Outside of Pebble Beach and Augusta, there may be no more recognizable course than the Pete Dye-designed TPC Sawgrass, the home of The Players Championship. Even if you’ve never actually played the course, without question, you have pictured yourself trying to hit the famous “Island Green” on 17.
And not only is the course great, the field is packed each and every year. At $20 million, it has the highest prize fund of any tournament in the world, it regularly attracts the full complement of top-50 players in the world, and it is often referred to as the PGA Tour’s unofficial fifth major.
But as good as the field is, The Players has never produced a repeat champion. Six players have won more than once – Jack Nicklaus, Fred Couples, Steve Elkington, Hal Sutton, Davis Love III, and Tiger Woods – but none of them won consecutively.
Favorites to win The Players Championship
- Jon Rahm (+800)
- Rory McIlroy (+1400)
- Justin Thomas (+1400)
- Collin Morikawa (+1600)
- Viktor Hovland (+2000)
- Patrick Cantlay (+2000)
- Dustin Johnson (+2200)
- Xander Schauffele (+2200)
- Hideki Matsuyama (+2500)
- Cameron Smith (+2500)
Jon Rahm has finished in the top-three in two of his six starts in 2022, and he’s been in the top-10 in three of them. He has yet to post a win this year, but he’s the betting favorite at next month’s Masters, and he is the betting favorite here. For the record, in each of the tournaments he has played in 2022, Rahm has been on top of the favorites board.
Collin Morikawa has only played this event once, and he finished 41st. But he hasn’t finished worse than seventh in any event in 2022, and he’s got the exact kind of form you would expect from a future champion at Sawgrass.
Longshots to Consider
Sergio Garcia is past his prime, but at +8000, he is definitely worth a look. He’s a veteran of this course, having played it 21 times.
And last year, he actually had a two-shot lead following Thursday’s opening round before eventually finishing ninth on Sunday. He also rarely misses the cut, meaning that your +8000 bet should be around to make some noise in the final round.
Another longshot odds-wise is Brian Harman, paying +10000. But he only looks like a longshot on the favorites board. He finished T3 at The Players last year and T9 in 2019.
And this year, he has a T3 at The American Express to go along with a 14th place finish at the Phoenix Open. Good play at Sawgrass, good form this year, and a huge payday if he wins. What’s not to like?
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