PLAYERS: The winners' best

Every PLAYERS winner has a special place in the history of the PGA TOUR. But which of their numerous feats are the best of the best? Our writers gave us their lists:

MOST IMPRESSIVE PERFORMANCES
By Stan Awtrey

2000: Sutton steals the show
This was the year that Tiger Woods was virtually unstoppable. He set or tied 27 PGA TOUR records and won nine tournaments, including three major championships. But veteran Hal Sutton, then 42, wasn't about to give any ground. Sutton matched Woods stroke-for-stroke and won by a shot. The unexpected victory came 17 years after Sutton's first PLAYERS title.

1994: The low go lower
Greg Norman lapped the field and set a tournament scoring record. He shot a 24-under 264 and beat the scoring record that Nick Price set the previous year at Sawgrass by six shots. Norman needed to go low, because Fuzzy Zoeller ended up at 268, which would have been good enough to win any previous year.

2005: One for the veterans
The fact that Fred Funk was 48 and one of the shortest hitters on TOUR didn't seem to bother him. Neither did the bad weather (wind that caused whitecaps in the pond at the 17th hole) and rain that forced a Monday finish. Funk got up and down from the bunker on the 72nd hole and beat Luke Donald, Tom Lehman and Scott Verplank by a shot.

2001: Tiger gets his PLAYERS
Tiger Woods got his only PLAYERS Championship trophy by outlasting Hall of Famer Vijay Singh in a Monday finish. He closed the tournament with rounds of 66 and 67.

2008: Sergio rebounds nicely
Sergio Garcia came back from finishing second in 2007 to win it all. Garcia finished in a tie with Paul Goydos, but won it on the first extra hole, the daunting par-3 17th. It is the most import win of Garcia's career; surprisingly, he hasn't won since.

GREATEST SHOTS
By Craig Dolch

1. Hal Sutton, final round, 18th hole, 2000
It had been 17 years since Sutton won the PLAYERS, but he wasn't flinching as he stood in the final fairway, just a shot ahead of playing partner Tiger Woods. Sutton striped the shot directly at the flag and then exclaimed, "Be the right club today!" It was. The ball rolled to 8 feet and Sutton had taken down the world's No. 1 player.

2. Tiger Woods, third round, 17th hole, 2001
Woods supplied the heroics, but NBC announcer Gary Koch's "Better than most" call of Woods' 60-foot, double-twisting putt for birdie remains ingrained in PLAYERS lore. The putt helped Woods win by a shot.

3. Fred Couples, final round, 16th hole, 1996
Couples looked to be in trouble when his second shot to the par-5 hole appeared as if it was going to land in the water right of the green. But the ball caught the edge of a mound and inexplicably bounced to the left, setting Couples up for an eagle that clinched his second PLAYERS title.

4. Craig Perks, final round, 18th hole, 2002
Perks looked like he was about to blow THE PLAYERS as he chopped up the final hole. But he salvaged the day when he chipped in from behind the 18th green for an unlikely par and a two-shot win over Stephen Ames. Perks had used just one putt on his last three holes, chipping in for eagle at No. 16 and making a long birdie at the island green.

5. Jerry Pate, final round, 18th hole, 1982
Nursing a one-shot lead, Pate blistered a 5-iron and watched as his orange ball rolled within 2 feet of the cup for the clinching birdie. Pate had avoided the water to the left of the green, but PGA TOUR commissioner Deane Beman and course architect Pete Dye weren't as lucky -- Pate threw them both in the lake, diving in afterward himself.

BIGGEST SURPRISE WINNERS
By Melanie Hauser

1. Craig Perks, 2002
One putt in the final three holes. A chip-in for eagle at the 16th. A 28-foot birdie at the 17th. Another chip--in -- this one for par and THE PLAYERS Championship -- on the 72nd hole. The New Zealander, who played at the University of Southwestern Louisiana, was 256th in the world at the start of 2002, and had three top 10s in the 18 previous months. That Sunday, Perks shot an all-over-the-place 72 -- five birdies, one eagle and seven bogeys with two missed 12-inch putts and a driver into the trees at No. 18 -- but it was good enough to beat Stephen Ames by two shots. It was his first win in seven years -- the previous win coming on the Hooters Tour -- and the only one of his PGA TOUR career.

2. Stephen Ames, 2006
Another reason you can't explain the game. Ames lost 9 and 8 to Tiger Woods in the World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship, missed two other cuts and withdrew once -- all in his first six events of the year. Then, on a day filled with top-player train wrecks, Ames closed with a 67 to beat Retief Goosen by six. Yes, six shots. You could call it payback since he had to watch Perks grab the title in 2002.

3. Hal Sutton, 2000
The man with the squarest jaw ever set the tone before the tournament began when he said seeing Tiger Woods on the leaderboard didn't bother him in the least. Really. After all, he won this tournament in 1983 -- 17 years previous when Tiger was 7 ½. Sutton was pushing 42 and Tiger was about to run the tables with his Tiger Slam. A chance? Think the snowball in-you-know-where kind -- even with five top eights on the year. Sutton led Tiger by one stroke when he tripled the 17th Saturday for game-on. All the way to the 72nd hole when -- just after he hit his 6-iron approach -- he uttered "Be The Right Club Today." It was. Eight feet. Second PLAYERS title.

4. Jodie Mudd, 1990
The course was the story. That was one of those years back-in-the-day -- before serious tweaks and re-dos -- where everyone was grumbling. And Mudd? He was a quiet kid from Louisville who had won a few times, but was best known for falling apart in the final round of the 1983 Masters. At Sawgrass, he hung on to beat the likes of Tom Watson, Hale Irwin, Ken Green and -- notably -- defending British Open champ Mark Calcavecchia, who finished second for the third time in as many weeks.

5. Fred Funk, 2005
This one was against all odds. Funk was 48. A short hitter on a course for bombers. A down-the-middle-guy on a week that screamed for power. Yes, the former Maryland golf coach made the Presidents Cup and Ryder Cup teams, but he was feeling the twilight and looking towards the next rodeo. He got a calmness that week from close friend Larry Moody, who helps with the TOUR Bible studies. He thrived in a Monday weather finish to beat Tom Lehman, Scott Verplank and Luke Donald by one.