The Players Championship: Picks, Predictions and Odds

It is now less than a month before the greats of golf will be heading down Magnolia Lane for the Masters, but there is still plenty of business to deal with before then, starting with this week’s Players Championship.

The gathering at Sawgrass still attracts all the leading lights from the PGA Tour and all eyes this year will be on Scottie Scheffler, who heads to Sawgrass looking for his third successive win at the Florida course.

The Ponte Vedra venue has seen the world number one at his glorious best over the last two years as he stormed to a five-shot victory in 2023 before charging through the pack 12 months ago with a closing 64 to pip Major winners Brian Harman, Wyndham Clark and Xander Schauffele by one shot.

Scheffler will go off as favorite, as he tends to in every tournament he plays these days, ahead of Collin Morikawa, who was runner-up at last week’s Arnold Palmer Invitational and Rory McIlroy, who tasted glory here in 2019.

Russell Henley will be hoping for a repeat success after he triumphed on Sunday at Bay Hill, but he has missed five of his last eight Sawgrass cuts.

The Players Championship betting picks and predictions

Sepp Straka to win (+2700)

Sepp Straka already knows what it is like to come out on top in 2025 after winning the American Express in January, and there looks a strong chance he will make his presence felt at the top of the leaderboard this week.

The Austrian heads to Sawgrass in excellent form having built on that early-year success in recent weeks by claiming seventh spot at the Pebble Beach Pro-Am, 11th at the Cognizant Classic and then fifth at Bay Hill last week, when he finished four shots behind Henley despite opening with a poor round of 77.

Straka will also be able to take some decent course form into battle as well, having finished ninth at the venue in 2022 and then 16th last year, so that should give him further encouragement that he can claim a fourth PGA Tour triumph, which would be by far the most notable success of his career.

Hideki Matsuyama to win (+2700)

A strong tee-to-green game is essential if golfers are to enjoy success at Sawgrass and that is a quality that Hideki Matsuyama has in spades so we should anticipate a strong show from the 2021 Masters champion.

The Japanese star started 2025 in fine fashion when he came out on top of the year’s opening event, The Sentry in Hawaii, and he has been playing solidly since, carding a closing 69 on Sunday to finish 22nd at Bay Hill.

He is another who has performed strongly at the Players with four top-ten finishes on his Sawgrass resume, including the last two years.

He was fifth in 2023 despite starting with a disappointing 74 and he produced a controlled performance 12 months ago to post a sixth-placed finish.

Matsuyama should take great confidence from having broken 70 in each of his last six rounds at the course and he could give the players at the top of the market plenty to think about.

Shane Lowry to win (+4500)

Like Straka, Sahne Lowry played well on the whole at Bay Hill last week but will be disappointed that he allowed the 36-hole lead to slip after he posted a Saturday 76.

The former Open champion was able to recover sufficiently to earn seventh spot and there is a feeling that he has been knocking on the door, having finished in the top 20 in nine of his 11 worldwide outings since September’s Tour Championship.

The Irishman has a best Sawgrass finish of eighth in 2021 and he had a moment to celebrate the following year when he had a hole-in-one at the famous 17th island-green par three, so there are plenty of good memories for him to recall as he looks to boost his preparations for Augusta.

The Players Championship outright odds

Scottie Scheffler	+525
Collin Morikawa	+1300
Rory McIlroy	+1500
Ludvig Aberg	+1700
Justin Thomas	+2700
Xander Schauffele	+2700
Hideki Matsuyama	+2700
Tommy Fleetwood	+2700
Russell Henley	+3000
Patrick Cantlay	+3700
Sepp Straka	+3700

This article was written by a partner sports writer via Spotlight Sports Group. All odds displayed on this page were correct at the time of writing and are subject to withdrawal or change at any time.