Players Championship Odds 2015: Final Lines and Predictions for Top Contenders
The Players Championship will feature most of the top golfers in the world, but only one can come away with the $1.8 million first-place prize.
TPC Sawgrass is one of the more unique courses in the world, and it usually takes some perfect shots to be successful. While the favorite doesn't always come in first, there are few fluke winners at this challenging course.
As a result, it's important to take a look at the top contenders to examine which one has the ability to come through with a title.
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| Rory McIlroy | 7-1 |
| Jordan Spieth | 15-2 |
| Justin Rose | 18-1 |
| Henrik Stenson | 20-1 |
| Dustin Johnson | 25-1 |
| Jason Day | 25-1 |
| Jim Furyk | 25-1 |
| Tiger Woods | 28-1 |
| Hideki Matsuyama | 33-1 |
| Jimmy Walker | 33-1 |
| Sergio Garcia | 33-1 |
| Adam Scott | 40-1 |
| Bubba Watson | 40-1 |
| Lee Westwood | 40-1 |
| Matt Kuchar | 40-1 |
| Paul Casey | 40-1 |
| Phil Mickelson | 40-1 |
| Louis Oosthuizen | 50-1 |
| Rickie Fowler | 50-1 |
| Zach Johnson | 50-1 |
Full list available at Odds Shark.
Top Contenders
Justin Rose
The most iconic hole at TPC Sawgrass (and among the best in the country) is No. 17, which features an island green that is extremely intimidating. Justin Rose explained during the week that the challenge is mostly mental.
"To me, 17 is one of the easiest holes we play all year…on Tuesday and Wednesday," Rose clarified, per Sean Martin, D.J. Piehowski and Keyur Khamar of PGATour.com. "Thursday when you’ve got a scorecard in your hands, it ramps up. You feel your heart rate elevate on the tee box, so be prepared for that."
The good news for Rose is he has felt this type of pressure before and excelled. He won the 2013 U.S. Open and has been one of the most consistent performers on the PGA Tour in recent years.
This year, he comes in extremely hot with a win at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans a few weeks ago and a second-place finish at the Masters Tournament. After tying for fourth at this tournament last season, he should be able to finish in the top five again this time around.
Prediction: Top five
Rory McIlroy
Not only is Rory McIlroy the No. 1 player in the world, but he is coming off an impressive win at the WGC-Cadillac Match Play Championship. It would ordinarily be a safe bet for this type of player to dominate once again.
The problem is that it's a lot of work playing seven rounds over the course of a few days, as he did in the past weekend's tournament. There is a good chance he will be physically and emotionally drained, especially considering his 26th birthday also came this week.
Additionally, McIlroy hasn't always fared well at Sawgrass. Before finishing in the top 10 in each of the past two seasons, he missed the cut three times. Even when he succeeds, he struggles with his consistency, and a single poor round will kill his chances of winning.
ESPN.com's Jason Sobel got the player's opinion on the course:
The talent is obviously there to succeed, but his chances of winning another tournament aren't great.
Prediction: Finish outside top 20
Jordan Spieth
McIlroy might be the No. 1 player in the world right now, but no one has been better in 2015 than Jordan Spieth.
The 21-year-old golfer currently leads the FedEx Cup standings thanks to his two victories, seven top-10 finishes and 10 top-25 finishes in 12 events. Even though he wasn't able to advance deep into the match-play championship, he still played extremely well, as Justin Ray of Golf Channel notes:
Sobel believes this will make Spieth even better going into the Players:
"He wasn't happy with the format last week and wasn't happy that he played so well but didn't advance, which means Spieth could take out those frustrations on the field this week. He seriously contended for four days at last year's Players, and it can be argued that he's a much more polished player now. Gotta strike while the irons are hot -- and Spieth's are as hot as anyone's right now.
"
With his accuracy and consistency in a shotmakers course like this, Spieth should be able to bring home another title.
Prediction: Winner
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