won last year’s Genesis Invitational, but a win at the Players would have been the kind of “Hello world!” win we’ve been expecting from the smooth-swinging Swede.
It would’ve been Thorbjornsen’s first win on the PGA Tour, and would’ve been the first player since Tim Clark in 2010 to have their first-career win come at the Players.
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But it was not to be for Åberg or Thorbjornsen.
Thorbjornsen faded early on the front nine, but Åberg maintained his lead until he reached the par-5 11th hole. Åberg split the fairway with his drive, but then lost his approach shot right into the pond. He made a double bogey 7 to lose the lead and fade from the tournament spotlight.
But while Åberg and Thorbjornsen were struggling to keep the train on the tracks at TPC Sawgrass, Cameron Young and Matthew Fitzpatrick took control of the tournament. Fitzpatrick grabbed the lead after Åberg’s double at 11. Young finally tied him with a birdie on the famed 17th hole.
They went to the 72nd hole all tied at 13 under.
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Young blistered a 375-yard drive down the center of the fairway and hit his approach to 14 feet. Fitzpatrick lost his drive left and had to play out to the front of the green. His chip up left him eight feet for par. When Young’s birdie attempt slid by the hole, Fitzpatrick had a chance to send the Players to a playoff. But his par putt just missed low, and Young tapped in for a closing par to seal the biggest win of his career.
Young’s win comes with a $4.5 million winner’s check. The purse for the Players is $25 million.
How much every player made at the 2026 Players Championship
Editor’s note: Payouts will be updated when play concludes
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WIN. Cameron Young, $4,500,000
2. Matthew Fitzpatrick, $2,725,000
3. Xander Schauffele, $1,725,000
4th: $1,225,000
5th: $1,025,000
6th: $906,250
7th: $843,750
8th: $781,250
9th: $731,250
10th: $681,250
11th: $631,250
12th: $581,250
13th: $531,250
14th: $481,250
15th: $456,250
16th: $431,250
17th: $406,250
18th: $381,250
19th: $356,250
20th: $331,250
21st: $306,250
22nd: $281,250
23rd: $261,250
24th: $241,250
25th: $221,250
26th: $201,250
T27. Hideki Matsuyama, $178,750
Chris Kirk, $178,750
Nicolai Hojgaard, $178,750
Ryan Gerard, $178,750
Chad Ramey, $178,750
T32. Jordan Spieth, $128,350
Eric Cole, $128,350
Bud Cauley, $128,350
Patrick Cantlay, $128,350
Alex Noren, $128,350
Andrew Putnam, $128,350
Max Homa, $128,350
Min Woo Lee, $128,350
Maverick McNealy, $128,350
Sahith Theegala, $128,350
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T42. Rickie Fowler, $91,250
Wyndham Clark, $91,250
Nick Taylor, $91,250
Joe Highsmith, $91,250
T46. Rory McIlroy, $72,125
Taylor Pendrith, $72,125
Keith Mitchell, $72,125
Matti Schmid, $72,125
T50. Si Woo Kim, $61,083
Keegan Bradley, $61,083
J.T. Poston, $61,083
Taylor Moore, $61,083
Max McGreevy, $61,083
Zach Bauchoi, $61,083
T56. Adam Scott, $58,000
Chris Gotterup, $58,000
58. Sam Stevens, $57,250
T59. Jason Day, $56,250
Kevin Roy, $56,250
Lee Hodges, $56,250
T62. Danny Walker, $54,500
Steven Fisk, $54,500
Rico Hoey, $54,500
Stephan Jaeger, $54,500
T66. Daniel Berger, $52,750
Nico Echavarria, $52,750
Kristofer Reitan, $52,750
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69. Michael Brennan, $51,750
T70. Tony Finau, $50,750
Seamus Power, $50,750
Ricky Castillo, $50,750
73. Takumi Kanaya, $49.750
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