Players Championship Betting Odds Preview

Another stellar field of the top golfers in the world will be on display this weekend as the PGA Tour heads to TPC Sawgrass for the Players Championship.

At Bovada Sportsbook, the co-favorites this week are Jon Rahm and Rory McIlroy at +900.

Rahm, still the No. 1-ranked player in the world, was also the favorite last week in the Arnold Palmer Invitational where he tied for 39th place, 10 strokes back of surprise winner Kurt Kitayama. Inconsistency dogged Rahm after he shot a blistering 65 in the opening round to get to the top of the leaderboard, only to follow it up with back-to-back rounds of 75 to drop out of contention.

Co-favorite McIlroy aiming for second win at TPC Sawgrass

McIlroy, the No. 3 player in the world, won the Players in 2019 and is coming off a second-place finish last week. Since winning at TPC Sawgrass in 2019, McIlroy has failed to finish among the tournament leaders, tying for 33rd last year and missing the cut in 2021. The tourney was canceled in 2020 due to the pandemic.

Following Rahm and McIlroy on the odds list at Bovada is Scottie Scheffler at +1000

Scheffler, the No. 2 player in the world, tied for fourth place last week, which was his fourth top-five finish of the season. He’ll look to improve on a disappointing performance last year at TPC Sawgrass that saw him finish tied for 55th place in the Players.

Kitayama a sizable underdog to repeat last week’s success

Last week at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, Kitayama recorded his first career PGA Tour win, shooting 9 under par to best McIlroy and Harris English by one stroke. The oddsmakers aren’t expecting Kitayama to make another run at the leaderboard this week and have listed him as a +8000 underdog.

Last year’s winner of the Players won’t be back at TPC Sawgrass to defend his title. Cameron Smith won last season but has since departed the PGA Tour for LIV Golf. Last year’s runners-up, Anirban Lahiri and Paul Casey, are also absent this year, so the top finisher from last year in the field this week will be fourth-place finisher Kevin Kisner, a +20000 underdog at Bovada.

Along with McIlroy, other former winners in the field this week include 2021 winner Justin Thomas at +2000, 2018 winner Webb Simpson at +15000, 2017 winner Si-Woo Kim at +8000, 2016 winner Jason Day at +2800 and 2015 winner Rickie Fowler at +4000.