The Players Championship Betting Preview

The 52nd edition of The Players Championship takes place on the Stadium Course at the iconic TPC Sawgrass this week and it promises to be another enthralling battle for the PGA Tour’s Flagship event. World number one Scottie Scheffler has been installed as the 4/1 favourite to become just the second player to win this title three times – the only person to achieve this feat is the legendary Jack Nicklaus. Defending champion Rory McIlroy could also join the Golden Bear in the history books, as he claimed the spoils for a second time last year, but the Northern Irishman’s participation is in doubt due to the back injury that forced him to withdraw ahead of the third round of last week’s Arnold Palmer Invitational.

Tip 1: Jake Knapp to win and each-way (12 places) @ 33/1 with SkyBet

This a stacked field that will be vying for glory in the unofficial fifth Major and one player who has been in consistent form this season is Jake Knapp, who has not finished worse than tied-11th in five starts. Ranked 42nd in the world, the 31-year-old has not won since breaking his PGA Tour duck at the 2024 Mexico Open but he is starting to rediscover his best form and looks close to a second title at this level. Having had to deal with tragedy last year following the death of his girlfriend in September, Knapp has understandably taken some time to put his full focus back on golf, but he is looking like the player who burst onto the scene two years ago once again.

Knapp has had two cracks at the Players, finishing T45th and T12th, and his fantastic short game, which has him ranked eighth in scrambling and fourth in strokes gained putting, should aid his chances this week. The American’s five outings this year have produced finishes of T11-T5-8-T8-6 and it would be no surprise to see him in contention for the win come Sunday.

Tip 2: Patrick Cantlay and Sam Burns to miss the cut @ 6/1 with SkyBet

Patrick Cantlay is still struggling for consistency and he has missed the cut in two of his last four appearances, including last week’s Arnold Palmer Invitational. That disappointing effort at Bay Hill will have done little to lift the American’s mood and he now heads into an event he has failed to make the weekend for in three of his last six attempts. It could be another poor 36 holes from Cantlay, and the same may be true of compatriot Sam Burns, who has missed consecutive cuts at the Genesis and Arnold Palmer and has failed to qualify for the weekend action in three of his last four starts. Something isn’t quite clicking for Burns and another MC could be about to go down on his record books at TPC Sawgrass, a course he missed the cut at for the second time last year.

Tip 3: Min Woo Lee first-round leader @ 45/1 with SkyBet

Australian Min Woo Lee is in solid form heading into this event, with his last three outings seeing him finish tied-second at Pebble Beach, T12 at the Genesis Invitational and sharing sixth at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. The 27-year-old will be having his fourth crack at The Players Championship and he has made a habit of getting off to a fast start, having been tied-fifth after round one on his debut in 2023 and just one off the pace following the first 18 holes last year. While ending up sixth three years ago, Lee has struggled to keep the momentum going after day one in his other two cracks at TPC Sawgrass, ending up T45 and T20, so the best play is to back him to get off to a flyer instead of siding with him in the outright winners market.