The Players Championship Betting Preview
The biggest purse of the season is up for grabs this week as the PGA’s best head to TPC Sawgrass to face the dreaded island green in The Players Championship.
The defending champion of The Players is world No. 1 Rory McIlroy and not surprisingly he’s the favorite to win again this year. At Bovada Sportsbook, McIlroy sits atop The Players odds at +750. McIlroy has consistently been one of the best players on the tour so far this season with six top-five finishes, including a win in the WGC-HSBC Championship.
Rahm, Thomas follow favorite McIlroy on oddsboard
Following McIlroy on the odds at Bovada are Jon Rahm at +1200 and Justin Thomas at +1400. Rahm currently ranks No. 2 in the world just behind McIlroy and will be looking for not only his first win in The Players but also his first tour win of the season. Rahm has finished in the top three on three occasions this season, including two second-place finishes.
Thomas, who is currently ranked No. 4 in the world, is also looking for his first win at The Players. Thomas has already won three times this season, but hasn’t had as much success lately, with two missed cuts in his last four tournaments.
Rounding out the rest of the top five in the odds are Bryson DeChambeau at +2000 and Tommy Fleetwood at +2200. If you’re looking for world No. 3 Brooks Koepka, he’s way down on the list at +3300. Koepka has not lived up to his ranking this year with no top-10 finishes and last week in the Arnold Palmer Invitational he carded a career-worst 81 in the third round.
Im, Scott offer value as dark-horse Players picks
Aside from McIlroy, other former winners of The Players returning this year include 2018 winner Webb Simpson (+2800), 2017 winner Si Woo Kim (+20000), 2016 winner Jason Day (+8000) and 2015 champ Rickie Fowler (+3300). Among that group, only Simpson has posted a win this season, in early February in the Phoenix Open.
If you’re looking for a few value picks this week, you may want to look at Sungjae Im and Adam Scott.
Im, listed at +2500, has been rolling lately. Two weeks ago he won the Honda Classic and last week he almost made it two wins in a row before finishing third at the Arnold Palmer.
Scott won The Players way back in 2004. He already has two wins this season and could pay well at +3300 at Bovada.