The 2008 Players Championship begins this week as 49 of the top 50 players on the PGA FedEx points table make their way to TPC Sawgrass to contest one of the toughest tournaments on the PGA Tour.

With strong fields competing in the tournament, it is unsurprising that 28 out of the last 34 Players Championship winners have also been Majors winners.

The most recent of these is American Phil Mickelson who won the tournament in 2007 by coming from behind on the final day to meet Spaniard Sergio Garcia by two strokes.

Despite the quality of the field, many will be missing the presence of world number one Tiger Woods who is the only one of the top ranked players in the PGA Tour absent from the tournament.

Making up for Woods’s absence will be precocious talent Anthony Kim, who stunned the golf world with a brilliant victory in the Wachovia Championship last week. Kim is currently 4th in the FedEx rankings, and many will be curious to see whether he can repeat his Tigeresque performance at Wachovia last week.

The Players Championship is recognised as one the biggest golf tournaments outside of the majors, ranking alongside the PGA Championship. The winner of the Players Championship stands to walk away with a $1.6 million prize.