Fansided

The PLAYERS Championship 2020: 10 dark horse golfers who can win

By Cody Williams

LA QUINTA, CALIFORNIA - JANUARY 19: Scottie Scheffler lines up a putt on the fourth green during the final round of The American Express tournament at the Stadium Course at PGA West on January 19, 2020 in La Quinta, California. (Photo by Steve Dykes/Getty Images)
LA QUINTA, CALIFORNIA - JANUARY 19: Scottie Scheffler lines up a putt on the fourth green during the final round of The American Express tournament at the Stadium Course at PGA West on January 19, 2020 in La Quinta, California. (Photo by Steve Dykes/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
4 of 6
Next
(Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)
(Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images) /

6. Scottie Scheffler (+7000)

Amidst a slew of highly talented full-time newcomers to the PGA Tour in the 2019-20 season, Scottie Scheffler is the only player who has been even close to the level of Collin Morikawa on a consistent basis. And yet, it feels as if a lot of people haven’t noticed that he has four top-10 finishes already this season and has three additional finishes inside the top 20 to go with that.

While Scheffler had some issues late in January with two-straight missed cuts, he’s rebounded with three consecutive showings inside the top 30 since the, including finishing at No. 15 at the Arnold Palmer. He’s No. 29 on the PGA Tour in Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green and ranks No. 15 in scoring average at 69.904 per round. If Scheffler can sustain that form as he plays TPC Sawgrass for the first time — admittedly a tough ask — he could elevate his stock a great deal.

5. Abraham Ancer (+9000)

Inconsistency has been the biggest Achilles heel for Abraham Ancer on the 2019-20 golf season. While he has four top-10 finishes and has made 10-of-12 cuts with another 12th-place finish on his résumé this season, he also has finished outside the top 35 in five events in which he’s made the cut.

Ancer is coming off some poor form at the Arnold Palmer Invitational into The PLAYERS Championship as the Mexican national finished 56th at Bay Hill. That’s not totally what you want to see but, given the torrid and windy conditions that overruled the course last week, it can somewhat be written off.

What Ancer has going for him, though, is a solid, steady overall game. While he doesn’t rank inside the top 50 of any individual Strokes Gained metrics on the PGA Tour, he is No. 36 Tee to Green and No. 32 in Strokes Gained: Total. If he can put together a solid overall performance, he could find himself at the top of the leaderboard on Sunday.

Home/PGA Tour