Players Championship 2022: Favorites, Sleepers and Tournament Preview

The Players Championship kicks off a four-month stretch of marquee events on the PGA Tour. 

The event at TPC Sawgrass takes place a month before the Masters, and most of the top contenders in Florida will be in the mix for the green jacket. 

Justin Thomas comes into the Players as the reigning champion and the pre-tournament favorite. 

Thomas headlines a field that includes Jon Rahm, Rory McIlroy and Collin Morikawa. Bryson DeChambeau is the main absence from the field as has been dealing with an injury. 

The top men's golf stars should be in the mix for the victory, but some surprise contenders could emerge. 

For example, Brian Harman, Talor Gooch and Victor Perez all landed in the top 10 of the Players in 2021 alongside Thomas, DeChambeau and Rahm. 

Favorites

John Raoux/Associated Press

Justin Thomas

Justin Thomas comes into The Players Championship as the favorite to win the tournament he won 12 months ago. 

Thomas sits at +1000 (bet $100 to win $1,000) on DraftKings Sportsbook to take home the trophy at TPC Sawgrass. The 28-year-old shot 64 and 68 on the weekend to win the Players last season, and he has five rounds of 68 or lower in his last two tournaments this year. 

Thomas has two other top-12 finishes at the top non-major event on the PGA Tour. He landed in a tie for eighth at the WM Phoenix Open and took sixth at the Genesis Invitational as part of the PGA Tour's West Coast swing in February. 

All of his rounds in those two events were 70 or better, and that consistency should help him move up the leaderboard early at TPC Sawgrass. 

Thomas' form and recent success on the course should make him one of the favored golfers to bet to win outright. 

Jon Rahm 

Jon Rahm enters TPC Sawgrass off an average performance at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. 

Rahm did not break 70 on his way to a tie for 17th at Bay Hill. His best score was a second-round 70. 

Rahm has been inside the top 20 for most of the PGA Tour season, but he has a single top-five finish from the West Coast swing. 

The Spaniard tied for third at the Farmers Insurance Open in late January and then placed in a tie for 10th, tie for 21st and tie for 17th in his next three events. 

Rahm has been consistent enough to assume he will be in the top 20 again at TPC Sawgrass, but he needs to drop a few more birdies to land on the front page of the leaderboard. 

Sleepers

Michael Reaves/Getty Images

Talor Gooch

Talor Gooch's early-season form and a top-10 result from the Players last season suggest he should be discussed more in the favorites section.

However, Gooch is listed at +6500 to win the Players and may be slept on in a field that contains Thomas, Rahm and other top golfers in the world. 

Gooch is fourth on the early FedEx Cup standings. He has played in 13 events since the season began late in the fall. 

The 30-year-old Oklahoma native is coming off a tie for seventh at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, and he tied for fifth at TPC Sawgrass in 2021. 

Gooch carries plus-money odds to finish inside the top 10 and top 20, and he sits at -110 to finish in the top 40. 

He could be worth the potentially high payouts that come with those numbers, and he might be a solid piece to use in daily fantasy lineups for the event. 

Joaquin Niemann

Joaquin Niemann is a few weeks removed from his win at the Genesis Invitational. 

The Chilean's form cooled off the next week at the Honda Classic. He missed the cut with rounds of 70 and 73. 

Niemann may have drifted off the radar a bit because of that performance and the bigger names in the field. 

He is worth looking at +5000 to win outright and in other props because he has three top-10 finishes on the PGA Tour this season. 

Niemann was consistent enough at TPC Sawgrass last season to tie for 29th place. He concluded the tournament with back-to-back 70s. 

That finish combined with his win from a few weeks ago could make Niemann one of the more popular sleeper picks in the field. 

Tournament Preview

Cliff Hawkins/Getty Images

The Players serves as a bit of tuneup for the Masters in terms of an event with a deep field. 

There are three weekends of play between the Players and the Masters, and one of the events after this weekend is the WGC Match Play tournament. 

Some of the top golfers, like Thomas and Rahm, could use the Players as their final warm-up in stroke-play competition to prepare for four majors in four months. The PGA Championship takes place in May, followed by the U.S. Open in June and the British Open in July. 

The list of recent winners at the Players is a who's who of men's golf: Rory McIlroy in 2019, Jason Day in 2016, Rickie Fowler in 2015 and Tiger Woods in 2013. 

Thomas, Rahm and a handful of other heavy hitters on the PGA Tour finished in the top 10 at TPC Sawgrass last March, and it would be no surprise to see any of the tournament favorites competing for first on Sunday. 

McIlroy, Collin Morikawa and Viktor Hovland are among the other favorites to watch. Scottie Scheffler threw his name into that conversation with a win at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. 

Scheffler's win at Bay Hill might be a good sign for his success at TPC Sawgrass. Bryson DeChambeau won the Arnold Palmer Invitational last year and then finished in a tie for third at the Players.  

Gambling problem? Call (877-8-HOPENY) or text HOPENY (467369).

If you or someone you know has a gambling problem, crisis counseling and referral services can be accessed by calling 1-800-GAMBLER (1-800-426-2537) (IL/IN/MI/NJ/PA/WV/WY), 1-800-NEXT STEP (AZ), 1-800-522-4700 (CO/NH), 888-789-7777/visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-BETS OFF (IA), 1-877-770-STOP (7867) (LA), visit OPGR.org (OR), call/text TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN), or 1-888-532-3500 (VA).

Odds and lines subject to change. 21+ (18+ NH/WY). AZ/CO/CT/IL/IN/IA/LA/MI/NH/NJ/NY/OR/PA/TN/VA/WV/WY only. Eligibility restrictions apply. See draftkings.com/sportsbook for full terms and conditions.