With three weeks to go until the strongest field in golf reconvenes at TPC Sawgrass, THE PLAYERS Championship sets the stage for the 2024 event by profiling four of the biggest names in the sport who are among the favorites to create their Defining Moment en route to hoisting THE PLAYERS trophy.

Rory McIlroy

Current World No. 2 Rory McIlroy will soon return to a comfortable venue in TPC Sawgrass where he won in 2019. The Defining Moment that day for the 24-time PGA TOUR winner came at the 15th hole, where after a drive that landed in the fairway bunker, McIlroy blasted his approach to 13 feet to set up an unlikely birdie. This season, McIlroy has made two starts on TOUR and two on the DP World Tour where he captured his fourth Hero Dubai Desert Classic and placed second in the Dubai Invitational. The native of Northern Ireland will make his 14th start at THE PLAYERS this year where he looks to become the 7th player to win the event multiple times.

Viktor Hovland

Viktor Hovland returns to THE PLAYERS Championship as the reigning FedExCup champion. In 2023, the 26-year-old collected three wins including the Memorial Tournament presented by Workday, the BMW Championship and the TOUR Championship, where he was crowned the season-long champion. The six-time PGA TOUR winner will be making his fourth career start at TPC Sawgrass after recording a career-best T3 finish in 2023. In three starts this season, Hovland has finished inside the top-25 twice, most recently finishing T19 at The Genesis Invitational.

Tommy Fleetwood

Still in search of his maiden PGA TOUR title, 33-year-old Tommy Fleetwood spent much of the 2023 season knocking on the door of the winner’s circle. The Englishman recorded nine top-10 finishes last season, en route to finishing 6th in the FedExCup. Highlights from the season include a T3 finish at the FedEx St. Jude Championship and a near win at the RBC Canadian Open where he lost in a playoff to Canada’s own Nick Taylor. While he has yet to capture a win on TOUR, he’s had great success on the DP World Tour where he owns seven victories, most recently capturing the 2024 Dubai Invitational. The World No. 12 will make his seventh start at THE PLAYERS this March as he looks to improve upon his career-best T5 finish in 2019.

Nicolai Højgaard

22-year-old Nicolai Højgaard is set to make his tournament debut at THE PLAYERS Championship. The Danish-born player has made 24 starts on the PGA TOUR but only recently earned full membership via the non-member FedExCup points which earned him exemptions into the 2024 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and The Genesis Invitational as the highest ranked player from the final 2023 Race to Dubai Points List, not otherwise exempt. So far this season, he has already collected a runner-up finish at the Farmers Insurance Open.