Fresh from his win at Bay Hill, Scottie Scheffler (+600) leads the betting to win the 2024 Players Championship starting this Thursday. The current world No.1 is also the defending champion at Sawgrass and is looking to make history by defending the title. In our latest golf betting picks, we tell you if he is going to do it.
The Players Championship is widely known as the fifth major in the golfing world. But unlike the major championships, it won’t be hosting any of the big names who have defected to LIV Golf. This means no 2022 Champion, Cam Smith, and also no Jon Rahm, who made the switch at the end of 2023.
Scottie Scheffler is the current defending champion.
But the omens don’t look great for the 2023 title winner. Why? Because no one has ever defended the title in the 50-year history of this event.
The Players Championship is not an easy tournament to win. Only the legendary Jack Nicklaus has won here three times, and only five players – Fred Couples, Steve Elkington, Hal Sutton, Davis Love, and Tiger Woods – have won here twice.
Scheffler is in a great position to add his name to the dual winners, and he can also become the first player ever to defend the title at Sawgrass this week. Although he doesn’t have history on his side, his win in 2023 did go against the grain. The majority of winners have played here numerous times before eventually winning. Scheffler tore up the history books and won on just his third visit.
Scottie Scheffler is the red-hot favorite to win the 2024 Players Championship. The American is just +600 to win the event for a second consecutive year. His closest betting rival is Rory McIlroy, with the Northern Irishman at Vegas golf odds of +1600.
McIlroy (-1) finished T21 at the Arnold Palmer Invitational last Sunday, a massive 14 strokes behind the winner, Scottie Scheffler (-15). He is yet to win on the American circuit in 2024. Although, he did win the Dubai Desert Classic in January of this year.
The next closest players in the betting to win at Sawgrass are Xander Schauffele and Justin Thomas, both at +2500. Viktor Hovland, Max Homa and Will Zalatoris are at +2800, with Patrick Cantlay and Collin Morikawa at +3000.
More 2024 Players Championship betting options are available on our Golf odds table below. All our odds are from the best online golf betting sites.
| Player |  |  |  |
|---|---|---|---|
| Scottie Scheffler | +600 | +600 | +600 |
| Rory McIlroy | +1600 | +1600 | +1600 |
| Xander Schauffele | +2500 | +2500 | +2500 |
| Justin Thomas | +2500 | +2500 | +2500 |
| Viktor Hovland | +2800 | +2800 | +2800 |
| Max Homa | +2800 | +2800 | +2800 |
| Will Zalatoris | +2800 | +2800 | +2800 |
| Patrick Cantlay | +3000 | +3000 | +3000 |
| Collin Morikawa | +3000 | +3000 | +3000 |
| Jordan Spieth | +3300 | +3300 | +3300 |
| Hideki Matsuyama | +4000 | +4000 | +4000 |
| Ludvig Aberg | +4000 | +4000 | +4000 |
| Shane Lowry | +4000 | +4000 | +4000 |
| Sam Burns | +4500 | +4500 | +4500 |
| Russell Henley | +4500 | +4500 | +4500 |
| Wyndham Clark | +5500 | +5500 | +5500 |
| Tommy Fleetwood | +5500 | +5500 | +5500 |
| Jason Day | +5500 | +5500 | +5500 |
| Si Woo Kim | +5500 | +5500 | +5500 |
| Min Woo Lee | +5500 | +5500 | +5500 |
| Brian Harman | +6000 | +6000 | +6000 |
| Cameron Young | +6500 | +6500 | +6500 |
| Corey Conners | +6500 | +6500 | +6500 |
No player suits this course down to the ground. As the odds suggest, Scottie Scheffler is the in-form player and the man to beat. But with history going firmly against Scheffler, we are looking at alternative betting picks for this event.
It wouldn’t be a shock if he won it again, though. So we fully understand anybody wanting to back Scheffler to win again. But he is not our betting pick at +600.
Even though we are not picking Scheffler to win the 2024 Players Championship, we still think he will be on the leaderboard this Sunday.
He’s been one of the most consistent and best players on the PGA Tour for over two years. He is coming off the back of an impressive win last Sunday and is also the defending champion at Sawgrass. It almost feels mad not to make him our pick to win.
Scottie Scheffler to finish in the top five at +150 is our first pick.
The No.1 golfer in Japan finished fifth at Sawgrass last year and is in good form this season, having won the Genesis Open last month.
With a good finish to his name at Sawgrass already on his Resume, we think he is a good pick to finish in the top five again. We also like the look of Matsuyama (+108) to finish in front of Max Homa in the head-to-head matchups.
Back Hideki Matsuyama for a top-five finish at +800.
Will Zalatoris has had his ups and downs on the course in recent months, and in recent weeks, he has also suffered personal heartache with the passing of a close relative.
Despite this, he managed a T2 finish at the Genesis Open three weeks ago and a T4 at the Arnold Palmer Invitational last week.
Zalatoris has no pedigree at this event. He has a finishing average of 40th over the past three years, and 12 months ago, he finished 73rd on +8.
He knows this course now and is also in good form. We’ve always regarded him as a major championship winner in waiting. Winning the so-called fifth major would be a great stepping stone on the road to better things.
Will Zalatoris is our pick to win the 2024 Players Championship.
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