The 2024 Players Championship PGA Picks, Hole 17 Odds
Let’s answer the first question most golf fans have: Is Tiger Woods playing? He is not in perhaps a minor surprise – but also hasn’t played here since 2019. It can be one of the harder venues on the PGA Tour and one no longer conducive to Tiger’s strengths.
In an ideal world, Tiger wants to play once per month and this was presumed to be his spot in March as a semi-warmup for the Masters. We last saw Woods at the Genesis Invitational in February in Los Angeles, an event he hosts. He withdrew during the second round due to illness and not the physical maladies that have plagued Tiger. He is one of six players to win the Players at least twice — Jack Nicklaus holds the record of three, including the first one in 1974.
TPC Sawgrass’ Stadium Course in Ponte Vedra Beach (also home city of PGA Tour’s headquarters) hosts per usual and you can find that track on any golf video game as it’s home to the infamous island par-3 17th and is a par 72 overall and 7,275 yards.
It has taken double digits under par to win every year since 2008. The defending champion is Scheffler as he shot 17-under 271 in 2023 and beat out second-place Tyrrell Hatton by five, the largest margin of victory in the tournament since Canadian Stephen Ames won by six in 2006.
At the time, Scheffler became the third player in history to hold The Masters and Players Championship titles at the same time, joining Nicklaus and Woods. Scheffler also became only the third Players champion to shoot in the 60s all four rounds, joining Greg Norman in 1994 and Steve Elkington in 1997. Rather amazingly, no one has repeated at the Players Championship.
Hatton tried to make things interesting with a final-round 65, including becoming the first player to shoot 29 on the back nine at Sawgrass on a Sunday. If there’s a playoff, which hasn’t happened since 2015, it’s a three-hole aggregate played over the final three holes and then sudden death if still tied. This is a full field and there is a cut.
Jon Rahm was No. 1 in the world and the betting favorite entering the 2023 Players but withdrew after a first-round 17 citing a stomach illness. It came just 20 minutes before he was set to tee off in Round 2. Rahm has never won here and won’t soon on the LIV Tour.
The Players Championship Golf Odds
Bet on the 2024 Players Championship
Scottie Scheffler is the +550 favourite after winning the Arnold Palmer Invitational on Sunday in Orlando by five shots. The American already is the best player in the world from tee to green but putting had been an issue at times. He was brilliant with the putter at Bay Hill in a final-round 6-under 66, the best score of the final round by two shots. The five-shot win was the largest at Bay Hill since Tiger Woods in 2012 and the largest by a world No. 1 on the PGA Tour since Dustin Johnson at the Masters in 2020.
“It would be borderline unfair if he starts putting really good,” U.S. Open champion Wyndham Clark (+3300 this week) said of Scheffler after finishing second. “I never want to wish ill on anybody, but if he starts putting positive each week, it’s going to be really hard to beat.”
World No. 2 Rory McIlroy is next on the odds board at +1400. He shot a final-round 76 Sunday in Orlando to balloon to T21. McIlroy won here in 2019 at 16-under 272 but has not contended since with two missed cuts and a T33 at TPC Sawgrass. In total, there will be nine past Players champions in the field.
Xander Schauffele, Justin Thomas, Viktor Hovland and Will Zalatoris are all +2200. Schauffele was a co-runner-up here in 2018 but hasn’t finished in the Top 10 since. Thomas was the 2021 winner but not better than 33rd the past two years. Hovland was a career-best third here in 2023. Zalatoris comes off a T4 in Orlando that got him a spot in the 2024 British Open. His best result here is 21st.
As mentioned above, Stephen Ames, who has dual nationality in Trinidad and Tobago and Canada, won this event in 2006 by six shots and was a runner-up in 2002. He’s the lone Canadian winner. Adam Hadwin and Adam Svensson were both T13 last year with Taylor Pendrith T69. Nick Taylor, Corey Conners and Mackenzie Hughes missed the cut. Conners is +5500 this week with Hadwin +9000, Taylor +12500, Pendrith +15000, Svensson +20000, Ben Silverman +25000 and Hughes +30000.
Incidentally, you can also bet on how many balls are hit into the water at the island No. 17 with 58 or fewer at -175 and 59 or more at +125. That there’s a hole in one in any round there is +200.
The Players Championship Golf Predictions
The last four winners of this event since it moved back to March were ranked Top 10 in the world. Hard to fade Scottie Scheffler right now as well as he’s playing, but there’s a reason no one has repeated here. Instead, we’ll simply take an American winner at -165. Six USA players are ranked in the Top 10.
