Players Championship betting tips: Who tames TPC Sawgrass?

It’s one of the biggest non-major weeks in professional golf, but who are our betting tips to take home the Players Championship title?

TPC Sawgrass is one of the jewels in the PGA Tour schedule, and it is known as the ‘unofficial fifth major’.

Scottie Scheffler is the defending champion, and in great form after winning the Arnold Palmer Invitational on Sunday. Can former winners of the event, such as Rory McIlroy, Justin Thomas or Jason Day take victory once again in Ponte Vedra?

Who will win? Matt Coles takes a look at some of his favourites for the Players Championship…

The Players Championship golf betting tips and preview

Venue: TPC Sawgrass, Ponte Vedra, Florida, United States
Date: March 14-17, 2024
Course stats: Par 72, 7,189 yards
Defending champion: Scottie Scheffler (-17)

The Players Championship tips

Scottie Scheffler @ 11/2 with bet365

How can you bet against this man? He is the World No 1 for a reason and he showed it once again at Bay Hill on Sunday.

Scottie Scheffler, armed with a new putter, blew the field away on Sunday afternoon to win the Arnold Palmer Invitational by five. He returns to TPC Sawgrass as the defending champion, and he is the favourite to go back-to-back.

He also won by five at TPC Sawgrass last year, with Tyrrell Hatton finishing runner-up. No man has ever managed to defend the title at The Players Championship, but Scheffler certainly has a good a chance as anyone of the former winners have… He is only 11/2 to take the title, but how can you say no to easy money?

Wyndham Clark @ 30/1 with bet365

A winner at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro Am earlier this season, and runner-up to Scheffler at the Arnold Palmer Invitational last week, Wyndham Clark is in stunning form to start 2024.

After breaking through last year with two wins, including the US Open, Clark has gone from strength to strength, and is currently sat at a career-high World No 5. Clark is 30/1 to take home The Players Championship trophy this year.

Shane Lowry @ 30/1 with bet365

2019 Open Champion Shane Lowry has shown some of his quality over the last couple of weeks, playing in the final group on Sunday at both the Cognizant Classic in the Palm Beaches and last week’s Arnold Palmer Invitational.

This could well be the Irishman’s week to finally get back in the winners’ circle after being so close over the last two weeks. His last victory came at the BMW PGA Championship – the DP World Tour’s flagship event. Could he double up with the PGA Tour’s flagship event this week? 30/1 says he does…

He has great memories of Sawgrass, after joining a very special club in 2022…

HOLE-IN-ONE AT THE ISLAND GREEN @ShaneLowryGolf makes the 10th ace on No. 17 in @THEPLAYERSChamp history. pic.twitter.com/HqSYe4XuZh
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) March 13, 2022

Si Woo Kim @ 66/1 with bet365

It has been seven years since Si Woo Kim was victorious at TPC Sawgrass, winning the 2017 Players Championship by three shots. Could we see a repeat this week, and see Kim become the first multiple winner of the tournament since Tiger Woods won for a second time back in 2013?

The South Korean has five top-30 finishes this year, including at last week’s Arnold Palmer Invitational. He is my outside pick this week, at 66/1, but returning to a venue where he has won before could spark an upturn in form for the week!

Other Markets for The Players Championship

Balls in the water on 17: Over 60 @ 6/4

Watching professional golfers take on the infamous 17th hole at TPC Sawgrass is one of the highlights of the golfing calendar. But how many balls will end up in the drink instead of the island green this week?

Last year’s number was 58 across the four days of competition, and with the possibility of thunderstorms this week, conditions could see a rise in that number 12 months on! I am taking the over, which comes at 60. 6/4 on plenty of water balls this week!

Aggregate Cut Line Score: Over 144 @ 11/8

With those possible storms and harsh conditions, scoring will not be easy in Ponte Vedra this week. The current over/under is at 144 (or level par for us normal folk). The over is currently the favourite at 11/8, while the under is sitting at 13/8.

Will there be a playoff: Yes @ 7/2

There have only been five play-offs in five decades at The Players Championship. The last of those came in 2015, when Rickie Fowler defeated Kevin Kisner and Sergio Garcia to win the title. That was the first time it was a three-hole aggregate play-off format was used, with Fowler eventually winning down the first play-off hole, thanks to a birdie on 17.

Is this the time for a sixth play-off at The Players? If Scottie Scheffler’s putting is not red hot like it was at Bay Hill, then the field could well be close this year, with plenty of players in the hunt for glory. A play-off is 7/2 to occur at Sawgrass this week.

Fancy a punt on this week’s action? Take a look at the latest odds with bet365.

What do you think to our betting tips for the Players Championship? Who is going to do well at TPC Sawgrass this week? Let me know with a Tweet!

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Mention a European country, and Matt will tell you which resorts make the National Club Golfer Top 100s: European Resorts list. He might even throw in who designed the golf course and how many rooms the hotel has got at each one…

Matt got into the game of golf from a young age, following his old man to the local golf club. He fell for the sport, and now can’t seem to go a day without thinking about how to improve his game (Thanks Dad!). Matt has been a member of Howley Hall GC in Leeds since 2020, and is just about managing to maintain a single-figure handicap. He likes to remind people that he once broke 75, but won’t tell people that it was on a shortened course during the winter.

He moved to Leeds after graduating from the University of Central Lancashire with a First Class Honours degree in Sports Journalism. Matt joined NCG after almost five years travelling the world with the Professional Squash Association, working on events in all four corners of the globe.

Matt currently plays a Cobra King LTDx driver and RadSpeed 3-wood. TaylorMade monopolise the rest of his bag, with a SIM UDI, M5 irons and both Milled Grind and HI-TOE wedges, along with a Monza Redline putter. He uses a Vice Pro Plus golf ball, because he’s a bit different…

Away from golf, Matt is a Manchester United fan, and a keen runner, having ran the Rob Burrow Leeds Marathon (his first and possibly last), in May 2023.