Big names. Big money. Big everything. The 2019 Players Championships has arrived. The first major of the season has arrived. It’s the biggest payday of the golf year. The deepest field in golf and the most entertaining venue to see a tournament. We’ve moved back to March to make things more difficult and to balance the schedule with the FedEx Cup. This includes moving the PGA Championship to the vacant spot in May this year for the first time ever. Alas, let’s get to the 2019 Players Championship prediction.
Here are our top five picks to win this year’s players championship and their corresponding odds to win the event. I will also give you my One and Done pick, which is arguably the most important one of the year considering the size of the purse. All odds listed below are from our partner DraftKings. Sign up today and get a $500 free bet on your first bet.
5. Patrick Cantlay – A golfers golfer. Those who don’t follow the sport will be scratching their head on this one but those that do know how tough he is. Coming off an injury a couple years ago he has been a cut making machine and a top 25 machine. If you’re looking for an under the radar type of guy at solid odds. This is it. Patrick Cantlay to win 40-1 at DraftKings.
4. Xander Schaufele – Another insider’s type pick but much more popular already than Cantlay. Xander finished T2 in his first Players last year and since then has won twice on the PGA Tour. He’s a popular pick this week but the odds are still strong at 26-1 and worth a look for a bet or a DFS Lineup at DraftKings.
3. Tiger Woods – Don’t believe the hype on the neck injury withdraw from the API. He had some soreness and he already won the thing 9 times and Arnie passed. Time to let someone else grind out a win at that tournament. Tiger is ready to go. And there’s not a better thinker and tactician in the field. He’s been notching strong performances in the events he has shown up for this year and this would be the perfect setup to win at Augusta this year. Current odds for Tiger to win from DraftKings are 23-1
2. Dustin Johnson – Arguably the best player in the world right now he absolutely airmailed the field at the WGC in Mexico three weeks ago and you would be hard pressed to find a better all around ball striker and putter in the field this week. My only reservation with Dustin is his ability to think clearly under the pressure of this golf course, something he has not done that well historically. But I still love his chances despite being the odds on favorite to win this week at 14-1
- Matt Kuchar – The grinder. The bad tipper. The top ten machine that is Matt Kuchar is having a great year. His last five starts have been 1 – T4 – T22 – T28 – 50. A slight slip the last time out but otherwise very strong. And he’s a former champion here and should do well if grinding through the weekend and bad weather becomes a thing. I’m think Matt is holding that new gold trophy when it’s all said and done on Sunday. Current Kuchar odds from DraftKings are a juicy 60-1.
Greg Norton is a senior golf writer for Wannamakeabet.com. Check out all his golf articles here.