The Players Championship gets under way this week, and a host of former HotelPlanner Tour players will tee it up at TPC Sawgrass.
In total, 19 of the 120-man field are HotelPlanner Tour alumni, including 2023 Number One, Marco Penge. The Englishman, who won three times in his second full season on the DP World Tour last year, is embarking on his rookie PGA TOUR season, and recorded his best finish to date in his last outing at The Genesis Invitational. Penge will make his first appearance at TPC Sawgrass this week, having qualified for the field due to his position inside the top 50 on the Official World Golf Ranking.
Penge’s countrymen and European Ryder Cup stars, Justin Rose, Tommy Fleetwood and Matt Fitzpatrick are also in the field. Fleetwood, a former Rankings winner on the HotelPlanner Tour, notched his maiden win on US soil at the 2025 Tour Championship before going on to land his eighth DP World Tour win at the DP World India Championship last year. Fitzpatrick, who played nine HotelPlanner Tour events during the 2014 season, last won at the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai, while Rose is a winner on the PGA TOUR this year having produced a dominant display at the Farmers Insurance Open.
South African trio Christiaan Bezuidenhout, Garrick Higgo and Erik van Rooyen add to the HotelPlanner Tour alumni teeing it up in Ponte Vedra beach this week. Van Rooyen earned promotion to the DP World Tour in 2017 following a campaign which included a breakthrough victory, coming at the Hainan Open, and four further top tens.
Five-time Major winner Brooks Koepka, who won four times on the HotelPlanner Tour between September 2012 and June 2013, will make his return to The Players Championship this week having last teed it up at TPC Sawgrass during the 2022 edition. The American will be joined by fellow HotelPlanner Tour alum Robert MacIntyre, who heads to TPC Sawgrass having not missed a cut on the PGA TOUR since the turn of the year.
“𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐟𝐮𝐧 𝐈’𝐯𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐠𝐨𝐥𝐟.” 🤝
— HotelPlanner Tour (@HPlanner_Tour) March 11, 2026
🗣️ Five-time Major winner, Brooks Koepka, ahead of The Players Championship. #HotelPlannerTour | #THEPLAYERS pic.twitter.com/GBVIs9pBHH
Sweden’s Alex Noren earned PGA TOUR status after starring on the 2025 Race to Dubai, where he tasted victory at the Betfred British Masters hosted by Nick Faldo and the flagship BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth. Noren featured 22 times on his way to promotion on the HotelPlanner Tour back in 2006, the same season he notched his maiden professional victory, coming at the Rolex Trophy.
Thorbjørn Olesen, along with twins Rasmus and Nicolai Højgaard, complete the trio of HotelPlanner Tour alumni from Denmark at The Players this week, with English duo Aaron Rai and Jordan Smith also in the field. Rai, a two-time Rolex Series winner, began his rise to the top of the game back on the HotelPlanner Tour in 2017, where he picked up two victories to earn promotion to Golf’s Global Tour.
Norwegian Kristoffer Reitan impressed on the DP World Tour last season after securing promotion, eventually ending the year eighth on the Race to Dubai to earn PGA TOUR playing privileges. Reitan will make his debut at the 2026 Players Championship and arrives at TPC Sawgrass fresh off his best PGA Tour finish to date, coming at the Cognizant Classic at Palm Beaches.
Frenchman Matthieu Pavon, who finished sixth on the Road to Mallorca back in 2016, two-time HotelPlanner Tour winner Ryan Fox and German Matti Schmid round off the 19 alumni teeing it up in Florida.
The 2026 Players Championship will take place from March 12 -15.
