PGA Power Rankings: The 2019 Players Championship

We do a lot of DFS site specific coverage here at FantasyCPR, so in an effort to bring in new golf fans, and look at Fantasy Golf as a whole, I am excited to bring you PGA Power Rankings for this weeks Players Championship.

This PGA Power Rankings article will cover the top 20 golfers for this event, and with each golfer will come a short blurb with some justification to their respective rankings. Before we do that, let’s touch a bit on the history of the Players Championship.

PGA Power Rankings: The Players Championship – Course and History

Week three of the Florida swing is underway, and the PGA Tour will welcome the PLAYERS Championship back to the Month of March for the first time since 2006. In 2007 the event was moved to May and had been there ever since, but an already challenging golf course in TPC Sawgrass, could play a little tougher earlier in the season.

It actually could go either way, and I have seen a golf expert or two say course history will not matter as much due to the shift in date, and while I somewhat agree, TPC Sawgrass is tough as it is.

It is being said that the rough is a little generous right now, and if that is in fact true it may play a little more lenient? Either way, those that played last week at Bay Hill will have an advantage this week over those didn’t in my opinion, as these greens should be just as fast, and it will come down putting as usual.

Known as “The 5th Major”, the Players Championship dates back to 1974, and it took permanent residence at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida in 1977. However it did move from the Oceanside Course to the Stadium Course in 1982.

The course underwent major renovations in 2007, extending it to 7,215 yards. It was brought back in length slightly a couple of years ago however, and currently plays at 7,189 yards, and is a par-72.

Some big names have won here over the last few years, and all are back looking for another. Most recently, Webb Simpson was a decisive champion here last year, beating Xander Schauffele and others by four strokes. Tiger Woods said on Monday he is good to go, and the 2013 champ will be searching for his third win here at The Players.

Other past winners in the field include Sergio Garcia, Rickie Fowler, Jason Day, and Matt Kuchar, and some lesser known players have also pulled out some wins here as well. It was Martin Kaymer holding off Jim Furyk in 2014, and Si-Woo Kim was on fire here two years ago, holding off Louis Oosthuizen and Ian Poulter by three strokes.

Anything can happen here at Sawgrass, and those that keep it away from hazards will benefit. It should play a lot like Bay Hill in terms of conditions, so those that play well from the rough and bunkers, and putt well, should be right in it. After that brief preview of the Players Championship for 2019, let’s move on to this week’s top-20

PGA Power Rankings: The 2019 Players Championship

***The following golfers are my top 20 overall. Each golfer will be followed by their official golf world ranking (OGWR) in parenthesis.***

20. Rafa Cabrera-Bello – (30)

Only a second round 75 held Rafa from a victory at Bay Hill last week. Of course you could dissect a hundred different ways, but after firing an opening round 65 and being the leader after day one, it was surprising Rafa even got it back together on the weekend to finish T-3 after the disastrous day two.

Cabrera-Bello shot a 69 on Sunday to tie with Sungjae Im and Tommy Fleetwood, and the top-five finish was good enough to bump RCB up four spots in the OWGR. On top of the solid recent form, he has also played well here at Sawgrass the last two seasons, finishing T-17 last year, and T-4 in 2017.

19. Paul Casey – (15)

This will be Casey’s first action in a couple of weeks, as he has not teed off since the WGC-Mexico, but he is coming in as hot as any. He played the Singapore Open on the European/Japan Tour, where he T-2, just before he grabbed a solo second at the Pebble Beach Pro-Am. His T-3 in Mexico gives him three finishes of third or better in his last four tries.

His record here is neither good nor bad, with back-to-back top-25’s in 2016 and 2017. However, he has skipped this tournament plenty over the last few years including last year, and he also withdrew in 2015 and 2012.

18. Hideki Matsuyama – (29)

Matsuyama missed the cut here last year, but his record prior to that is solid, and I am sure we all remember just how bad Matsuyama was at times last year. His best finish was a T-7 at 9-under par in 2016, and he was able to notch top-25 finishes for four straight years from 2014 to 2017.

He did only finish 2-under last week, and failed to break 70 for four days, but from what I was able to watch, if the putter was there he could have been right there. The T-33 finish was his worst since his T-51 at the Sony Open, and the first time he didn’t crack the top-20 since then.

17. Patrick Cantlay – (18)

Cantlay has only played four events thus far in 2019, last teeing it up in Chapultepec in Mexico, where he T-6. In his limited action, he had the disappointing missed cut at the Farmers Insurance Open where he was one of the favorites, but other than week he has been solid. He T-15 at the Genesis Open, and T-9 at the Desert Classic.

This will be Cantlay’s third straight Players Championship, and he has been pretty good here in his limited experience. Last year he T-23 at 9-under par, and in 2017, even par was good enough for a T-22.

16. Matt Kuchar – (22)

Kuchar is back this week after finally taking a couple of weeks off. Since his win at the Sony Open and his T-4 at the Waste Management Phoenix Open, things are slowly going the wrong way for good old Kooch. After his T-28 at the Genesis Open, Kuchar struggled at the WGC-Mexico finishing in 50th, but he was one of many that struggled with the elevation.

He has had mixed results here at Sawgrass, with his win coming back in 2012. Since then, he has missed two cuts, but also grabbed a T-3 in 2016 at 10-under. It was 10-under last season as well, and that was good for a T-17 finish.

PGA Power Rankings: The 2019 Players Championship

15. Jason Day – (12)

So far the word is that Day will play this week, but the fact that he withdrew after starting last week obviously gives him a huge bump in the rankings this week. Day has played this course really well with a win in 2016, but his health has to be a concern.

Although he wasn’t winning, Day had been getting closer and closer, and virtually nobody knew about the back injury that forced him to WD last week. He had notched back-to-back top fives at the Farmers Insurance Open and the Pebble Beach Pro-Am, so the back seemed to be a non-issue.

For what it is worth, in my opinion nothing, he was spotted in Disney World the day after withdrawing from the Arnold Palmer Invitational last week, so some say standing in lines may be bad on your back as well? Not sure I am going to go that far, only thing that will tell us if Day is healthy is time.

14. Webb Simpson – (21)

The 33-year-old Simpson was really on one here at Sawgrass last year. He was lights out with the putter, gaining well over 2 strokes for the tournament, and winning by four strokes at 18-under par. Simpson wasn’t bad here in 2017 either, as 1-under par was good enough for a T-16 as well.

He opted not to play last week, and his T-36 at the Honda Classic was his second straight finish in the thirties and that may have had something to do with it? I am not sure that is purely speculative, but he had notched six straight top-20’s up to the T-39 at the Waste Management Phoenix Open and the Honda Classic two weeks ago.

13. Sergio Garcia – (26)

Garcia is in great form as of late, with back-to-back top-10’s in his last two events. He tied for ninth at the Honda Classic two weeks ago, and managed to T-6 at the WGC-Mexico. While he did have a good run here at Sawgrass from 2013 to 2015, the last three years have not been so kind.

Garcia went T-8, solo third, T-2 in 2013 through 2015, then for some reason he just has not been playing as well at here the Players since. He has made the cut each year, but his best finish in the most recent three years was his T-30, 1-over par finish in 2017.

12. Tiger Woods – (11)

Tiger looked pretty damn sweet getting out of that SUV with his white Nike hat on backwards and sunglasses on didn’t he? Seemed kind of like he was trying to make a statement by immediatley declaring himself ready upon stepping out of that vehicle. Woods must have felt really good in practice yesterday I am guessing, and if he is in fact 100%, there is little reason to doubt he will be able to compete for his third win here at Sawgrass.

11. Xander Schauffele – (8)

Schauffele was very impressive in his Sawgrass debut last year, and if it wasn’t for how ridiculous Simpson was with the putter, he could have won. He ultimately finished T-2 with Jimmy Walker and Charl Schwartzel, but they all were four strokes behind Simpson as you know by now.

2019 started with a bang for Schauffele with his win at the Sentry TOC. He has played in four events since, with his best finish coming in Phoenix with a T-10, and his worst being a T-25 at the Farmers Insurance Open. In his last action, Schauffele T-14 at Chapultepec in the WGC-Mexico Championship.

PGA Power Rankings: The 2019 Players Championship

10. Rickie Fowler – (9)

Fowler is on an interesting little pattern here, and if it continues this week, this is the week he should contend once again. It seems as though every other tournament since his T-5 at the Hero World Challenge has been bad, then good, then bad, then good again.

After winning the WMPO, Fowler struggled in Mexico to a T-36 finish. Then after nearly winning at the Honda Classic with his T-2 finish, he struggled to a T-40 last week.

The course history here at TPC Sawgrass on Fowler though is what makes it even more confusing. He proved to be the best here in 2015 when he was victorious, and he also nearly won here in 2012 when he T-2. However, other than those two solid performances and since 2012, Fowler has missed four cuts including last year, and his only other non missed-cut was his T-60 in 2017.

9. Bryson DeChambeau – (5)

I was in the camp last week that thoroughly expected DeChambeau to bounce back from his T-56 at the WGC-Mexico Championship, but maybe playing with Brooks Koepka turned out to be more of a challenge than maybe I originally thought?

Not sure exactly what is off with Bryson right now, but how he plays this week after having two bad weeks in a row for the first time since August will say quite a bit about whether or not it is time to worry about his form. Last year was his debut at the Players Championship, and he T-37.

8. Jon Rahm – (10)

Rahm could easily have cracked the top five this week if had played a little better here in his limited experience. He missed the cut in his first attempt in 2017, and while he squeezed in the cut line last year, he really struggled with the flat stick down the stretch, and ended up T-63.

Prior to the heat and elevation that was Chapultepec and the WGC-Mexico, Rahm was on a tear, ripping off seven straight top-10’s, including his win at the Hero World Challenge. With a good showing this week, there is little doubt he will move back into the top five next time he is in action.

7. Tommy Fleetwood – (13)

After a few straight weeks of Fleetwood looking to just be going through the motions, he finally played really well last week, on a course that perfectly fit for his game, which is promising to see. There was a brief moment it looked like Fleetwood could go on to win at Bay Hill on Saturday, but close friend and Ryder Cup teammate Francesco Molinari was able separate himself from the pack with a big Sunday.

This will be Fleetwood’s third Players Championship. He followed up his T-43 in his first attempt in 2017 with a T-7 last year. With the greens in similar conditions and the roughs looking to play a little forgiving if the reports are true, this could shape up for another top-10 for the young Englishman.

6. Brooks Koepka – (3)

When Koepka T-2 two weeks ago the Honda Classic, my thought was that he was just too good to be held down in his home state. That didn’t turn out to be the case however, as we watched him slip to +3 last week and miss the cut the Arnold Palmer Invitational.

In a star-studded field like this and this basically shaping up to play like a major, my guess his Brooks brings his “A” game. Unlike most of the other huge names in the field, Koepka has been able to put together a couple of solid finishes the last two years, with a T-16 in 2017, and a T-11 last year.

PGA Power Rankings: The 2019 Players Championship

5. Justin Rose – (2)

Rose remains a threat to win every week, but has recently ran into an uncharacteristically stretch of bad play since his win at the Farmers Insurance Open. Rose went from Farmers Insurance Open champion to missing the cut at the inaugural Saudi International on the European Tour a little over a month ago. After a couple of weeks off again, Rose returned last week for the Arnold Palmer Invitational, where he struggled again and finished T-63.

The Players Championship is a staple for Rose, as his best performance over the last few years came back in 2014, when he T-4 at 10-under par. He has not missed a cut here since the following year in 2015, and he finished T-23 here last year at 9-under.

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4. Francesco Molinari – (7)

Molinari was brilliant on Sunday at Bay Hill last weekend, firing a 64 and finishing 12-under to capture his first win since the Open last year.

The win was good enough to bump him up three spots from ten to seven in the OWGR this week, and he will look to keep the great stretch going here, as he was able to notch a T-17 in Mexico as well a few weeks ago.

Sawgrass has been hit or miss for Molinari like many others throughout the years. He did miss the cut last year, but was right in the thick of things in 2016 and 2017. In fact, Molinari has three top-10 finishes here at the Players in the last five years.

3. Justin Thomas – (4)

Thomas was knocking on the door week after week as expected to start 2019, but slipped a step two weeks ago at the Honda Classic where he T-30, in what was his worst finish since the CJ Cup when he T-36th.

He grabbed a solo third at the Waste Management Phoenix Open as he could not catch Fowler there, and in his next action at the Genesis Open, he came up just short of J.B. Holmes and finished a solo second. With his solo ninth at the WGC-Mexico, Thomas has four top-10’s in six events this season so far.

2016 was the closest Thomas came to tasting victory at the Players Championship, when he T-3 finishing five strokes behind Jason Day. He missed the cut in 2017 which is rare for Thomas, and he bounced back pretty well last year tying for eleventh place.

2. Rory McIlroy – (6)

Speaking of knocking on the door, this might be the definition of nobody answering it. McIlroy is playing incredible golf to start 2019, but the wins are elusive as ever for the worlds sixth ranked golfer.

Rory has been in the final group on the final day more times without a win than I can remember, and you have to think he will put it all together on a Sunday really soon and grab a W, because he is just too good not to. His T-6 last week at Bay hill was his WORST finish this season thus far.

At the Players Championship, McIlroy has had some success much in the same fashion as Garcia has. He missed the cut last year, but had a solid stretch in 2013 – 2015, when he grabbed three straight top-10’s.

1. Dustin Johnson – (1)

When you look at the odds this week, Johnson is your clear-cut favorite. The Players will be his first action since the WGC-Mexico, where he grabbed his second win of 2019, both of which on international soil.

The other victory came at the Saudi International back in early February, so DJ has a chance to win in three different countries in a span of about six weeks if he can tame Sawgrass this week.

This tournament has proven to be a challenge for DJ over the years for his standards, with his best finish coming in 2017 with his T-12 finish. He T-17 last year, and those two top-20’s are the best we have seen out of DJ at Sawgrass up to this point in his career.

Thanks for stopping by FantasyCPR and checking out our ever-expanding PGA coverage. Be sure to keep an eye out for my FanDuel article coming soon, along with some Fantasy Draft once again as well.

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