With the Masters in the rear-view mirror, one of the four biggest tournaments left on the 2018 golf calendar takes place this week with The Players Championship, which just so happens to be the PGA Tour's premiere annual event. Some of the best players in the world -- 49 of the top 50 in the Official World Golf Rankings to be exact -- have descended on Ponte Vedre Beach, Florida, to compete for one of the most prestigious titles in golf.
With a terrific, challenging course and some of the best players on the planet, we should be in for a great week of golf at TPC Sawgrass this week.
Let's take a look at this week's contest.
Event information
What: Players Championship | Where: Ponte Vedra, Florida | When: May 10-13
Field and odds
- Rory McIlroy: 14-1
- Jason Day: 14-1
- Jordan Spieth: 14-1
- Justin Thomas: 14-1
- Dustin Johnson: 18-1
- Rickie Fowler: 18-1
- Jon Rham: 22-1
- Henrik Stenson: 28-1
Field strength: A
Fields simply do not get better than this one. Not the U.S. Open field, not the PGA Championship field, not the Masters field. It's the deepest, toughest group in all of golf with nearly every member of the top 50 players in the world competing.
Three stories to watch
1. Tiger returns (with Phil!): Big Cat returns for the first time since 2015. He was a winner in 2001 and 2013, and this year he brings with him a Thursday-Friday group that includes Phil Mickelson and Rickie Fowler. The last time Tiger Woods was paired with Mickelson on this course? How about 2001 when this happened. I don't know what all we're going to see this week, but I know with those two involved (as well as the 2015 champ), it's certainly going to be dramatic.
17 years later, it still gives you chills.#TOURVault pic.twitter.com/dyCYiIuHw2
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) May 8, 2018
2. Unique opportunity: Because nobody has ever won consecutive Players Championships and only five golfers have ever won multiple times at TPC Sawgrass, we're likely to get a first-time Players winner this time around. For a smaller name, it could be life-changing. For a bigger name, it could be one more notch in the resume. For a few, it could mean ascending to world No. 1. For everyone, it would be a monumental achievement. One of my favorite things about big tournaments like this is how winning it means something slightly (or majorly) different to every single player.
3. Last Players in May: It will be talked about ad nauseam this week, but The Players Championship is moving back to March next year to pave the way for the PGA Championship in May. This is significant for many reasons, and one of those is that this is the end of a Players era that was formative for me. I really started following golf heavily after the move in 2007 and associate Mother's Day with the culmination of this tournament. This year will be the final one of those (which is for the best), and while winning one in March won't mean less, this marks the end of a great run in the stretch between the Masters and U.S. Open for the PGA Tour's top event.
Past winners
- 2017: Si Woo Kim
- 2016: Jason Day
- 2015: Rickie Fowler
- 2014: Martin Kaymer
- 2013: Tiger Woods
That's quite a list, and the craziest part might be that Si Woo kind of belongs on it based on the way he's played to this point in his career.
Visit SportsLine now to see who you can bank on to win the 2018 Players Championship and which long shots will make a run. Plus, we predict Tiger Woods' exact finish. All from the model that's nailed four of the last five majors heading into the weekend.
2018 Players Championship picks
| Winner: Thomas has a flair for the dramatic, and winning The Players to move to No. 1 in the world is as dramatic as it gets. He nearly came from behind to win here two years ago, and despite a shaky putting week at Quail Hollow, I'm here for win No. 3 of the season. Odds: 14-1 |
| Top 10: He looked slightly out of sorts at Quail Hollow and still finished in the top 15. He has a great recent history at this course with four top 12s in his last five appearances. It's a ball-striker's course, and maybe nobody strikes it better than him. Odds: 14-1 |
| Sleeper: I followed Stanley here this time last year, and I was astonished at how he compressed and worked the golf ball. He contended in 2017, and even though he's not striking it all that well in 2018, I trust he'll come back to his average. If that starts to happen this week, he could certainly win this golf tournament. Odds: 100-1 |
| Tiger watch: I think people look at his T55 finish from last week and assume he's wandering. He's not. He obliterated the golf ball all over Quail Hollow but couldn't pour it in the ocean. I'm bullish on him contending (and possibly winning!) this week based on how well he hit it last week at the Wells Fargo. He'll have to putt better ... than most ... of last week. Odds: 33-1 |
