Odds to Win The Players Championship

The Players Championship is widely regarded as the top non-major golf tournament on the PGA Tour, and the 2019 edition of the tournament at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida is shaping up to be a classic. When it comes to odds lists, Dustin Johnson and Rory McIlroy are the men to beat.

Johnson and McIlroy are the +1200 co-favorites at Bovada, with Justin Thomas (+1400), Tiger Woods (+1400), Brooks Koepka (+2000), Francesco Molinari (+2000), Justin Rose (+2000), Rickie Fowler (+2000), Tommy Fleetwood (+2200) and Xander Schauffele (+2500) rounding out the top 10.

Is Tiger’s neck going to hold up?

Johnson returns after a two-week layoff since winning the WGC-Mexico Championship, and he’ll go up against a stacked field. Woods is set to tee it up in the Sunshine State after sitting out of last week’s Arnold Palmer Invitational due to a neck strain. The PGA Tour has announced Eldrick will play in a featured group with Patrick Reed and last year’s champion, Webb Simpson.

The Players has never had a back-to-back champion.

Speaking of Simpson, the American is back after ending a 4 1/2-year dry spell in a dominant victory at the 2018 Players Championship. Simpson tied the tournament’s 54-hole scoring record on the way to a four-shot victory. The triumph was the 33-year-old’s first win since 2013, a stretch of 107 starts. Simpson is available for a price of +5000 to go back to back. No man has ever won The Players in consecutive years.

The Players moves back to March

As a result of the major format shakeup in the 2018-19 season, The Players is returning to its March roots, when it was held for its first 33 editions. That means weather is expected to play more of a factor than in its previous May setup, so be careful about backing golfers who’ve notoriously struggled in rough conditions. Simpson was the third champion in the past five editions to close out a 54-hole lead, joining Jason Day (2016) and Martin Kaymer (2014).

The course, a 7,189-yard par 72, is one of the most recognizable venues on the tour. The hole that gets the most attention is its shortest – the 137-yard par-3 17th water hole. Last year, a total of 54 balls were hit into the water on No. 17, which is slightly above the average for the tournament’s past 12 years (47.8).

To find out which three golfers I’m picking to win this week, visit my Expert Picks article. Here’s a look at the book’s full list of odds: