Shooting For Birdies And Betting THE PLAYERS Championship

The strongest field of the season is at TPC Sawgrass, where 49 of the top 50 players in the world tee it up at THE PLAYERS Championship. My early preview at TheLines also has odds on the players to win, and I chip in more course information, insight, Golfers to Watch outside of the top favorites and most bet players, and additional information you can bet on.

In last week’s Arnold Palmer Invitational, I chipped-in another tournament match-up winner, which runs the posted record on these pages to 6-1 since the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines – site of the 2021 U.S. Open.

I’ll add some Golfers to Watch in another post, and you can read more on those players in my PLAYERS Championship update at TheLines. Two of last week’s Golfers to Watch finished top-10, which is a more realistic way to wager on winners than trying to pick an outright winner each week. That’s tough in such competitive field on the PGA Tour, but we did nail one with Collin Morikawa in the WGC Workday Championships event as one of our Golfers to Watch.

THE PLAYERS Championship Odds 2021

THE PLAYERS Championship

D Johnson 12/1
B DeChambeau 14/1
R McIlroy 16/1
J Rahm 16/1
J Thomas 20/1
X Schauffele 20/1
P Cantlay 20/1
C Morikawa 20/1
V Hovland 25/1
W Simpson 25/1
T Finau 30/1
J Spieth 30/1
T Hatton 40/1
P Reed 40/1
D Berger 40/1
H Matsuyama 40/1
T Fleetwood 50/1

— Jeff Sherman (@golfodds) March 8, 2021

“The strength of the field is incredible,” Westgate sportsbook vice president of risk Jeff Sherman told the Las Vegas Review Journal. “That’s why we can afford to start Dustin Johnson at 12-1, and all the other majors you see him at 10-1 and 8-1. You’re not going to find much higher odds at any tournaments this year than what you’re finding this week.”

Course and Tournament Information

• Course: TPC Sawgrass (Stadium)
• Location: Ponte Vedra Beach, FL
• Date: March 11-14
• Par: 72 / Yardage 7,189
• Purse: $15 Million / Winner $2.5 M
• Fairways/Rough: Bermudagrass
• Greens: : Bermudagrass
• TV/Online: Golf Channel, NBC (Sat/Sun), PGA Tour Live
• Twitter & Hashtag: @THEPLAYERSChamp
• Defending Champion: Rory McIlroy (2019)

More course information, description and information you can bet on.

Players to Win and Top Finishing Position (Top 5, 10, 20):

 

Fairway’s Favorites: Justin Thomas, Xander Schauffele, Patrick Cantlay, Hideki Matsuyama
Fairway’s Longshots: Jason Day, Cameron Smith, Abraham Ancer, Corey Conners

Tournament Match-ups: Justin Thomas (-112) over Viktor Hovland and Tommy Fleetwood (-105) over Tyrrell Hatton.

Check back for more updates and information you can bet on.

Weekend update: Match-up winner with Thomas (-2) over Hovland (cut), and Thomas took match-up money and closed -120. One-shot loser with  Fleetwood (+2) and Hatton (+1) with both missing cut.

Big longshots Westwood (-9) and Fitzpatrick (-8) lead into Round 3 with lonshots Kirk (-7) and Garcia (-7) top challengers along with DeChambeau (-6), Im (-6) and others. Phil Mickelson (-1), age 50, made the cut.

Notable missed cuts – top players McIlroy (+10), Kisner (+6), Cantlay (+5), Schauffele (+4), Henley (+4), Finau (+3), Hovland (+2), Fleetwood (+2), Hatton (+1).