The Players Championship 2019 preview: Predictions, picks and upsets

The top five players in the world

Here’s a look at the top five players in the Official World Golf Ranking and how they could fare this week at The Players Championship.

1. Dustin Johnson

We start our player preview with world number one Dustin Johnson, who leads the betting odds for this 2019 edition of The Players Championship at 12-1. Well, he’s the co-favorite anyway with someone we’ll get to on the next page but it’s easy to see why DJ is atop the list. In six starts in 2019, Johnson has two wins, including his most recent outing at the WGC-Mexico Championship, and two more top-10 finishes.

Johnson’s only real hiccup of the season came at Pebble Beach where he tied for 45th. It’s crazy to think that with all the success he’s had on the PGA Tour that he’s never really been in contention at this tournament. In 10 starts at TPC Sawgrass, he’s never cracked the top 10, his best finish coming two years ago when he tied for 12th.

2. Justin Rose

After holding off Tiger Woods to win the 2018 FedEx Cup, Justin Rose continued his great play through the end of the year, notching four consecutive top-10 finishes, including a win at the Turkish Airlines Open on the European Tour.

Rose hasn’t been as consistent in 2019, carding just one top-10 finish. But that was a victory at the Farmers Insurance Open so it’s difficult to say he hasn’t gotten off to a good start. He has had a couple of rough outings recently, missing the cut in Saudi Arabia and then finishing tied for 63rd this past weekend at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. But I think we know better than to ever count Justin Rose out of any golf tournament.

3. Brooks Koepka

Seeing as how this isn’t technically a major championship, we can already count Brooks Koepka out, right? Okay, maybe that’s a little much. This is a big tournament with a lot of eyes on it and that’s when Koepka shines. He’s won two of the last three majors and does have a couple of top-10 finishes in five starts this year, his best being a T-2 at the Honda Classic two weeks ago. Koepka tied for 11th here a season ago, his best finish in four starts at The Players.

4. Justin Thomas

It’s a little unfortunate that Justin Thomas has been getting so much attention for his criticism of some of the new rules of the game because he’s been playing some really solid golf this year. After picking up a couple of victories last year, he began his 2019 with a solo third at the Sentry Tournament of Champions, the exact finish that he had a few weeks later in Phoenix and then he took solo second at the Genesis Open.

Thomas carded another top-10 at the WGC-Mexico and comes into this tournament as one of the favorites. He tied for third here two years ago and ranks third on the all-time list in strokes gained at The Players. Okay, that’s just 15 rounds worth of shots but he knows his way around this golf course and should be in contention this week.

5. Bryson DeChambeau

Bryson DeChambeau became a major player on the PGA Tour last season, vaultin himself into the top 10 in the world with consecutive victories to start the FedEx Cup Playoffs. While he couldn’t hang on to win the season-ending title, he kicked things right back into gear for the 2018-19 season with a win at the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open and then started this calendar year with some more great golf.

DeChambeau picked up two top-10s in Hawaii, headed to the European Tour and picked up a victory at the Omega Dubai Desert Classic and followed that up with a T-6 at the Saudi International. He hasn’t been as good since returning to the States but he’s always going to be a wild card at big tournaments like this. He finished in a tie for 37th in 2018.