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By Mark Spoor
PGATOUR.com Coordinating Producer

If you could only use one word to describe the field for this week's PLAYERS Championship, eclectic wouldn't be a bad choice. Of course, strong would certainly work, as well.

Tiger Woods won last weekend's Wachovia Championship. (Schultz/WireImage)

HOW'D THEY GET HERE?

Just how is the field for THE PLAYERS Championship put together? Wonder no more, your answers are here.   • Eligibility rules,  click here • More PLAYERS,  click here

A staggering 48 of the top 50 players in the world will tee it up at TPC Sawgrass this week, so if you're looking for star power, it won't be in short supply. However, nearly as intriguing are the storylines attached to some of the 145 players who will venture to the newly renovated jewel of Ponte Vedra starting Monday.

Not surprisingly, leading the list of storylines is the man who is also leading the Official World Golf Rankings and, for the first time in his career, the FedExCup standings: Tiger Woods. Woods won the Wachovia Championship on Sunday at Quail Hollow -- his third victory in just six starts so far in 2007. For you financial wizards out there, Woods is currently averaging a cool $690,000 per start.

Still, Woods says the week ahead will be a challenge like no other.

"Most of the shots I hit this week were pretty good, but then again, I did hit a couple wide. You just can't do that next week," he said. "I've got to get that under control and get that straightened out so that my misses aren't way off line there, still in the fairway. That's the ultimate goal."

While Vijay Singh and Phil Mickelson -- both, of course in the field -- are favorites to win any tournament they enter, Charles Howell III may well be entering that class, as well. Howell sits third in the FedExCup standings heading into this weekend's tournament on the strength of five top-10 finishes in 12 starts this season, including a playoff win over Mickelson in the Nissan Open at Riviera.

The man who may surprise some -- although not anyone who's been following the TOUR in recent weeks -- is Ken Duke, who got into the field thanks to a new invite added this season for the previous year's Nationwide Tour's money leader.

If there is something to be said about peaking at the right time, Duke certainly is. He comes to Ponte Vedra on a string of four consecutive top-10 finishes, most recently a share of seventh at Quail Hollow.

While Duke is still searching for his first TOUR title, he did finish second to Nick Watney a few weeks back at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans.

"I think everything has been clicking," Duke said. "I've been really driving it well and that's kind of my strength, just making some good swings. My tempo has been really, really good, and I feel like if I can keep it that way it's going to go exactly where I want."

The Champions Tour will also be well-represented at TPC Sawgrass in the form of 2006 Ford Senior Players Championship winner Bobby Wadkins, who is also playing well this season. He won the ACE Group Classic back in February at Naples. He's had three top-10 finishes on the Champions Tour this season.

Fred Funk, the 2005 PLAYERS champion, is also in the field. The ageless 50-year-old won the Mayakoba Classic at Riviera-Maya Cancun on the PGA TOUR in February and on Champions Tour at Turtle Bay in late January. Between the two Tours, Funk has pocketed more than $1 million in prize money.

The TPC Sawgrass will also welcome Boo Weekley for the first time this week. Weekley entered the PGA TOUR winner's club in Hilton Head at the Verizon Heritage. Weekley, one of the more down-home personalities on TOUR has struggled slightly lately, although he enters the week 10th in the FedExCup point standings.

THE PLAYERS also gives us a chance to remember players who authored some great moments in golf's past.

Who can forget Todd Hamilton's thrilling and improbable playoff victory against Ernie Els in the 2004 British Open? Or what about Craig Perks' seven bogeys, five birdies, five pars and one eagle in his final round en route to the 2002 PLAYERS Championship? Then, of course there's Michael Campbell's climb from sectional qualifying all the way to the U.S. Open title, which by the way he got by beating Woods by two strokes.

All three will be in the field this week.

If momentum is to count for anything, Steve Stricker, Stewart Cink and Rory Sabbatini have reason to be optimistic. They all finished among the top five at the Wachovia Championship last weekend. Sabbatini, in fact, may arguably have the most momentum of any player in the field. He is riding a string of three consecutive top-three finishes, including a tie for third at Quail Hollow.

After all of that, though, perhaps the best story is waiting to be written this weekend.