Geoff Clark
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The PGA Tour’s Florida Swing continues with THE PLAYERS Championship 2023 teeing off Thursday at TPC Sawgrass Stadium Course in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida.
THE PLAYERS is the 5th “elevated event” and has a $25 million prize pool with the winner bringing home $4.5 million. This is the second straight “elevated event” after the Arnold Palmer Invitational 2023 in Orlando.
Unfortunately, Tiger Woods is skipping this event but golf’s current Big 3 — Jon Rahm, Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler — will be at THE PLAYERS and are the three favorites to win.
THE PLAYERS Championship 2023 Top-11 Odds
- Courtesy of DraftKings Sportsbook as of Sunday, March 5 at 6:15 p.m. ET
THE PLAYERS Odds Top-12 to 20
THE PLAYERS field
There is a 144-golfer field at THE PLAYERS including 49 of the top-50 golfers in the PGA’s FedExCup standings and 43 of the top-5 in the Official World Golf Rankings.
Eight former PLAYERS champions are in the field. But, the top-three golfers in last year’s PLAYERS defected to the LIV Tour including reigning winner and Champion Golfer of the Year, Cameron Smith.
Previous PLAYERS winners
- 2022: Cameron Smith -13 (+3000)
- 2021: Justin Thomas -14 (+1800)
- 2020: Canceled mid-COVID pandemic
- 2019: Rory McIlroy -16 (+1200)
- 2018: Webb Simpson -18 (+6000)
- 2017: Si Woo Kim -10 (+50000)
The average winning score of the last five PLAYERS Championships is 14-under par, the average cut line is 1.6-over par and the average betting odds for the winner is +12400.
TPC Sawgrass course preview
TPC Sawgrass is a Pete Dye-designed track and THE PLAYERS is at the “Stadium Course”. It’s a par 72 that played to 7,256 yards last year with four par 3s, four par 5s, and 10 par 4s.
There are 88 sand traps on the course and 17 holes have water hazards to navigate. TPC Sawgrass has Bermuda grass greens that are fast and firm.
Hole No. 17 at the TPC Sawgrass Stadium Course has an island green, making it one of the most famous holes in the world.
We have to take THE PLAYERS’ course history pre-2019 with a grain of salt because the event got moved from May to March 2019. Per the golfers, the course plays much softer in March compared to May.
Comp Courses to TPC Sawgrass
- Florida Swing courses.
- PGA National Champion course: The Honda Classic.
- Bay Hill Club & Lodge: Arnold Palmer Invitational
- Innisbrook Resort in Palm Harbor: Valspar Championship.
- TPC Twin Cities: 3M Open.
- Sedgefield Country Club: Wyndham Championship.
- TPC Potomac: 2022 Wells Fargo Championship.
- East Lake Golf Club: TOUR Championship.
- TPC River Highlands: Travelers Championship.
- Stadium Course: The American Express.
Check out the Hot Links golf gambling show hosted by Geoff Clark on the OutKick Bets podcast feed. New episodes drop Tuesdays for all full-field PGA Tour events in the 2022-23 season.
FOLLOW GEOFF ON TWITTER: @Geoffery_Clark
Listen to the ‘OutKick Bets with Geoff Clark’ podcast HERE.
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