Players Championship Odds 2016: Vegas Projections for Top Players in Field
With one of the most iconic holes in the form of the island green on No. 17, TPC Sawgrass will once again open its gates to host the 43rd Players Championship from May 12-15.
This is a tournament with a purse larger than the Masters, the U.S. Open, the British Open and the PGA Championship at $10.5 million, which means the world's best golfers will be going at it in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida.
| Jason Day | 1 | 11-1 |
| Jordan Spieth | 2 | 9-1 |
| Rory McIlroy | 3 | 15-2 |
| Bubba Watson | 4 | 33-1 |
| Rickie Fowler | 5 | 18-1 |
| Henrik Stenson | 6 | 28-1 |
| Adam Scott | 7 | 28-1 |
| Dustin Johnson | 8 | 25-1 |
| Danny Willett | 9 | 40-1 |
| Justin Rose | 10 | 25-1 |
| Hideki Matsuyama | 14 | 28-1 |
| Sergio Garcia | 15 | 28-1 |
.jpg?w=256 "Colts Jaguars Football")
Favorites
Rory McIlroy
The current No. 3 golfer in the world is still looking for his first PGA Tour win of the season. The closest he's gotten to a victory this year was a third-place finish at the WGC-Cadillac Championship in March.
He finished fourth at the Wells Fargo Championship most recently and showed flashes of heating up, via the PGA Tour:
It's just in time, too, as TPC Sawgrass is a course he's performed well on throughout his career. In the last three starts there, he finished in the top 10 each time.
He's poised to take full advantage of Sawgrass yet again this year thanks to its abundance of par-five holes. With four in 18 holes, the PGA Tour's par-five scoring leader has a golden opportunity to lower his score in big ways.
Sergio Garcia
Other than the Honda Classic in which he finished second, Sergio Garcia hasn't had a top-10 finish this season.
But TPC Sawgrass is a special place for Garcia, as he won The Players Championship in 2008 and finished second in 2007 and 2015.
Last year's second-place finish came in a playoff in which he lost to Rickie Fowler.
It all comes down to No. 17, though, as Garcia has seen success and disaster on the hole. The success came in 2008 where he won in a playoff:
The disaster came in 2013, when he put a pair in the water:
Regardless, he should still be in the running for a title given his past success at the course. If No. 17 treats him well this year, he'll do better than just be in the running.
Rickie Fowler
It's been feast or famine so far this season for Fowler. He's had six top-10 finishes, including a fourth-place finish at the Wells Fargo, but he's also missed two cuts.
But Fowler is returning to TPC Sawgrass as the defending champion. Last year, he pulled off a furious comeback by going six under on the final six holes to force a playoff:
He's the PGA Tour's all-around leader at 235, and rightly so. He is capable of smashing huge drives, pulling off intricate approaches and reading even the toughest greens.
The end of his winless drought could be coming to an end here shortly.
Stats courtesy of PGATour.com.
.jpg?w=480 "Colts Jaguars Football")
