The PGA Tour’s Florida Swing continues this week and is back on the Sunshine State’s East Coast for the richest tournament on Tour, the Players Championship. It’s often referred to as the “fifth major” – but it’s not part of the European Tour like the four majors are – and was moved from May back to its original March spot last season and will stay there for the foreseeable future. There’s a purse of $15 million this year; by comparison, the upcoming Masters has a purse of $11.5 million. The winner of this tournament earns $2.7 million.
Odds courtesy of OddsShark.com
TPC Sawgrass’ Stadium Course in Ponte Vedra Beach isn’t close to being the best course in the world much less the United States, but it has one of the most iconic (some PGA Tour pros might say gimmicky) holes on the planet: The par-3, 136-yard 17th island hole.
Bettors will be able to wager on an over/under number of balls that land in the water at that hole during the tournament. It’s usually an average of around 50 over the four rounds, with a record of 93 in 2007. Overall, the Stadium Course is a par 72 at 7,190 yards. It has hosted since 1982 but been altered a few times over the years. The 72-hole record is a 264 by Greg Norman in 1994 and the 18-hole mark is a 63 by a handful of guys. If there’s a playoff, it’s three-hole aggregate from No. 16-18. If still tied after that, it’s sudden-death starting at No. 17.
Six players have won this event at least twice, and only Jack Nicklaus three times, but no one has managed to repeat. However, the +750 favorite this week is world No. 1 and defending champion Rory McIlroy, who shot 16-under 272 a year ago to edge local resident Jim Furyk by a shot. McIlroy is having a fantastic season, yet to finish outside the Top 5. He was T5 on Sunday in Orlando at the Arnold Palmer Invitational.
Jon Rahm is +1200 with Justin Thomas at +1400. Neither has won here nor did either play last week on the Tour. Rahm has a best finish of 12th at the Players and Thomas a third.
The 2018 champion, Webb Simpson is +2800. Webb Simpson led wire-to-wire at TPC Sawgrass that year. He was 16th in 2019. Tiger Woods is one of those six players to win the Players multiple times, but Woods is skipping another event this year as questions about his health get louder and louder.
