Thursday 14 March 2019 07:06, UK
The Players Championship has a new place in the PGA Tour schedule for 2019, but what has changed since the event was last held in March?
Golf's unofficial fifth major returns back to its traditional March slot this time around, having been held in May every year since Phil Mickelson won the tournament in 2007.
The PGA Tour's flagship event has undergone significant alterations, both on and off the golf course, since the previous March edition at TPC Sawgrass 13 years' ago, where Stephen Ames took the title.
We have taken a closer look at some of those differences…
While Ames pocketed a $1.44million of the $8million prize fund when he won in 2006, this year's champion will take home the highest-ever winner's cheque in professional tournament golf.
The 2019 Players champion will claim a whopping $2.25million, $270,000 more than Webb Simpson earned for his victory 12 months ago and over $500,000 higher than Tiger Woods claimed for the second of his Sawgrass titles in 2013.
The total prize money has also been increased so that there is more available this week than at any of the four majors, with the purse up $1.5million to $12.5million.
This year's winner will receive a different trophy to the one claimed in recent years, with the PGA Tour coming up with a new design to highlight some of the tournament's iconic features.
The Waterford Crystal prize previously awarded has been replaced by a new sterling silver and 24K golf trophy, featuring a player swinging a club on the Stadium Course's famous par-three 17th.
The player on the trophy has been computer designed from aspects of each of the 38 former winners of the event, including Woods and Mickelson, by using a process called 'electroforming'.
Although it's an American in Simpson who defends this week, the tournament has seen a growing number of winners from across the globe in recent years.
Seven of the 12 winners during the time the Players was held in May came from players outside of the USA, including Europeans Sergio Garcia and Henrik Stenson, with Si Woo Kim the most recent international winner in 2017.
That's a stark contrast to the event's winner's list while played in its returning spot of March, where only eight of the 33 editions were not won by Americans. A sign that the Players is a global event.
When the event was switched to a May date in 2007, all 18 fairways were dug up to replace the soil and install a new drainage system, while the greens were also ripped up and an underground air system installed in order to regulate temperature and moisture.
The next major changes to the Stadium Course came after the 2016, which was won by Jason Day, where the course was shut down for around six months when the greens and bunkers were rebuilt.
Hole changes at the same time saw the 12th turned into a driveable par-four and the 11th and 13th redesigned to "enhance the excitement early on the back nine", while the course has been overseeded with rye grass ahead of this year's event.
Although now a recognisable landmark around the Stadium Course, the current clubhouse was only built after the switch from March to May.
The 77,000 square-foot facility is more than double the size of the original clubhouse and has a number of artefacts from Players Championship history, as well as an exclusive area only accessible by PGA Tour members or participating members and their families.
Who will win the Players Championship? Watch the tournament throughout the week live on Sky Sports' dedicated channel - Sky Sports The Players.
