The Players Championship Score Predictions (How Will Top Golfers Fare at TPC Sawgrass?)
The first big PGA Tour event of the season is set to take place this week. The Players Championship has often been nicknamed the unofficial "fifth major" on the golf calendar and this week's tournament promises to live up to that.
The best players on Tour will descend upon TPC Sawgrass in an attempt to dethrone the defending champion, Scottie Scheffler, who is coming off another win at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. In this article, I'm going to attempt to predict the winning score this week as well as the final score for the top 10 golfers on the odds list.
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The Players Championship Score Predictions
Winning Score: -18
It's not unheard of to see a winning score at The Players of -18. Webb Simpson won here in 2018 with that score and Scottie Scheffler finishing one stroke off it last year. The conditions are lining up to be favorable this week and there are some golfers who can rack up birdies in a hurry. I'll bank on the winner coming in at 18-under par.
Scottie Scheffler Score Prediction: -18
If you read my betting preview for this week's event, you'll know that Scottie Scheffler is my top pick to win. Yes, he's the overwhelming betting favorite, but he found his putter at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and if he keeps putting that well, it's going to be tough for anybody else on the PGA Tour to beat him this week. I think Scheffler goes back-to-back at The Players Championship.
Rory McIlroy Score Prediciton: -12
Rory has all the skill to win this week's event, but he's struggling to put his entire game together for one full event. When his irons are on, his putter is off. When he's able to hit a few putts, his wedges fall apart. All that will likely add up to another solid finish, but will still fall short of the win.
Xander Schauffele Score Prediction: -6
Xander Schauffele lost strokes to the field with his approach game last week, which should be a huge concern coming into this week's event. Sure, his game fits this course will, but if his irons aren't on, it's going to be near impossible for him to be in contention. I'm staying far away from Xander this week.
Justin Thomas score prediction: -15
The 2021 champion of the event should feel good about his chances after posting a solid T12 result at last week's Arnold Palmer Invitational. He's got everything he needs to win this tournament for the second time in his career, it's just a matter of whether or not he can put it all together over the weekend.
Viktor Hovland Score Prediction: -14
Viktor Hovland seemed to have fixed his chipping woes when he won last year's Tour Championship, but they've come back in a big way and he's not lost strokes around the green in four straight starts which has kept him from being in contention. Unless he can fix his chipping, he's going to struggle at these events.
Max Homa Score Prediciton: -10
Max Homa finished T6 here last year and 13th the year before which should give him confidence coming into the week. If he can't win a major, maybe winning the next closest thing is in the books for Max sooner rather than later. A solid T8 finish last week should make him hopefully to be in the conversation on the weekend at TPC Sawgrass.
Patrick Cantlay Score Prediction: Missed Cut
For wahtever reason, Patrick Cantlay has never done great at The Players Championship. He finished 19th here last season but missed the cut the two years prior. Now he's coming off a T36 finishing at the Arnold Palmer Invitational where he lost major strokes with his approach game. That doesn't bode well for him this week.
Collin Morikawa Score Prediction: Missed Cut
Collin Morikawa had one of the worst starts he's had in his PGA Tour career last week. Losing strokes to the field all over the place and missing the cut at an event where only a small handful of golfers managed to do so. Was it a blip in the radar or does he have some issues going on with his game right now? I'm leaning more towards the latter.
Will Zalatoris Score Prediction: -8
Will Zalatoris has posted two-straight top 5 finishes but I'm concerned about how his style of golf lines up with this event. He tends to thrive at difficult courses where birdies come at a premium. Can he win an event like this which the winner typically scores 15-under par or better? We will see this weekend.
Jordan Spieth Score Prediction: -7
Jordan Spieth is a roller coaster to cheer for and he's coming off a disappointing T30 finish at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. He doesn't have a good course history here either, never finishing better than 19th since his fourth-place finish in 2014.
Odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.