Players Championship 2023: Favorites, Sleepers and Tournament Preview
The 2023 Players Championship leads the PGA Tour into an exciting spring of golf. While it doesn't hold the prestige of next month's Masters, the Players Championship is a marquee event and should provide plenty of intrigue and entertainment for fans.
Taking place at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, the tournament and the venue itself will be stunning.
Cameron Smith won last year's event, but he will not be back this year after defecting to LIV Golf in August. Tiger Woods won't attend either, but fans will still be treated to a star-studded field.
Jon Rahm, Rory McIlroy, Justin Thomas and Scottie Scheffler are among the favorites, and it won't be a shock to see one of them emerge victoriously. Part of the fun of golf, though, is that surprises often occur.
Here's everything you need to know about the 2023 Players Championship.
Top Favorites
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Jon Rahm +850
Rory McIlroy +900
Scottie Scheffler +1000
Justin Thomas +1600
Xander Schauffele +2200
Collin Morikawa +2500
There are no real surprises among the early favorites—according to DraftKings Sportsbook—and Rahm leads the group.
Rahm is No. 1 in the PGA world rankings, and is usually a threat to win in any given tournament. However, it's worth noting that he struggled at the Arnold Palmer Invitational over the weekend, posting a 76 on Friday and finishing at +1.
"It's firm. It's fast. And it's blowing 30 miles an hour," Rahm said, per Doug Ferguson of the Associated Press. "It's a very difficult golf course."
Rahm will be motivated to rebound.
McIlroy, meanwhile, finished tied for second at Bay Hill and will be motivated to finish just a bit stronger next week. So will Scottie Scheffler, who finished a stroke behind McIlroy.
Justin Thomas has won the Players Championship before (2021) and should have a good chance to get back in the winner's box. Xander Schauffele feels like much more of a long shot, even if he's among the betting favorites.
Schauffele tied for second at the Players in 2018, but he has missed the cut in each of his last three appearances in the event. Collin Morikawa has also struggled at the Players Championship. He tied for 41st in 2021 and missed the cut last year.
Like Schauffele, Morikawa isn't a very safe pick at the current odds.
Sleepers
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Two sleepers stand out as sneaky contenders in this year's Players Championship.
The first is Kurt Kitayama, who claimed victory at Bay Hill over the weekend. It marked his first PGA and could be a sign of more impending success.
"I know Kurt more from European tour stuff," McIlroy said, per Ferguson. "But he's done really well. He's persevered and played wherever he could get starts and all of a sudden he's won one of the biggest events on the PGA Tour. So good for him."
Momentum can mean a lot in the golfing world. Now that Kitayama knows he can win against a strong field, he could do it again. Kitayama is currently trending at +10000.
Sungjae Im is less of a deep sleeper at +3500 but certainly not among the favorites. Im finished tied for 21st at Bay Hill and continues to be an up-and-coming contender on the verge of a breakthrough.
Im has just two PGA wins—the 2020 Honda Classic and the 2021 Shriners Children's Open—but did take second at the 2020 Masters. While Im missed the cut in last year's Players Championship, he can't be discounted, and at these odds, he feels like a smart sleeper play.
Tournament Preview
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When: March 9-12
Where: TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida
TV: NBC, Golf Channel
The Players Championship serves, at least to a degree, as a lead-in to The Masters. While players like Rahm and McIlroy could use the weekend as preparation for the showdown in Augusta, Woods may be looking ahead.
While Woods isn't a lock for The Masters, it's one of the few events in which he's willing to participate.
"I'm not going to play any more than probably the majors and maybe a couple more," Woods said last month, per ESPN. "That's it, that's all my body will allow me to do."
Other top golfers, including the top three finishers at the 2022 Players Championship, won't be at the event either—Smith, Anirban Lahiri and Paul Casey are all now competing in LIV.
There will be several notable names, however, and plenty on the line. The tournament is set to have a total prize pool of $25 million, with $4.5 million going to the champion.
The 144-player field is expected to feature 49 of the top 50 golfers in the PGA's FedExCup standings, along with eight former champions.
Thomas, McIlroy, Webb Simpson, Si Woo Kim, Jason Day, Rickie Fowler, Matt Kuchar and Adam Scott have all won the Players Championship and are expected to play this weekend.
The competition will be strong, and Sawgrass is a beautiful course, so it should be an all-around enjoyable experience for fans whether in attendance or watching at home.
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