PGA Betting: Players Championship Preview

After getting cancelled last year due to the pandemic, The Players Championship returns this week at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Verda Beach, Florida.

Last year’s Players Championship was the first pandemic casualty on the PGA Tour when it was scrapped after the opening round. At Bovada Sportsbook, the favorite in a stacked field this week is Dustin Johnson at +1100.

Johnson a familiar name at top of Players oddsboard

Johnson has been favored in almost every tournament he’s played in this season. That was the case in his last stop at the WGC-Workday Championship two weeks ago when he struggled and finished well back, tied for 54th place.

Following Johnson on the Bovada odds list is the foursome of Bryson DeChambeau, Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm and Justin Thomas, all at +1600.

DeChambeau posted his first tour win of the season last week at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. He shot 11 under par to edge Lee Westwood by one stroke in his first top-10 finish since early January.

McIlroy won 2019 tournament by single stroke

McIlroy is the defending champion of this event, having won in 2019 by finishing 16 under par for a one-stroke win over Jim Furyk. Last week at the Invitational, McIlroy tied for 10th after carding a disappointing 76 in the fourth round.

Two years ago, Rahm was the tournament leader heading into the fourth round of the Players before giving way to McIlroy. Rahm has cracked the top 10 in four of his last six tournaments but he’s still looking for his first win on the tour this season.

Thomas had a tough time cracking the top of the leaderboard in February. In three PGA stops, he tied for 13th place in Phoenix, missed the cut at the Genesis Invitational and tied for 15th last week at the Arnold Palmer.

Morikawa, Simpson present good value

A couple good value picks this week could be Collin Morikawa at +1800 and Webb Simpson at +2200.

Two weeks ago, Morikawa won the WGC-Workday Championship, besting a lot of the top players that will be in this week’s field.

Simpson is a former winner of this tournament. He won in 2018 when he shot 18 under par to beat Xander Schauffele, Charl Schwartzel and Jimmy Walker by four strokes. More recently, he tied for sixth at the WGC last month.

Along with McIlroy and Simpson, other former winners of the Players in this week’s field include 2017 winner Si-Woo Kim (+10000), 2016 winner Jason Day (+4000), 2015 winner Rickie Fowler (+12500), 2012 winner Matt Kuchar (+12500), 2009 winner Henrik Stenson (+20000), 2008 winner Sergio Garcia (+10000), 2007 winner Phil Mickelson (+15000) and 2004 winner Adam Scott (+6600).