Furyk, Garcia and Donald Commit to Players

Defending FedExCup champion Jim Furyk is one of four world-class players to commit to playing THE PLAYERS Championship next month.

Furyk, a Ponte Vedra Beach resident, is the reigning FedExCup champion and PGA TOUR Player of the Year. He's one of four players who have recently committed to THE PLAYERS field, tournament officials announced Monday. 

Joining Furyk is 2008 PLAYERS champion Sergio Garcia, Accenture Match Play champion Luke Donald and current World No. 1 Martin Kaymer.

The defending champion at The Heritage this week on the PGA TOUR, Furyk won three times in 2010 en route to winning the FedExCup and garnering PGA TOUR Player of the Year honors. He will be making his 16th career start at THE PLAYERS and has finished in the top five on three different occasions in 2003 (T4), 2006 (T3) and 2009 (T5).

Winner of THE PLAYERS in a dramatic sudden-death playoff with Paul Goydos on No. 17 in 2008, Garcia has shown signs of a return to form in 2011 with a T15 and a solo 8th at last month's Transitions Championship and Arnold Palmer Invitational, respectively. He finished T35 at the Masters Tournament. In addition to his victory in 2008, Garcia was runner-up to Phil Mickelson at THE PLAYERS in 2007 and finished T4 in 2002.

Englishman Luke Donald won his first PGA TOUR title since The Honda Classic in 2006 when he claimed the Accenture Match Play Championship in February. Donald never trailed in any match en route to the victory and none of his six matches reached No. 18. He finished T2 at THE PLAYERS in 2005 and will look to become the first Englishman to win at TPC Sawgrass.

Currently the No. 1 ranked player in the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR), Germany's Martin Kaymer will compete in THE PLAYERS for the third time in 2011. Winner of the 2010 PGA Championship, Kaymer supplanted Lee Westwood atop the OWGR with his runner-up finish to Donald at the Accenture Match Play Championship. He finished T55 at THE PLAYERS in his first appearance in 2009 and T34 last year.

Joining this list of seasoned performers is PGA TOUR rookie Brendan Steele who collected his first PGA TOUR win at last week's Valero Texas Open. With his victory, Steele became the second consecutive rookie to win following Charl Schwartzel's victory at The Masters. Schwartzel, Steele and Jhonattan Vegas are the PGA TOUR rookies who have won this year. All will be playing at this year's PLAYERS Championship.

Mickelson Commits to The Players

Phil Mickelson

Past champion Phil Mickelson has committed to the field for THE PLAYERS Championship, tournament officials announced. 

The 2007 PLAYERS champion will be making his eighth-consecutive appearance at THE PLAYERS Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass and the 18th of his career. The 2011 installment of THE PLAYERS returns to the First Coast of Florida, May 9th - 15th.

"We're thrilled to receive Phil Mickelson's commitment to compete in THE PLAYERS 2011 and look forward to welcoming one of our past champions back to Ponte Vedra Beach," said Matt Rapp, Executive Director of THE PLAYERS. "Phil is one of the elite players in today's game, and I know fans throughout Northeast Florida are excited to again have the opportunity to watch him compete against the best players in the world at TPC Sawgrass."

Mickelson won THE PLAYERS in 2007, the first year the event was contested in May, carding rounds of 67-72-69-69 for a 72-hole total of 11-under-par, good for a two-shot victory over 2008 PLAYERS champion Sergio Garcia. In addition to his victory in 2007, Mickelson produced top 10s in 1998 (T8) and 2004 (T3). He finished T17 in 2010.

Currently ranked second in the season-long FedExCup points standings and No. 4 in the Official World Golf Ranking, Mickelson collected the 39th victory of his PGA TOUR career in dramatic fashion two weeks ago at the Shell Houston Open. He carded rounds of 63-65 to play the weekend in 16-under-par and win by three strokes over Chris Kirk and Scott Verplank. Mickelson also finished runner up to Bubba Watson earlier this year at the Farmers Insurance Open in January. 

He finished T27 last week at the Masters Tournament.