The Players Championship Fantasy Golf picks
Struggling with your Players Championship Fantasy Golf picks? Our Fantasy Golf expert Matthew Beedle is on hand to help with your picks for this week’s tournament at TPC Sawgrass.
The Players Championship Fantasy Golf picks
Last week I fell foul of Jason Day’s withdrawal at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, so my week was over before it had even begun.
Justin Thomas heads my line up this week and hasn’t missed a cut since The Open at Carnoustie.
The American had a disappointing end to his Honda Classic defence in his previous outing but prior to that had a string of three top tens.
He came close at the Genesis Open but struggled in the final round after he had to cram three rounds in over the weekend.
Thomas has a mixed record at TPC Sawgrass in his four starts there with a missed cut and three top 25s.
Another leading pick is the ever so reliable Xander Schauffele who I have notoriously backed since the turn of the year.
Schauffele finished runner up here last year on his tournament debut and is on a tremendous run where he hasn’t finished outside the top 25 at a tournament since October.
Despite my confidence with the American pair there is a stat that doesn’t go in their favour as the last seven Players champions either missed the cut or finished outside the top 15 on their previous start at Sawgrass.
Paul Casey didn’t play at last year’s Players Championship but finished inside the top 25 on his previous two starts at Sawgrass.
The Englishman is starting to hit form at the right time with three top fives in last four starts and pushed Phil Mickelson all the way at Pebble Beach.
A player coming off a fantastic week is Rafa Cabrera Bello. The Spaniard couldn’t quite capitalise on his opening round of 65 and broke 70 just once in his final three rounds but still managed to record a T3 finish.
He also has good finishes at TPC Sawgrass in his last two starts with a T17 in 2018 and a T4 in 2017.
I backed Charles Howell in last week’s betting tips and he produced a T15 finish, not quite enough to earn any money but would have been a good fantasy pick.
The American has turned into a cut making machine and hasn’t missed one since the OHL Classic in November.
I questioned whether Howell would be able to keep up his run of form when the big names started turning up but he has proved me wrong and delivered top 20s in his last four starts.
A player who has hit a purple patch in 2019 is Lucas Glover who has three top 10s in his previous three starts.
However, the Florida native’s course form at TPC Sawgrass is very streaky but managed two top 10s in 2017 and 2010.
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The Players Championship tee times and pairings
‘The Players is the most meaningful tournament I’ve won’
Matthew Beedle
Matthew has been playing golf since he was around 13 and took up the game at a local nine-hole municipal course with his friends before joining Pontefract & District Golf Club just over the hedge.
Still a member of Pontefract with a handicap of 3, he currently sits on the board of directors to help with digital and marketing initiatives in order to improve membership and visitor income.
Matthew graduated university with a First Class in Sports Journalism from Leeds Trinity University and has been working in the golf industry since graduating.
NCG’s social media & marketing manager, Matthew’s main job role is to increase website traffic to the National Club Golfer website via our email and social media channels as well as driving entries to grow our NCG Top 100s Tour events amongst other tasks.
Not one to change his equipment too often, Matthew currently plays the TaylorMade M2 driver which has lasted the test of time in his bag. Elsewhere, you’ll find him using the TaylorMade Stealth 2 three-wood with a Ping G425 Crossover 2-iron to aid his long game.
Through his 4-iron to Gap Wedge, Matthew uses the Ping i500 irons accompanied by Ping’s Glide 3.0 56-degree and 60-degree wedges.
Another club that has stood the test of time in his bag is a Nike Method Core MC-3i putter which has had to have the SuperStroke grip changed at least three times. Ball of choice is the Titleist ProV1.
