Players Championship Betting: McIlroy Leads Spieth, Day on PGA Tour Golf Odds

Rory McIlroy is back playing the role of favorite this week at Sawgrass with 15-2 odds to win The Players Championship at sportsbooks monitored by Odds Shark.

McIlroy finished in a tie for fourth place in the Wells Fargo Championship at Quail Hollow Club on Sunday, which was enough to impress oddsmakers in making him the golfer to beat ahead of both Jordan Spieth (9-1) and Jason Day (11-1).

Phil Mickelson, Andrew Loupe and defending champion Rickie Fowler also tied with McIlroy in last week’s PGA event after shooting a seven-under 281 behind only James Hahn (279), Roberto Castro (279) and Justin Rose (280).

Hahn edged Castro for the Wells Fargo Championship title by one stroke in the one-hole playoff, but he is listed at 150-1 to win the Players behind Fowler (18-1), Justin Rose (25-1) and Mickelson (33-1).

Neither Spieth nor Day participated in the Wells Fargo Championship, with the former taking the past month off after blowing a five-shot lead with nine holes to play at the Masters and placing second.

Spieth has earned one victory on the tour this year, a first-place finish at the Hyundai Tournament of Champions back in January. Since then, Spieth has only one other top-10 finish besides his performance at the Masters.

Day last played at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans two weeks ago and tied for fifth place with a 13-under 203. The three-round tournament saw Brian Stuard (250-1) win it by taking the playoff over Jamie Lovemark (100-1) and Byeong-Hun An (80-1).

Day’s best finishes in 2016 took place in back-to-back weeks when he won the Arnold Palmer Invitational and WGC-Dell Match Play titles in March.

Fowler won last year’s TPC event by shooting a 12-under 276 and then topping Sergio Garcia (28-1) and Kevin Kisner (80-1) in a playoff. Garcia won the Players in 2008 and finished second the previous year, when Mickelson took home the top prize.

In 2014, Martin Kaymer (100-1) won the Players by one stroke over Jim Furyk (125-1). Other contenders near the top of the golf betting board for this week include Dustin Johnson (25-1), Adam Scott (28-1), Henrik Stenson (28-1) and Hideki Matsuyama (28-1).