It is time for the Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass, one of the best non-major championship on the PGA Tour schedule and strongest discipline in golf yearly.
With the “fifth main” set Thursday-Sunday, let’s rank the ten most probably winners of the Gamers Championship.
10. Tommy Fleetwood
Fleetwood continues to be looking for his first PGA Tour win. Odds are he will not break by in a loaded discipline like this, but it surely’s unimaginable to disregard how nicely the Englishman is taking part in. Fleetwood hasn’t completed worse than twenty second for the reason that Open Championship in July.
9. Hideki Matsuyama
Course historical past is fickle at TPC Sawgrass due to the water hazards and large numbers lurking round each nook, however Matsuyama constantly performs nicely right here. The 11-time PGA Tour winner has seven top-25 finishes and 4 top-10s in 10 profession begins at The Gamers.
8. Russell Henley
Henley deserves to crack this checklist after securing his fifth PGA Tour victory on the Arnold Palmer Invitational. The American has 4 top-10 finishes in his previous 5 begins, and he matches this golf course as an correct driver and powerful iron participant.
7. Xander Schauffele
Schauffele would usually be No. 2 on this checklist, but it surely’s onerous to belief him now. The world No. 3 missed two months with a rib harm and completed T40 in his return to motion on the API. Schauffele might be too rusty to win The Gamers in simply his second begin again.
6. Sepp Straka
Straka is a well-liked decide to win this event. The 31-year-old ranks second on the PGA Tour this season in greens in regulation proportion and eleventh in driving accuracy, which is the recipe for achievement at TPC Sawgrass. Straka additionally has a win and 6 top-15 finishes in his previous seven begins.
5. Justin Thomas
Is that this the week Thomas lastly snaps his prolonged winless streak relationship to the 2022 PGA Championship? He has gained at TPC Sawgrass, ranks fifth on Tour this season in strokes gained on strategy and is hitting his driver in addition to he has in years. Thomas must be within the combine this week.
4. Ludvig Aberg
Aberg has ascended to the elite tier of golfers after his win on the Genesis Invitational. The rising famous person has performed stellar golf this season when he wasn’t coping with an sickness, and he completed solo eighth in his first profession begin on the Gamers Championship final yr.
3. Rory McIlroy
McIlroy appears to be flying below the radar this week regardless of profitable the AT&T Pebble Seashore Professional-Am in February. That is partly as a result of the Northern Irishman made peculiar tools adjustments on the Arnold Palmer Invitational and had his worst driving accuracy week of the season. A free driver will not fly at TPC Sawgrass, however McIlroy deserves respect as a former Gamers champion.
2. Collin Morikawa
One other week, one other near-win for Morikawa. The American has completed solo second in three of his previous six begins, including to his 9 top-10 finishes for the reason that begin of final season. Morikawa ranks second on Tour this season in complete strokes gained and fifth in driving accuracy, so TPC Sawgrass units up nicely for his elite ball-striking type. However can he lastly shut out a win?
1. Scottie Scheffler
No shock right here. Scheffler deserves the No. 1 spot because the back-to-back Gamers champion, however he is not the identical dominant participant he was at the moment final season. The world No. 1 had only one end higher than T9 since he injured his hand cooking Christmas dinner. We have seen solely six three-peats on the PGA Tour since 2000, and 4 of them got here from Tiger Woods. No participant has three-peated since 2011, but when anybody can break the streak, it is Scheffler.